‘Suspension of internet services incurred $23.79bn loss worldwide in 2022’

LAHORE: The economic impact of internet services’ suspension worldwide had stood at around $23.79 billion in 2022, reveals a report by “Statista,” a German online platform specializing in data gathering and visualization.

Pakistan Institute of Development Economics estimated the financial losses on the same account in the country at Rs1.3 billion ($46.56 million). Statista had maintained in its September 21, 2023 research report that the highest financial losses due to internet shutdowns were caused by limitations in Russia, and more than 7,000 hours of restricted various online services had an economic impact of $21.59 billion, affecting around 113 million people in the country.

According to Statista, “Myanmar placed the most extended restriction on internet services, lasting 17,520 hours in total. Similar restrictions in India affected over 120 million people. The decline of internet freedom in 2022 is mainly linked to political conflicts in different parts of the world. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government intensified its attempts to control the online content in the country. The government placed restrictions on three different U.S.-based social media platforms at the same time, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.”

The German online data resource mentioned that social protests rose in Iran following the death of Masha Amini in September 2022. The Iranian government decided to shut down the internet and various social media platforms in an attempt to minimize the communication between the protesters. However, residents in the IIOJ&K saw the highest number of new internet restrictions, which amounted to more than double that were in Iran.

As per Statista report of February 5, 2024, “As of January 2024, India was the country with the largest offline population worldwide. The South Asian country had over 683 million people without internet connection. China ranked second, with around 336 million people not connected to the internet.” “According to a 2022 report on internet freedom, almost four out of ten global internet users were deprived of essential freedoms on online platforms. In 2022, some 78 new restrictions on internet usage were implemented worldwide. Asia led in imposing these restrictions, accounting for approximately 58 cases across various countries in the region,” Statista report added.