AP Explains: 2019 a busy year for African internet shutdowns

JOHANNESBURG — 2019 is already a busy year for internet shutdowns in Africa, with governments ordering cutoffs as soon as a crisis appears. “It is not even the second month of the new year and we have had significant internet shutdowns in four African countries,” said Berhan Taye, who leads the #KeepItOn campaign for global digital rights group Access Now. “In this contract, there is a clause that gives the communication regulator the power to order service providers to restrict access to the internet or block social media apps at the regulator’s request. These clauses usually indicate that regulators can order shutdowns in times of national security or public safety concerns, but these phrases are seldom defined and narrowed down in these contracts.” In Zimbabwe, the country’s largest telecom company, Econet, has been sending customers text messages relaying the government’s orders and calling the situation “beyond our reasonable control.” A media group and the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights have petitioned the High Court in the capital, Harare, arguing that the government has “no legal basis” for such orders. Internet service providers can alter routing information at key infrastructure points so traffic is blocked, notably to the world beyond a country’s borders.