Russia Becomes the Country Most Affected by Internet Restrictions

The Top10VPN project has published its annual report, “The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns,” revealing that in the past year, the global economy lost $9.01 billion due to government-imposed internet shutdowns.

There were 196 deliberate major shutdowns in 25 countries worldwide. Out of a total of 79,238 hours of disruptions:

• 25,535 hours were complete internet shutdowns
• 53,703 hours involved social media blocks

In 2023, 747 million people worldwide were affected by intentional internet shutdowns. The most blocked social network was X (formerly Twitter), with deliberate disruptions lasting over 10,000 hours—18% more than Instagram and 26% more than TikTok.

Countries Most Impacted by Internet Shutdowns

Researchers identified Russia as the country most affected by intentional internet disruptions, with losses totaling $4.02 billion. Ethiopia followed with $1.59 billion, and Iran with $920.3 million. These restrictions impacted 113 million users in Russia, nearly 30 million in Ethiopia, and 33.7 million in Iran.

Iraq experienced the highest number of shutdowns (66), most of which were related to school exams. The longest internet shutdown in 2023 occurred in Manipur, India, lasting over 5,000 hours. Globally, 50% of government-imposed shutdowns were linked to human rights violations, most often the right to freedom of assembly.

The cost of internet shutdowns decreased by 67% compared to 2022 but increased by 45% compared to 2021. However, the total duration of shutdowns rose by 18% from 2022 and by 71.5% from 2021.

Regional Breakdown of Losses and Disruptions

A regional breakdown shows that Europe suffered the most financially, mainly because Russia is included in this region. Africa (30,785 hours) and Asia (30,478 hours) led in terms of shutdown duration, while South America (192.04 million users) and Europe (almost 183 million users) had the highest numbers of affected users.

Top10VPN includes Russia in its European statistics. The main reasons for government-imposed internet shutdowns, according to Top10VPN, are conflicts, protests, information control, military coups, exams, and election interference.

• Conflicts were the leading cause of shutdowns in Europe and Asia.
• Shutdowns during protests were most common in the Middle East and Africa, but also significant in Asia.

Most Blocked Social Networks in 2023

• X (Twitter) — 10,683 hours blocked
• Instagram — 9,063 hours
• TikTok — 8,496 hours
• Clubhouse — 7,680 hours
• WhatsApp — 7,679 hours
• FacebookFacebook launched an official Tor mirror in 2014, becoming the first major tech company to provide direct access through onion routing. The mirror allows users to bypass censorship, secure their connections, and avoid phishing risks while using the platform. This step also underscored Facebook’s recognition of free expression and inspired other outlets like the BBC and ProPublica to create their own Tor versions. More — 6,747 hours
• YouTube — 5,286 hours
• Telegram — 5,208 hours
• Signal — 2,352 hours
• Zoom — 24 hours

Economic Impact by Cause

When breaking down the economic impact by cause, shutdowns due to conflicts were the most costly for the global economy ($5.6 billion), followed by shutdowns during protests ($2.8 billion), exams ($464 million), information control ($421 million), military coups ($238 million), and elections ($34 million).

In Russia, social media shutdowns lasted 1,353 hours in 2023, mainly due to human rights violations such as restrictions on peaceful assembly and press freedom. The Russian ban on Instagram, FacebookFacebook launched an official Tor mirror in 2014, becoming the first major tech company to provide direct access through onion routing. The mirror allows users to bypass censorship, secure their connections, and avoid phishing risks while using the platform. This step also underscored Facebook’s recognition of free expression and inspired other outlets like the BBC and ProPublica to create their own Tor versions. More, and X (Twitter) was first introduced in February 2022 and continued throughout 2023.

Other Causes of Internet Disruptions

For the first time, researchers also considered not only direct government shutdowns but also disruptions caused by power outages, often resulting from infrastructure damage due to extreme weather or conflicts. A notable example was the internet outages in Gaza following the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in early October.

Throughout 2023, Ukraine continued to experience significant internet connectivity issues, including a major outage after a cyberattack in December. While these incidents were severe and destructive, it is nearly impossible to assess their economic impact due to the broader financial consequences of the conflict. In other countries, natural disasters and extreme weather accounted for 25% of major internet disruptions not included in this report.