Pakistan topped the world in terms of financial losses caused by internet and social media app outages and outages last year. Pakistan suffered a total financial loss of $1.62 billion last year, more than the financial losses in countries like Sudan and Myanmar, which are among the countries affected by civil war. A report released by independent VPN review website Top Ten VPN.com said that global internet outages lasted 88,788 hours, causing a total financial loss of $7.69 billion. The figures published on Thursday only estimate the losses caused by deliberate internet shutdowns by authorities, complete blackouts, social media shutdowns and deliberate slowdowns, which occurred 167 times in 28 countries. Simon Magliano, head of research at Top Ten VPN.com, said that such deliberate shutdowns are internet censorship in its most extreme form. Not only do they violate the digital rights of citizens, but they are also destructive acts of self-sabotage to the national economy. Top Ten VPNs for Pakistan reported 18 deliberate internet shutdowns in 2024 for three major reasons: elections, information control, and protests.
The disruptions lasted for 9,735 hours, affecting 82.9 million users. The most costly was the shutdown of social media platform X from February 18, 2024, which is estimated to have cost a total of $1.34 billion. This was followed by the Balochistan authorities shutting down the internet in response to the Baloch Solidarity Committee protests in Gwadar between July 16 and August 21. The shutdown, which lasted for 864 hours, cost $11.8 million. Asia was the most affected region due to restrictions in Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India. These were four of the six countries most affected by internet shutdowns in 2024. Myanmar ranked second in economic losses from internet shutdowns, where 20,376 hours of shutdowns caused $1.58 billion in losses. Sudan was third on the list, with 12,707 hours of internet shutdowns causing an economic loss of $1.12 billion. Venezuela was fourth with $1.12 billion, Bangladesh fifth with $796.6 million and India sixth with $322.9 million. The most shut down social media website was ‘X’, which was shut down for a total of 20,322 hours, followed by TikTok for 8,115 hours, Signal for 2,880 hours, Facebook for 2,91 hours and Instagram for 2,010 hours.