Story at a glance:
- Cuba lost more than $13 million after officials tried to silence the country’s protesters.
- Cuba is listed ninth on a list of 18 countries that lost money because they decided to shut down their internet in 2021.
- Myanmar lost about $2.4 billion in its 4,894 hours of internet shutdown, which affected 22 million people.
A company that tracks how much a nation loses when it shuts down its internet has determined that Cuba lost more than $13 million after its officials tried to silence the country’s protesters.
Top10VPN, an organization that publishes reviews and case studies on virtual private networks — private networks that enable users to send and receive data across shared or public networks connected to the private network — listed Cuba ninth of the top 18 countries that lost money because they decided to shut down their internet in 2021.
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In the case study, it shows that Cuba went offline for 32 hours, which affected 7 million users in the process.
The internet disruption, including the absence of mobile internet service, was paired with policemen patrolling the streets of Havana after thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest against the government in the midst of an acute economic and health crisis.
As Changing America previously reported, thousands of people in Cuba are protesting for freedom as their government faces food shortages, high prices and a restrictive communist rule during a pandemic.
Most businesses are dependent on an online model and the integration of technology in daily functions. The disruption of these two factors led to miscommunication, loss in productivity and customers, stoppage of payment and a hiatus in delivery services, among other effects on the economy.
Artists such as entertainers on YouTube, musicians on Spotify and online entrepreneurs on any web platform suffer the most.
The top internet shutter was Myanmar, which lost about $2.4 billion over the duration of 4,894 hours, which affected 22 million people because they were conducting peaceful protests advocating for free and fair elections and establishing a free press.
Down the list are India, which lost about $370 million and affected more than 17 million people; Nigeria, which lost $12 million, affecting 104.4 million people; Uganda, which lost $51.5 million and affected 10.6 million people; and Syria, which lost more than $47 million, affecting about 6 million people.
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