Russia has caused the most expensive internet blockage of
2022 by first controlling the access and then blocking it specifically to
social media sites and news outlets. This data is in accordance with tech
company Top 10 VPN. The service puts the economic cost at $21.6 billion in the
country between the attack of Ukraine in February and the end of the year.
Since the blockages are country-wide, the large number of people affected becomes
the reason of the high price tag.
The projected cost that Russia had to bear of restricting the internet puts it ahead of Iran, which comes on the second rank. Persistent anti-government protests that took place last year were met with excessive force and repeated internet shutdowns by those in power. Almost 72 million people were affected by this at an economic cost of $773 million. Kazakhstan comes third after internet shutdowns following early-2022 protests over fuel prices caused upwards of $400 million in economic damage.
The country to shut down the internet for the longest time
in 2022 is Myanmar, estimated to be more than 17,500 hours. The shutdowns are directed
mostly to the country's Western Chin state at the border with Bangladesh and
were rated to be the fourth most costly.
Twitter ban in Nigeria was lifted at the beginning of the
year but it still affected more than 100 million people in the entire country
in January and racked up an economic cost of $83 million. Ethiopia last year also
saw long shutdowns of almost 9,000 hours. Again, as authorities were targeting
the civil war-ridden Tigray region, less people were affected and costs stayed
around $146 million despite the continuing nature of the restrictions.
