Bangladesh has completed two years without a state-imposed internet shutdown, marking a significant departure from a pattern that repeatedly curtailed democratic rights and disrupted digital connectivity in previous years.
The milestone comes in the aftermath of the student-led July Uprising, which culminated in the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government.
On July 18, 2024, Hasina’s government imposed the worst internet blackout in the country’s history, shutting down mobile and broadband services for days in an effort to curb democratic protests and restrict the flow of information.
The shutdown severely affected media operations, emergency communications, businesses, and millions of internet users, effectively disconnecting Bangladesh from the rest of the world.
The blackout enabled the government to temporarily conceal reports of brutality and human rights abuses committed by security forces and armed members of the Awami League. At the same time, it largely succeeded in disrupting communication among leaders of the Students Against Discrimination.
That was the primary purpose of the shutdown.
In developing countries with weak democracies, such as Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, internet shutdowns have become a powerful tool for authoritarian governments. These governments readily resort to this measure to suppress dissent, persecute opposition voices, and counter anti-government campaigns and protests.
An internet shutdown is the deliberate disruption of internet access in a locality or region by disconnecting internet services or slowing connection speeds to the point where they become unusable. As a result, services ranging from instant messaging apps to food delivery platforms cease to function. Channels for gathering and publishing news are also disrupted.
Internet shutdowns are typically imposed by governments, most often for political reasons. Although governments commonly justify these shutdowns by citing national security, the maintenance of public order, or the prevention of rumors and misinformation, in practice they are often used during elections, anti-government protests, large public rallies, and similar events to restrict citizens' freedom of expression, access to information, and the right to peaceful assembly.
Since Sheikh Hasina fled the country on August 5, 2024, Bangladesh has experienced zero state-imposed internet shutdowns over the past two years.
Despite hundreds of political demonstrations, public gatherings, reduced law enforcement capacity, and a fiercely contested general election, uninterrupted internet connectivity has been maintained. This stands in stark contrast to Bangladesh's previous record, when internet restrictions had become an increasingly common tool during periods of political unrest.
According to Activate Rights, a digital rights organization that tracks internet shutdowns in Bangladesh, the country experienced multiple full or partial internet shutdowns between 2018 and 2024—at least two each year.
Authorities repeatedly suspended mobile internet services or blocked access to social media platforms during elections, protests, and other politically sensitive events.
The interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus introduced a landmark legal reform through the Telecommunication Ordinance (Amended) 2026, prohibiting the government from shutting down the internet under any circumstances. The ordinance fulfilled a key pledge that emerged from the July Uprising.
Following the general election on February 12, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led government passed the ordinance in Parliament as an Act with some amendments, while retaining the provision prohibiting internet shutdowns.
The contrast between the periods before and after the July Uprising has become increasingly evident. While previous administrations frequently resorted to internet restrictions during periods of crisis, Bangladesh has so far avoided nationwide shutdowns despite facing a range of public order and political challenges.
Shoeb Abdullah, Executive Director of Activate Rights, said the development reflects the long-cherished aspirations of a democratic Bangladesh.
"It's a policy victory. It's a victory for the people."
However, Shoeb also expressed concern that many of the institutional mechanisms used to implement internet shutdowns during the Hasina era continue to exist.
A fact-finding report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the killings that took place in July and August 2024 found that intelligence agencies played a central role in a systematic effort to conceal serious human rights violations.
"NTMC worked together with the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to implement ministerial orders imposing strategically timed and targeted Internet shutdowns to prevent protesters from using electronic communications to organize activities, and to limit public access to and the ability to disseminate information on the extent and scale of ongoing violations through Internet and social media”, the report said.
Uninterrupted internet access has increasingly been recognized as an essential component of human rights.
In 2021, the United Nations expanded the interpretation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to extend human rights protections to internet access.
Earlier, in a 2019 report, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association stated that internet shutdowns constitute a clear violation of international law and are unacceptable under any circumstances.
Similarly, the European Union has established a broad consensus against measures that discriminate in internet access or deliberately block, restrict, or slow internet services.
Rights advocates say Bangladesh's two years without an internet blackout represent only the beginning of a longer journey.
Nabila Idris, a member of the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances in Bangladesh, said the country has witnessed repeated protests since July–August 2024 without the government depriving citizens of their basic right to internet access.
"That proves protests can be managed without collective punishment and shows how fundamentally wrong the Awami League's approach was," she said.
"Internet shutdowns are an abnormality, and Bangladesh has simply returned to the norm. It must remain here."