Iran’s Internet Blackout: Peering into The World’s Worst Internet Shutdown
Some are calling it Digital Apartheid. Our latest post uses traffic data to show how expanded whitelisting is reshaping internet access in Iran.
www.kentik.com/blog/irans-i...
🎉 OONI measurement coverage is expanding in countries where data was once scarce, including Burkina Faso, DRC, Afghanistan, and Syria.
This is thanks to @deutschewelle.dw.com's outreach around News Media Scan, an app we developed in close collaboration to test censorship of news media websites. 🐙
James Cowie on the Geopolitics of Internet Infrastructure
Recently came across this old talk (Nov 2011) at @harvard.edu by @jimcowie.bsky.social, a mentor of mine and pioneer in exploring the intersection of internet measurement and geopolitics.
Check it out here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx13...
We’re thrilled to host Sadia Nourin as an @opentechfund.bsky.social Information Controls Research Fellow! 😍🥳
Her work will measure transit censorship globally, using IPv4/IPv6 measurements & extending OONI Probe to detect where censorship occurs on network paths. 🐙
www.opentech.fund/fellows/sadi...
The fight is growing. So is the response. Many international organizations and diplomatic bodies pushed back against shutdowns in 2025. Civil society compelled governments to reverse shutdown orders. And we won't rest until all actors stop deliberately disrupting networks. Read the full report
The fight is growing. So is the response.
Many international organizations and diplomatic bodies pushed back against shutdowns in 2025.
And we won't rest until all actors stop deliberately disrupting networks.
Read the full report ▶️ www.accessnow.org/internet-shu...
Communities are fighting back! In Tanzania, thousands were shot in the streets under cover of a complete internet blackout. It was not enough to silence resistance. “Despite the shutdown preventing immediate wide sharing, we were able to disseminate the information online in small batches for the rest of the world to see.” — Tanzanian activist Maria Sarungi.
Communities are fighting back!
In Tanzania, thousands were shot in the streets under cover of a complete internet blackout. It was not enough to silence resistance.
When the internet goes dark, atrocities follow. We documented: 125 conflict-related shutdowns across 14 countries 70 shutdowns that coincided with murder, torture, or apparent war crimes in 21 countries
When the internet goes dark, atrocities follow.
We documented:
125 conflict-related shutdowns across 14 countries
70 shutdowns that coincided with murder, torture, or apparent war crimes in 21 countries 🧵
By the numbers… Not a single day of 2025 passed without at least one internet shutdown: 313 shutdowns documented in 2025 52 countries affected 100 countries have experienced a shutdown since 2016 When 2026 started, 75 of those shutdowns were still ongoing. Some communities have been cut off for months.
By the numbers…
Not a single day of 2025 passed without at least one internet shutdown:
-313 shutdowns documented in 2025
-52 countries affected
=100 countries have experienced a shutdown since 2016
When 2026 started, 75 of those shutdowns were still ongoing. 🌎🧵
In 2025, we tracked more internet shutdowns than ever before. Here's what we found, and why it matters
NEW | 2025 was a record year for internet shutdowns — 313 times.
Authorities imposed shutdowns to control information and restrict access.
The #KeepItOn coalition spent last year documenting shutdowns across the world.
These are the findings ⬇️ 🧵
‼️ #Russia has blocked Telegram, one of the most widely used messaging platforms in the country
explorer.ooni.org/findings/962...
OONI data suggests that many ISPs in Russia began blocking access to Telegram on 20 March 2026.
Elections are underway in the Republic of Congo, and the government appears to have shut down the #Internet, as they did during 2016 and 2021 elections. Traffic disappeared at 05:30 UTC (06:30 local).
Follow current status at radar.cloudflare.com/traffic/cg?d...
The current Internet shutdown in Iran is in its 7th day.
A small amount of traffic continues to trickle out of Iran for whitelisted individuals and services, for everyone else, almost no connectivity whatsoever.
#IranWar #DigitalBlackoutlran
Nearly all of the Iranian internet has been down for 43+ hours but, as was the case with last month's shutdown, there is a tiny amount of traffic still getting passed.
Within the remaining traffic, we can see subsequent outages, possibly caused by continued US/IL airstrikes…🧵
IODA shows the Internet in Iran has been cutoff from the global Internet since ~7:00 AM UTC. The regime implemented a similar Internet shutdown when Israel attacked Iran in June of 2025.
Follow connectivity in Iran in near realtime:
ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/IR?f...
Internet connectivity down in Iran as airstrikes hit the country.
Traffic volume dropped at 07:06 UTC and then again at 11:47 UTC with minimal connectivity remaining.
The country had a partial restoration since Jan-27 following a complete shutdown in Jan-8.
Internet connectivity in Iran is now in a near-complete shutdown, down about 98% vs the previous week. The disruption began around 07:00 UTC, following reports of military strikes — and in past incidents the government has responded with nationwide Internet shutdowns.
❗️Yesterday, #Gabon started blocking access to social media
We just published a report documenting the blocking of WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube in Gabon based on OONI data: explorer.ooni.org/findings/340...
We thank community members in Gabon for contributing measurements 🙏
Huge thanks to everyone who donated to OONI! ♥️
As part of our 2025 end-of-year fundraising campaign, we raised €45,108. We are deeply grateful for each and every contribution. 🙏
Your support helps us continue providing free software tools and open data in defense of a free and open internet. 🐙
🎉 Today marks 9 years since we launched the OONI Probe Mobile App! 🚀
Its launch led to a major increase in global OONI measurement coverage 🐙✨
Warm thanks to everyone running OONI Probe and contributing to the world’s largest open dataset on internet censorship 🙏❤️
ooni.org/install/mobile
#ooni
We’ve been building an Anonymous Credentials system to strengthen trust in OONI data 💪
Today we’re sharing details of the system 👇
ooni.org/post/2025-announcing-oon...
Feedback welcome, especially from cryptographers & implementers 🙌
‼️ Last week, #Uganda experienced a 5-day internet shutdown during its 2026 general election.
Once internet access was restored, access to WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter/X was blocked.
Learn more in our latest report: explorer.ooni.org/findings/352... 🐙✨
#ooni #censorship #opendata
Iran's shutdown is now 15 days and counting. Small amounts of service have been restored in recent days.
#DigitalBlackoutIran #IranRevoIution2026
State telecom TIC (A49666) re-established many of its lost connections with outside providers, such as GBI (AS200612) at 22:02 UTC on Jan-22.
As two full weeks of #IranDigitalBlackout approaches, traffic again began to grow, starting around 18:00 UTC on 21-Jan. The growth was driven by large increases across several ASNs, and could potentially be related to an expanding whitelist of domains.
radar.cloudflare.com/dns/ir?dateR...
The IODA team completed a comparative analysis of the ongoing Internet shutdown in Iran to shutdowns during Bloody November in 2019, Women Life Freedom Movement in 2022, and the Israel-Iran War in 2025. Please read and reach out with any questions […]
In this post for @kentik.bsky.social, I analyze the ongoing internet shutdown in Iran — one of the most severe communications blackouts in history.
#DigitalBlackoutIran #IranRevoIution2026
www.kentik.com/blog/from-st...
Some #Internet connectivity may be returning in #Iran, with traffic levels spiking ~50x just after midnight UTC on Saturday, January 17 (03:30 local time).
Follow radar.cloudflare.com/traffic/ir?d... for the latest traffic stats.
#DigitalBlackoutIran
Beginning to see signs of life for the internet of Iran! #DigitalBlackoutIran #IranianRevolution2026
An increase in traffic flowing into Iran began at 00:12 UTC (3:42am local) — note this restoration is still only currently at 0.2% of the bits/sec we were seeing prior to the shutdown on Jan-8.
IODA data confirms the ongoing, complete government-directed shutdown of the Internet in Iran since January 8th. Similar to the June 2025 shutdown during the Israel-Iran war, routing (BGP) is largely unaffected.
Follow connectivity in near realtime:
ioda.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/country/IR?f...
24 hours on and #Internet connectivity in #Uganda remains almost completely unavailable. Services were suspended by order of @UCC_Official, with a "strictly defined exclusion list" permitting limited access to essential services.
radar.cloudflare.com/traffic/ug?d...
x.com/kyleville/st...
The #Internet shutdown in #Iran is now in its 7th day, approaching the duration of the country's December 2022 shutdown, and making it one of the longest Internet shutdowns on record.
radar.cloudflare.com/traffic/ir
#IranianRevolution2026 #DigitalBlackoutlran