Kazakhstan government shuts down internet nationwide

On January 5, 2022 the Kazakhstan government shut down the internet nationwide in response to widespread civil unrest after the government's removal of a price cap led liquid natural gas prices to rise sharply. Government use of a kill switch to block internet access is rising as a way of suppressing dissent and exercising social control; other examples include Iran, Sudan, Egypt, China, and Uganda. Kazakh law permits the government to temporarily suspend communications networks; much of the country's internet is state-run through the former monopoly, Kazakhtelecom. Kazakhstan is a highly digitised economy and the outage blocked essential services.

https://theconversation.com/kazakhstans-internet-shutdown-is-the-latest-episode-in-an-ominous-trend-digital-authoritarianism-174651

Writer: Margaret Hu
Publication: The Conversation
Publication date: 2022-01-24