Protest in the age of the 'Kill Switch'

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1:28This is The Fifth Floor, at the heart of global storytelling with BBC journalists from all around the world. I'm your host, Farhanak Amidi.

1:46On the 8th of January, the Iranian government switched off people's access to internet amid widespread protests across the country. In another part of the world, in Uganda, prior to last week's elections, the government of President Yoweri Museveni blocked its citizens from accessing the Internet. Worldwide, Afghanistan, Myanmar, India and Bangladesh, just to name a few, have all taken the decision to severely restrict Internet access at times of perceived political crisis or challenge. Back in 2009, social media played a huge role in Iran's green movement. And after that, during the Arab Spring, internet access and digital media were seen as game-changing communications tools for democratization.

2:33Now, how vulnerable are protests and political opposition to being taken offline? My colleagues, Hadi Nili from BBC Persian, Roncliffe Odit from BBC Swahili, and Raghuranda Rao, who reports from India, are with me to answer this question. Welcome, everyone, to the fifth floor. Great to have you. Great to be here. Let's start with the how. Can each of you talk a little about how the Internet is turned off in the countries you cover technically and how it is actually done? So Hadi, let's start with you, since Iran is in a complete blackout at the moment that we're talking. Yep. January 8th was the day that many opposition figures abroad has called for mass protests inside Iran.

3:22And since then, right in the evening, the authorities shut down the Internet. It's been a total blackout for at least two weeks. And the shutdown was not something by a failure or a glitch. It was a deliberate action. It was part of the massive crackdown plan that Iranian authorities have been implementing. And it included also removing some of the people who were responsible for holding the communications. Some of them have been already vetted. You need to go through scrutiny and be vetted properly to be head of one of the mobile operators in Iran. And they actually sacked someone who was head of the Iran cell company, the second largest mobile provider in Iran.

4:13They sacked him just because he was one hour late in cutting off the internet and shutting down the internet to his users. They removed him and they put someone else and they announced it, that we are dismissing him just because of that, just a year after he was appointed. And we can see that some people are getting online. Some of them are close to the government, to the regime. They are openly pro-crackdown. And some people are getting online using VPNs and other ways to get around the blackout. How did they switch off the Internet? Technically, how do they do that? Blackout. It's not like a physical big red button switch on the desk of one of the Iranian high officials.

5:03It's not like that. They have developed a very complicated and sophisticated and we can see very efficient system for the blackouts. Because this is not the first time that there was a total blackout in the country. There was another blackout during the Israel-Iran war back in summer 2025. And also another one in 2019, November 2019, when there were mass protests in Iran. And they killed many protesters during that blackout. Exactly, exactly. That was the first total blackout. And that's why many people are traumatized about having blackouts. Whenever it's happening, people are asking, what's the regime doing?

5:44What are we going to learn about what's been doing? Because during 2019 protests in November 2019, people didn't have any idea what's going on. And after seven days, eight days, gradually the internet access came back and people started learning and the media also started covering. This time was the third very general attempt to do so. And they were more efficient in that. the depth and the efficiency of this blackout was much, much stronger than the times before. So this was the difference. And also they broke their own record in the length of the blackout. So we are two weeks into the blackout.

6:23The public, we can still say the public is still under blackout. Country of more than 90 million people, they are still under blackout. Some people are managing, some people who have especially the technical knowledge. Some people have resources like Starlink satellite receivers. It's a system containing a receiver that you put in your roof, anywhere that can face the sky. They send and receive data through the satellite receivers on low orbit Earth. Actually, the Starlink satellite receivers, the internet has been running and working even during the first couple of days that almost nothing was working.

7:03And that's been a lifeline, a digital lifeline for many people. Also, all telephone lines were cut off and people were not able to even communicate with each other on phone lines. Yeah, in the first few days, landlines were not working. The mobile phones were not working all through the day. Still, there are limits on the SMS if you want to send a text to a friend in Iran. And if you put any English word in it or anything resembling something like a link, a web link, it won't be delivered, won't be sent at all. And if you try a couple of times more than that, you wouldn't be able to send any SMS at all after that.

7:44They block your SMS system, your short message sending system. But now we are still seeing people. We have a reporter. We have two reporters, actually, at the border points of Iran and Turkey. and they are reporting that people are still coming to the borders. The first thing they ask from us is internet. It's not water, for example. It's not gas. It's internet. Could you share your internet with us? Because we need to get in touch with our, for example, with our children who are in the US and they are worried about us. Or we want to get in touch with someone in a city next to us, 15 miles away from us.

8:17We need your internet. And we had to travel this long way to have internet to do that. But now I want to also hear from Roncliffe, because in Uganda, connection is somehow back, restored. But how did they go about doing it this time in Uganda, Roncliffe? Thank you. So two days to the election, we saw a communication that came on the Internet, online. There was a communication that was sent online from the Communication Commission of Uganda. So the Communication Commission of Uganda is the body that is mandated to control the entire communication in this country. So it came out and it said, and it was a communication directed to the telcos, to the companies that provide internet in this country.

9:07So the telcos, they were instructed by the government to switch off internet at 1800 local time. Initially, we thought it was just propaganda by the opposition parties because it was two days to the election. But like in the hotel where we are staying, they called each and every room. And so I was busy working on my story and I received a call from the housekeepers and they were like, we've been instructed by the government to switch off Internet. So they were speaking on behalf of the company that is providing Internet, fiber Internet here in this hotel. and they told us that the government had instructed the company to switch off the distribution, the connection at 6pm.

9:50And so they were just notifying us because that was like 20 minutes to 6pm in the evening. And true to that, on 13th of January, 6pm, the entire country lost internet connection. It was not just social media, it was the entire internet. So there were basically seven days of no internet connection. It was restored on 20th of January. When you talk about these operators and like phone operators or internet operators, are they government or state owned or like Iran, for instance, they are called private, but all the heads are very close to the body of the regime and the system? Not really. They're actually private.

10:35They are not government owned. The telcos are private businesses, but they have to get licenses by the government. And the communication commission is the one that gives the licenses. So when they say do not switch on Internet, they've basically taken their power on their hand and they say, if you switch off, then you will not have business in our country. So the telcos have to abide. Yeah, understood. Now, Raghvendra, the situation in India is a bit different. These switch-offs are more sporadic. But can you tell us when they do that and in what situations you see these switch-offs? And are there areas that are more affected by it?

11:18Well, yes. You know, from what we have seen in the past decade or so, most of these internet shutdowns in India, they've been very localized in nature. I mean, we haven't yet had a situation where internet was shut down across the country. But what has happened is that whenever there has been some kind of a mass protest or a demonstration or some kind of violence and the authorities are trying to get things under control, the first thing they've been doing is to shut the Internet down. We have seen that in Jammu and Kashmir. It started in 2019 when Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which granted special status, somewhat of autonomy to that region, that article was abrogated by the Indian government.

12:10that led to a situation where there was a lot of resentment in Jammu and Kashmir and the government feared it could just blow up into a full-fledged crisis. And that is when immediately after the abrogation, they shut down the internet in Jammu and Kashmir. And that shutdown lasted for over 550 days. It was one of the longest internet shutdowns shortly in India. And I would think in the world. Anywhere in the world, yeah. Rakhbendra, was it a complete shutdown or was it just social media platforms that were affected? It was an internet shutdown where you could not get, you know, internet signals.

12:52Normal mobile telephony was not affected. You could still make calls from your mobile phones. There were reports to suggest that even the short messaging service, the SMSs, they were not working in real time. If you were to send an SMS, you know, it would get delivered maybe after days. And we've seen a similar situation in the northeastern state of Manipur, which got engulfed in ethnic violence in 2023. The first thing the authorities did was shut the Internet down. There are these two communities there who have been at loggerheads. They have been fighting each other and there has been a lot of ethnic violence.

13:31Over 250 people have been killed since 2023. in Manipur. And the reasoning behind that we hear from the authorities is they say that shutting the internet down is essential to maintain law and order because they say that if people have access to internet during a crisis situation, a situation which is volatile, which can blow up into something big, there is a great chance of people sharing fake news and disinformation, misinformation, sending forwards which are unverified, and it can further escalate tensions. This is the experience in India, and not just Jammu and Kashmir or Manipur, but in many other states in India, be it Haryana, be it Uttar Pradesh, we've seen that whenever there is a hint of trouble in these places, it has almost become a default action for the authorities, the first thing they would do, even before sending out cops to control the situation, the first thing they would do instinctively is shut the internet down.

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16:29Now I want to talk about how it affects people in these different countries. Let's start with you, Hadi. Obviously, it makes it very difficult for people to get news and information and be in contact with their loved ones. But what other impacts does it have on the population? In the first few days, people were not even able to get their prescriptions from the pharmacies. Because like almost any other country now, all these databases are online now. I mean, it's been a few years, maybe a decade, that it's like that. So if your doctor would prescribe you something that you would need to get from the pharmacy, The pharmacy would need to check if the prescription is legit, if you have any other allergies, if there are any overlaps, any concerns that they need to share with you.

17:23The whole system was off, so people couldn't get their prescriptions. and I heard that amid this violent crackdown, that thousands and thousands are reported to be shot dead and more than them, tens of thousands been injured, that the whole medical system is under so much pressure, the hospitals couldn't call in doctors or nurses. There were no services, so they had to drive their own cars. Imagine you are a nurse, you are already under so much pressure, you have to leave the hospital, get on your car, drive through these streets that are seen to huge protests, get to the doctor's home, get to their location and tell them that we need you.

18:09You're called in. This was the situation. And of course, that was the level that was all apart from the protests. Speaking of the protests and what's going on in Iran, This lockdown, this internet lockdown is aimed to both isolate the protesters so they wouldn't know where are the people getting together. What's the next step? They wouldn't know. They wouldn't be able to communicate. And they've been really pushing for that. That's why they're so upset about other ways people are getting online using Starlink or satellite telephones. But also it has a huge economic impact as well. in a country like Iran, a lot of people use Instagram and social media, especially young Gen Z people use these platforms for their businesses.

19:02Yeah, exactly. It's estimated to be at least 10 million people living their lives, actually making their own livings online, either on Instagram or other online shops or other tools that they use. 10 million people. It's a lot. Yeah, 15 % of the population. And it could be an underestimation because all of the people in Iran are practically living off internet services. If they want to pay their bills, they actually have to do it online. It's been a while that the banks don't accept paying bills. You need to go online, which actually has been a problem for the elder part of the society. So the government has forced people to go online and now it's taking it away from them.

19:47Roncliffe, I can imagine this blackout in Uganda must have had a heavy cost for the country as well. Yeah, very true, because Uganda is still a small economy and most of the people depend on internet, especially young people, for their business. You know, I met a young restaurant owner who says she depends fully on internet for deliveries. So So she makes food, but she has to do deliveries. And she gets the orders through Facebook and Instagram. And now she couldn't get any orders because there was no internet. And so nobody was making any order because they're not used to people who walk in. They're used to people who order online and food is being delivered.

20:24We got another teacher who says it's holiday time during elections, but she had a class of 30 students. and she used to give them assignments using a WhatsApp group and all that could not happen for the seven days that the internet was not there. So you find even the economy itself, because the Minister of Finance said in 2021, the one-week shutdown cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. And you can imagine now it's the same thing, because most people cannot just have their normal operations. You know, people, we have a lot of motorcycles that offer transport here. They call them locally border border.

21:11So people order online. You order for a motorcycle to pick you from work, to take you home, to pick you home, to bring you to work. And that all can't happen in the seven days. So the distraction, if you have to put it that way, is massive. And the losses are huge because of the internet shutdown. And this internet shutdown, in the context of the election in Uganda, what kind of impact does it have? Well, let me even start on the election day. They had to use electronic verification of voters. But that system could not work because there was no internet. And for four hours, the polling stations were not operational and voting couldn't start for the first four hours.

21:54But also, when you speak to, for example, the opposition that have rejected the results, they are saying they were unable to verify the results from the different polling sessions because their agents could not send in the numbers. Because on the day of election now, even SMSs would not go through. So it was not just internet, but even normal communication. So the only way you could communicate is through normal phone calls. And so how do you get those verification forms? Once people have voted, you've done the counting, you've signed, you need to send those forms to the telling center. It was a total mess.

22:31It could not happen. And Raghbandra, you said over 500 days of internet shut down in a place like Kashmir. I cannot even imagine what kind of an impact it must have had on people and the region. Absolutely. I mean, taking forward what Ron Cliff just said, We've had situations both in Jammu and Kashmir and in Manipur where, you know, lengthy periods of internet shutdown has really thrown people's lives out of gear. There are entrepreneurs where the only presence their businesses have is online. The other aspect is that whenever we have seen internet shutdowns, it's in places where some kind of crisis is brewing on or violence has happened or there is a fear that violence may happen.

23:18So we've also seen that in these places that a curfew is imposed, wherein people have to stay indoors, they can't go out of their houses. In Manipur, schools were shut down for months altogether and the situation was not coming back to normal. And there was a growing demand that if children can't go to school, at least allow them to have online teaching. But if you have an internet shutdown in place, there can be no online teaching. And Raghavendra, staying with you, have people found ways around these shutdowns in India? There are some people who manage to access VPNs and they manage to work their way around these internet shutdowns.

24:02But these are not your everyday commoners who have access to VPNs. Only a select few with the resources can get access. other ways some people try to explore is those staying in areas like which are border areas, areas bordering another state. So at times what people do in desperation is to just try and cross over the border and go into another state where they hope they will find internet connectivity because these internet shutdowns in India are very state specific. In fact, While reporting on some assignments, we ourselves have faced this situation. You land into a situation where violence has happened.

24:44There is a total shutdown. You gather whatever you can, but there is no way for you to send it across to the office. So what we have done also is drive, say, hundreds of kilometers just to go to another neighboring place, find Internet, send the material across, come back and gather more. Ron Clef, what about Ugandans? How are they going around these rules and restrictions? Well, like I said, you know, it's very difficult to just, you know, ignore the rules that have been passed. So a number of people are trying to bypass. The government is trying to track the people who are using sterling, for example, so that they can be arrested.

25:27Very few, very few individuals are actually using Internet. Majority of the population is left in the dark and they're just seated there at the mercy of the government. When the government wants to switch it on, that's when they get it on. When it's switched off, they're remaining in the dark. How, as journalists, how has our understanding of digital media's ability to aid protests and political opposition has changed, in your opinion? Raghvendra, let's start with you. I would not discount what the government has been giving as the reason behind these internet shutdowns. Because yes, in India, we have, in fact, witnessed a lot of fake news circulating during crisis situations.

26:09And there have been instances where lives have been lost, people have been killed, or people have been assaulted. I wouldn't say that this reasoning of the government is entirely flawed. It is true to a certain extent, but the periods for which they are imposed, that often leads one to believe that it may be, you know, crushing dissent. What I felt whenever I've been to these places, having internet shutdowns for days and months altogether, you know, I've sensed a feeling of frustration amongst people and also a sense of resignation. now. They feel that they are helpless. They can't do anything when it comes to the government deciding just to shut the internet down.

26:57They used to be more vocal about these things. Some of them still are. But I have sensed a sense of resignation. People have just, you know, become used to living with this kind of a situation on a regular basis. Hadi? Of course, internet was very, very bright and exciting when 30 years ago, 30 some years ago, people started to get connected, that it was going to be the perfect vehicle of democracy, perfect vehicle of pluralism, where it's decentralized by design, by design, and nobody can control it. But of course, the governments always find a way, especially with massive resources they have.

27:40There are still promises and hopes for the future that there will be less capabilities, less leverages for governments to restrict people in Iran and any other countries. Starting with a good case. I mean, four years ago, if you would tell someone that in four years, 50 ,000 people in Iran with this low-income economy would have starting terminals and they would manage to send videos and footages of the crackdown, of the protests to the media abroad so we can see what's going on inside Iran. Four years ago, it would be unimaginable. Ron Clef, would you like to add anything to that? The situation is totally different for a country like Uganda.