Most Iraqis view the shutdown as an attempt to suppress the protests and avoid scrutiny of the security services’ response.Īhmed Saadawi, an internationally renowned Iraqi novelist, said he was using a proxy Internet server to avoid the ban and communicate with those outside Iraq. It has also resorted to the tactic to prevent students from circulating exam questions and to reduce the circulation of security information.īut the latest block is the longest and most comprehensive of the past decade. Iraq’s government has previously used Internet restrictions as part of security measures to prevent protests.
The block on social media sites has prompted Iraqis to sign up to applications and programs that use VPNs to break the ban. Iraqi security forces were placed on high alert after public facilities, including local government buildings, Najaf airport and oil sites were stormed by demonstrators. Protests began in Basra on July 8 with the blocking of roads to the oil fields. Massive demonstrations engulfed Iraq’s southern provinces in protest at electricity cuts, a shortage of drinking water, and the high rates of unemployment and poverty. While the government believes that it has succeeded in something, it has lost much of its revenues and the revenues of the private sector.” “The blocking of sites… has caused great losses (for Iraq). A lot of business transactions are conducted via the Internet,” Bassim Antwan, an Iraqi economic expert, said. “The Iraqi government has made a big mistake. Government departments relying on the Internet, including security services, and those dealing with residency, passports and intelligence were disrupted, security officials told Arab News.Ī study by NetBlocks, an independent group monitoring online shutdowns, suggested that the restrictions could cost Iraq’s struggling economy $40 million per day in “lost business, sales and opportunities.” READ MORE: How political forces fueled the spread of Iraq protests The restrictions left hundreds of international and local media outlets paralyzed, banking transactions all but halted, and airlines facing flight cancelations and passenger chaos for at least three days. The banking sector, airlines, businesses and mobile phone companies faced severe disruptions because of the shutdown, online experts said. On Monday, the government partially reactivated Internet services, but kept restrictions on prominent social media platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.
The tactic is similar to that used by regimes during Arab Spring protests in 2011. The government hopes to limit communication between thousands of demonstrators protesting at a lack of basic services and official corruption. Internet access was blocked in much of Iraq from Friday as protests in southern provinces spread from the main oil hub of Basra. BAGHDAD: An Iraqi government ban on online access to curb growing protests is costing the country tens of millions of dollars a day and ramping up anger toward the authorities.
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