Global internet shutdowns escalate: understanding the systemic factors driving state-imposed digital blackouts
Original framing: “The splinternet: how online shutdowns are getting cheaper and easier to impose” — The Guardian - Technology
The original framing omits the historical context of internet shutdowns, which dates back to the early 2000s, and the role of Western companies in providing shutdown technologies to authoritarian regimes. It also neglects to consider the perspectives of marginalized communities, who are disproportionately affected by internet shutdowns. Furthermore, the article fails to explore the structural causes of internet shutdowns, such as the concentration of internet infrastructure in the hands of a few large corporations.
Medium structural omission detected in mainstream coverage.
This narrative was produced by The Guardian, a prominent Western news outlet, for a global audience. The framing serves to highlight the implications of internet shutdowns for Western interests and values, while obscuring the complicity of Western companies in providing shutdown technologies to authoritarian regimes.
The history of internet shutdowns dates back to the early 2000s, when authoritarian regimes first began to use internet shutdowns as a means of suppressing dissent and maintaining control. Since then, the technology has become increasingly sophisticated and widely available, with Western companies playing a key role in providing shutdown technologies to regimes around the world.
The trend of internet shutdowns is a manifestation of a broader struggle for digital sovereignty and online self-determination, as authoritarian regimes seek to maintain control and suppress dissent.