Internet shutdowns cost the global economy $8 billion last year, report says - CNN

Economy

Internet shutdowns cost the global economy $8 billion last year, report says – CNN

Published

4 years ago

January 9, 2020

Harry Miller

India, Chad and Myanmar were the worst offenders in terms of the amount of time the internet was disrupted, while Iraq was the most economically affected, losing an estimated $2.3 billion across 263 hours of internet blackouts and social media shutdowns.

The report, which examines partial and total shutdowns across 122 countries, was published by the internet research firm Top10VPN and builds on work done by the internet freedom watchdog Netblocks and advocacy group The Internet Society.

“In economic terms, disruptions not only affect the formal economy but also the informal, especially in less well-developed nations. There can also be lasting damage with the loss of investor confidence and faltering development, all of which makes our estimates conservative,” researchers Samuel Woodhams and Simon Migliano wrote for Top10VPN.

“On the human rights side, these shutdowns clearly impact citizens’ freedom of expression and the right to information and may even result in an increase in violence.”

New normal

Internet blackouts used to be rare — the result of accidental damage to undersea communications cables more often than intentional government activity — but they have become increasingly more common.

In the last five years, the number of internet shutdowns around the world has grown exponentially, particularly as governments adopt them to control unrest and protests. According to Freedom House, a Washington-based non-governmental organization, as of last year almost half of the world’s population lives in a country “where authorities disconnected internet or mobile networks, often for political reasons.”

Such tactics have not been limited to autocratic regimes. India, for example, shut off the internet for some citizens partially or entirely more than 100 times in 2019.

Top10VPN estimated that such shutdowns cost the Indian economy more than $1.3 billion last year.

An internet blackout in Indian-controlled Kashmir — at 158 days and counting — is the longest ever in a democracy, according to Access Now, an advocacy group that tracks internet freedom. Only the autocratic governments of China and junta-era Myanmar have cut off access for longer.

The blackout came as Indian troops flooded into Kashmir following New Delhi’s removal of the region’s legal autonomy, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would bring stability and end “separatism, terrorism, dynastic politics and corruption. But the shutdown left some Kashmiris unaware of the reason the internet had been cut. And without internet access, they have been largely removed from the conversation, so difficult is it for people in the region to get their messages out.

David Kaye, the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, has described the ongoing shutdown as a “communications siege” and “collective punishment without even the allegation of an underlying offense.”

Internet under attack

Despite arguably kicking off the trend of internet shutdowns a decade ago with an almost year-long blackout in the western province of Xinjiang, China is not a frequent offender. Chinese censorship is generally sophisticated enough that the authorities don’t need to use such a blunt instrument as shutting off all access: They achieve the same purpose by filtering what can be discussed in the first place.

Indeed, the success of Chinese internet censorship has likely inspired other countries to follow suit — even though in many instances, especially blanket shutdowns, internet blackouts may breach rights guaranteed by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international treaties. The United Nations has also affirmed member states’ responsibility to protect people’s access to the internet and freedom of expression online.

In the Top10VPN report, Woodhams and Migliano warned that “despite their negative impact on the global economy, human rights and democratic processes, there is little to suggest that internet shutdowns will stop in 2020.”

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Economy

China Wants Everyone to Trade In Their Old Cars, Fridges to Help Save Its Economy

Published

10 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Harry Miller

China’s world-beating electric vehicle industry, at the heart of growing trade tensions with the US and Europe, is set to receive a big boost from the government’s latest effort to accelerate growth.

That’s one takeaway from what Beijing has revealed about its plan for incentives that will encourage Chinese businesses and households to adopt cleaner technologies. It’s widely expected to be one of this year’s main stimulus programs, though question-marks remain — including how much the government will spend.

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Economy

German Business Outlook Hits One-Year High as Economy Heals

Published

11 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Harry Miller

German business sentiment improved to its highest level in a year — reinforcing recent signs that Europe’s largest economy is exiting two years of struggles.

An expectations gauge by the Ifo institute rose to 89.9. in April from a revised 87.7 the previous month. That exceeds the 88.9 median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. A measure of current conditions also advanced.

“Sentiment has improved at companies in Germany,” Ifo President Clemens Fuest said. “Companies were more satisfied with their current business. Their expectations also brightened. The economy is stabilizing, especially thanks to service providers.”

A stronger global economy and the prospect of looser monetary policy in the euro zone are helping drag Germany out of the malaise that set in following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said last week that the country may have “turned the corner,” while Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also expressed optimism, citing record employment and retreating inflation.

There’s been a particular shift in the data in recent weeks, with the Bundesbank now estimating that output rose in the first quarter, having only a month ago foreseen a contraction that would have ushered in a first recession since the pandemic.

Even so, the start of the year “didn’t go great,” according to Fuest.

“What we’re seeing at the moment confirms the forecasts, which are saying that growth will be weak in Germany, but at least it won’t be negative,” he told Bloomberg Television. “So this is the stabilization we expected. It’s not a complete recovery. But at least it’s a start.”

Monthly purchasing managers’ surveys for April brought more cheer this week as Germany returned to expansion for the first time since June 2023. Weak spots remain, however — notably in industry, which is still mired in a slump that’s being offset by a surge in services activity.

“We see an improving worldwide economy,” Fuest said. “But this doesn’t seem to reach German manufacturing, which is puzzling in a way.”

Germany, which was the only Group of Seven economy to shrink last year and has been weighing on the wider region, helped private-sector output in the 20-nation euro area strengthen this month, S&P Global said.

–With assistance from Joel Rinneby, Kristian Siedenburg and Francine Lacqua.

(Updates with more comments from Fuest starting in sixth paragraph.)

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Economy

Parallel economy: How Russia is defying the West’s boycott

Published

17 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Harry Miller

When Moscow resident Zoya, 62, was planning a trip to Italy to visit her daughter last August, she saw the perfect opportunity to buy the Apple Watch she had long dreamed of owning.

Officially, Apple does not sell its products in Russia.

The California-based tech giant was one of the first companies to announce it would exit the country in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

But the week before her trip, Zoya made a surprise discovery while browsing Yandex.Market, one of several Russian answers to Amazon, where she regularly shops.

Not only was the Apple Watch available for sale on the website, it was cheaper than in Italy.

Zoya bought the watch without a moment’s delay.

The serial code on the watch that was delivered to her home confirmed that it was manufactured by Apple in 2022 and intended for sale in the United States.

“In the store, they explained to me that these are genuine Apple products entering Russia through parallel imports,” Zoya, who asked to be only referred to by her first name, told Al Jazeera.

“I thought it was much easier to buy online than searching for a store in an unfamiliar country.”

Nearly 1,400 companies, including many of the most internationally recognisable brands, have since February 2022 announced that they would cease or dial back their operations in Russia in protest of Moscow’s military aggression against Ukraine.

But two years after the invasion, many of these companies’ products are still widely sold in Russia, in many cases in violation of Western-led sanctions, a months-long investigation by Al Jazeera has found.

Aided by the Russian government’s legalisation of parallel imports, Russian businesses have established a network of alternative supply chains to import restricted goods through third countries.

The companies that make the products have been either unwilling or unable to clamp down on these unofficial distribution networks.

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