Digital Disruption: Measuring the Social and Economic Costs of Internet Shutdowns & Throttling of Access to Twitter

Rehan Mirza is a a researcher at the Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Maya Vishwanath is a researcher and consultant and a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Public Policy Program. Theodora Skeadas is a trust and safety professional and former Twitter employee. Amir Kabir University uprising following the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran, September 2022. Darafsh/Wikimedia CC by 4.0 Social media platforms today transcend the social. Beyond the traditional use case of connecting and communicating with friends and family, these platforms have evolved to be a source of news and education, a tool to disseminate ideas, and a method of marketing for individuals and businesses. Much attention was placed on their use as a coordination tool for social movements and uprising in the Arab Spring’s aftermath, dubbed by some as “a Twitter Revolution”.  But this potential for social coordination has been viewed with trepidation by authoritarian governments. With global internet freedom on the decline for 12 consecutive years (every year since the Arab Spring), restricting access to social media platforms or the internet more broadly is now a standard instrument in the repertoire of repressive tactics deployed by these governments to quash dissent.  These tactics cut across online and physical spaces, with website and platform blocks, internet shutdowns and cracking down on VPNs and other circumvention tactics accompanying promotion of state media, arrests, and threats of physical intimidation. In a recent instance, mobile internet in Senegal was shut down across the country from July…Digital Disruption: Measuring the Social and Economic Costs of Internet Shutdowns & Throttling of Access to Twitter