Pakistan tops world in internet shutdown, incurs $1.62 Billion loss

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan emerged as the top country in the world in terms of financial losses last year due to outages and shutdowns of internet and social media apps, a recent report revealed.

Top10VPN.com, an independent global Internet monitor, said that Pakistan incurred a total financial loss of $1.62 billion followed by Myanmar ($1.58 billion) and Sudan ($1.12 billion), both ravaged by civil wars.

In Pakistan, the internet disruptions lasted 9,735 hours and impacted 82.9 million users.

The report mentioned 18 instances of deliberate internet shutdowns in Pakistan last year during elections, protests, and to control information.

Sharing the global numbers, the data showed that 2024 was the year with the highest number (28) of countries affected, impacting 648.4 million people.

The global internet disruption lasted 88,788 hours — the longest ever recorded — and caused a total financial loss of $7.69bn.

“Asia was by far the most affected region, thanks to the particularly impactful Internet restrictions in Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India. These nations were four of the six most affected countries in 2024,” the report read.

According to Top10VPN.com, the overall cost of internet shutdowns dropped by 15.8 per cent in 2024 compared to last year, their duration went up 12 per cent during the same time.

“This kind of deliberate outage is internet censorship in its most extreme form. Not only do they infringe on citizens’ digital rights but they are also catastrophic acts of national economic self-sabotage,” the head of research at Top10VPN.com, Simon Migliano, said.

The calculations were made using the Cost of Shutdown Tool (COST), based on indicators from the World Bank and other global institutions.