Bangladesh’s internet has been mostly shut down since Thursday amid an outbreak of violence between demonstrators and police, but the government has denied responsibility for the blackout, despite the country’s recent history of internet-related shutdowns during political unrest.
According to Netblocks, internet connectivity in Bangladesh plunged on Thursday from close to 100% availability to a little over 10%, where it has been ever since.
The shutdown occurred after student protests against a new jobs quota system turned violent. The jobs quota system – which was scrapped in 2018 but reinstated earlier this year – reserves up to 30% of government jobs for relatives of veterans who fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan, which protesters say favours the ruling Awami League party led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The protests have been going on for weeks, but escalated last week after student protesters were allegedly attacked by students supporting the Awami League, after which the government instigated a crackdown on the protests and imposed a curfew. According to media reports, at least 114 people have been killed in the ensuing violence.
The Bangladesh government has claimed that it’s not responsible for the shutdown, saying that protesters are to blame.
According to the Associated Press, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) claimed protesters set fire to one of its data centres on Thursday. Bangladesh’s minister of state for information and broadcasting, Mohammad A. Arafat, told news site Rest of World (ROW) on Friday that “arsonists” vandalised several key establishments and cut broadband cables across the country.
Neither claim has been independently verified as we went to post.
However, according to ROW, ISPs and telcos it contacted have said the blackout was a “government decision”. Mobile operator Robi Axiata told ROW that the government “has temporarily suspended mobile internet services in the light of the ongoing situation in the country.”
Arafat has denied this, telling ROW, “What’s our benefit here? If we wanted to put a halt on misinformation and communication between the protesting students, we could have just shut down social media.”
However, digital rights watchdog Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition noted in an open letter on Friday that internet access in Bangladesh has been throttled, and social media and messaging apps blocked, multiple times since 2018, with no explanations offered by either the government or telcos. Such incidents have typically occurred during protests and opposition rallies, Access Now said.
Access Now and #KeepItOn called on the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and the BTRC to restore internet access immediately, saying that even partially disrupting and blocking app and internet access “violates fundamental freedoms of expression and access to information under Article 39(2) of the Constitution of Bangladesh.” The letter also said the BTRC and other government agencies “are not explicitly authorised under the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulation Act, 2001 and other applicable laws to issue shutdown orders.”
Access Now and #KeepItOn also said the internet shutdowns are “costly and harmful to communities and businesses” – a point backed by the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, whose president, Russell T Ahmed, told ROW that the country’s ICT sector is collectively facing “staggering financial losses” as well as damage to its collective reputation.
According to the Daily Star, Bangladesh’s ICT market contributed 1.28% to the GDP in 2023, and currently generates around US$1.4 billion per year in export income.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear when internet services will be restored, as the student protests are ongoing. Al Jazeera reported on Sunday that Bangladesh’s Supreme Court scaled back the controversial job quota system from 30% to 5%. However, the student groups said that while they welcomed the decision, they will continue with the protests until their key demands are met, which includes the release of jailed demonstrators and the resignations of officials responsible for the violence.
