Internet shutdowns by governments are bad for corporate marketing

[Findingnemo]

Government don't shutdown the internet on the whole country, they are doing it in the particular region right? So not much of the economic activities are going to get affected and internet has been shutdown normally to stop the communication between local people and outside people so no one other than people there knows exactly what is happening and this is normally implemented in tension between military and locals.

You're asking a strange question because, for instance, I can't recall a case in the EU where the Internet was shut down. It would paralyze the banking system because it wuold stop ATMs and electronic payments and as a result paralyze the country. Even politicians know they'd be affected by not being able to pay for a hotel room or a rented car with their card, unable to buy plane tickets and fly home to their families. There's not going to be any Internet shutdown in any country that isn't run by a crazy regime like North Korea or Venezuela.

But it happened in India I guess and some other developing countries, even though they didn't shut down the internet over their entire country if they do then it will result into a chaotic situation as you described they just targetted particular region and lasted for months.

[michellee]

I am sure the government will not shutdown the internet, because human activities are currently very dependent on the internet.
So the impact will be very bad without the internet, not only corporations will be affected if the internet is shut down. However,
the government will also be affected, because current government activities also require the internet.

The world is going digital already even the central bank, so it's not right to shut down the internet in any reason.
Internet has become vital now as it's use everywhere and every activities, name it, online selling, online job and even online financial transaction.

Government should be sued if they'll do that.

If the government really shut down the internet, that can ruin everything because, in the digital era, almost all sectors use the internet to work. That sector really depends on the internet. So we can imagine if the internet shut down by the government, we will be back to the stone age, and nothing we can do to prevent that. That will be chaos and demonstration from the people. So the government won't try to shut down the internet, but they can still control the internet with their power.

[Leviathan.007]

While many people in all over the world are using the internet for their livings, sadly in some countries like Sudan and Ethiopia the governments will easily shutdown the internet without of any proper answers (They say technical problems) and this will really damage the economy of that country to stay away from other countries. While the main reason for the internet shutdowns are usually political and religious stuff by the governments to avoid incoming news and information from other countries to their country.

[panganib999]

All things that are made to be accessible through internet will surely be get affected once internet is shutdown or there is an error that came along with the telecommunications company which are the internet service orovider. Those things that will surely get affected are the corporate marketing of course that now relies on social media and online advertisements, classes that are made through online, remote working as well. Those will surely get affected and be interrupted once internet suffers shutdown moment which is really not good specially most of us are now being reliant on internet service now that we are in pandemic and we are in the technological advancement era that all are accessible and made possible by internet. It would be a bad image for government shutting down internet services for any reasons knowing it would affect a big population of people that will possibly have an impact on the country's economy.

[Oceat]

I am just curious of what could be the reason why they have to shut down the internet for a while? It's unusual that they just shut it down without telling first hand what could be the cause because I'm sure they already know that it could affect the whole economy in their country. Not unless it's just shut down on a specific area only because they are trying to stop something (If you could only knew though what was that).

[NotATether]

You do realize that this is last years that anyone can have a right to close down your internet. Google, tesla, facebook and basically all high level tech companies are working together in a tink tank type of situation (and fairly developed already) to provide internet to whole world without connection.

They are basically building a whole line of satellites that would provide the same exact internet to everyone in the world, they also have the greatest servers in the world without a doubt, so simply put they will just provide the fastest available internet with no limitations to everywhere in the world equally and it will be incredibly cheap as well. Obviously there is a cost when you build something like that but when you provide it to whole world it gets a lot more profitable, plus they like selling ads to you, so your internet could come with ads and for free as well, who knows?

At this point I wouldn't mind if Facebook launched a free internet service to use. True, almost all of these big companies have privacy scandals against them, but I'd take it over an unreliable ISP connection (broadband lines are few and far between and so you need deep pockets to get them e.g. if you run a business or are wealthy).

[The Sceptical Chymist]

But I have a reason to believe that civilians deprived of internet access is dangerous for companies trying to make a profit.

Of course it's detrimental--or dangerous as you put it--to any business that relies on the internet for sales.  This happened in Sudan?  I don't know what kind of internet providers you guys have over there, or even what your government is like, so there's no way for me to comment on why a thing like that would happen to your citizens.  But that's really messed up if you ask me.

Nothing like that has happened country-wide in any other place I know of; certainly not in the US.  Ever.  There have been times when the electricity has gone out, but even then you still have internet access from mobile devices as long as you can keep them charged.

You do realize that this is last years that anyone can have a right to close down your internet. Google, tesla, facebook and basically all high level tech companies are working together in a tink tank type of situation (and fairly developed already) to provide internet to whole world without connection.
<snip>

Huh.  I'm not sure if I should be enthusiastic about that or nervous.  Privacy is clearly becoming a relic of a bygone era, but stuff like that would pretty much wipe it out entirely for anyone using the internet.  Yikes.

[NotATether]

But I have a reason to believe that civilians deprived of internet access is dangerous for companies trying to make a profit.

Of course it's detrimental--or dangerous as you put it--to any business that relies on the internet for sales.  This happened in Sudan?  I don't know what kind of internet providers you guys have over there, or even what your government is like, so there's no way for me to comment on why a thing like that would happen to your citizens.  But that's really messed up if you ask me.

I'll help you understand the situation with ISPs here. As far as mobile networks go we got two private ISPs (zain, mtn) and one partially state-owned ISP (sudani). The situation for broadband is different we got a few different providers for those though some of the mobile ISPs also sell ADSL lines.

Basically the government ordered all ISPs to shut off their mobile lines (but not broadband as you can't bring a router and ethernet line with you to the exam room)

It makes sense that the government is able to order their state owned ISP to shut off some of their internet services for whatever reason, given that they partially own it and so have a say in their operations, but forcing 100% private owned ISPs for it? Absolute no-no for me, it's something I won't accept. Somebody has too much power in the power-sharing transitional government.

And thankfully the exam season circus is over so I no longer have to put up with these shutdowns.

[Xxmodded]

I know how situation when bitcoin and altcoin have good or bad moment and we lost chance to sell, buy or take order during internet lost and shut down by government. We can't get good chance if our country is not keep stay for internet and electric, how ever both them is most important for investor, trader and many people depend their life with internet and electric. I am really happy with my country keep going on for giving good service by keeping internet with higher speed and keep on for electric.

[CODE200]

There is really a great impact which is a negative one when the internet gets a problematic scenario such as being disconnected or being shut down for it will duly affect everything that can only be accessed by having an internet connection. Corporate marketing is not just the one who will get affected by the loss of internet but also other stuffs that depends on internet usage such as education and works most specially at times like this that those two become reliant and dependent on having internet because of the new normal setup that tends students and workers to get their normal loads done at home through digital setup amid with the existence of the covid-19 pandemic. Not just corporate marketing would be affected by loss of internet but also other stuffs being done through online. People are now dependent on Internet's existence for we are at the phase of digitalization that almost everything are accessible and are made possible by having an internet access.

[shield132]

Where are internet shutdowns done by governments? Or in overall in which countries are internet shutdowns common? I don't know to be fair, maybe in Afghanistan and in similar countries but corporate marketing and this kind of business isn't something that shines there.
Btw if we discuss about it, it has it's pros and cons for governments. Pros is that by turning off electricity and internet, you can hide any information from stream you wish but that sounds brutal, right? Especially in 2020 and isn't a thing that can be done easily. Otherwise shutdown of internet for government isn't beneficial. In corporate marketing, it may help some countries to get rid of spending national currency on Facebook, google and other advertising websites but on another hand government may lost solid profit from online stores and from many kind of business that at some point operates online.

[lovesmayfamilis]

The governments of the world's major powers have a button to turn off the Internet, and it is called an Internet kill switch.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_kill_switch

 Fiber optic cables, laid on the ocean floor, carry all the basic information on the Internet. If these cables are attacked in a coordinated manner, the consequences will be disastrous.

Recently, however, Internet outages have become the "norm" in some countries. Thus, they undermine their own economies, which negatively affects the reputation of the states themselves. It also undermines citizens' confidence on the Internet.

[erikoy]

Not really that bad because internet connections without reprimanding the owners especially their service nothing will going to change like here in our place.

Because of the poor internet service, poor internet connection and the likes, the government will then decided to invite and welcome other telco players to join so that it will get a competition and internet services will not be monopolized by the people who are owning internet connection services here in our place. Hopefully monopolization will end and competitive market will begin.

[ArIMy11]

Not only the corporate marketing is affected. In my country, even students and teachers are badly affected. Due to face to face meeting is prohibited this time in order to less exposure to the virus, online classes are everywhere. Online classes are made so that students will not be left behind or will continuously earn even in this kind of situation. At this point in time, so much people make the internet a pass time, or center of business especially browsing on facebook. Internet plays a very important role during this time but even though our Government has no plan of shutting down the internet, internet connection is already poor which sometimes you may feel that it already shutdown because it can't load anything.

[Serious475]

Not only the corporate marketing is affected. In my country, even students and teachers are badly affected. Due to face to face meeting is prohibited this time in order to less exposure to the virus, online classes are everywhere. Online classes are made so that students will not be left behind or will continuously earn even in this kind of situation. At this point in time, so much people make the internet a pass time, or center of business especially browsing on facebook. Internet plays a very important role during this time but even though our Government has no plan of shutting down the internet, internet connection is already poor which sometimes you may feel that it already shutdown because it can't load anything.

Right now on my country there is a two dominating internet service provider and they hold by a single businessman with different connections into other people. Because of the pandemic we need to still continue most of the things we are doing and one of these are the schools the teacher and students need to adopt right now because they don't want to skip the year without learning anything due to having a slow internet connection and monopoly on my country the people can't do anything with this. Right now there are a new ISP and this may give them a quite fear because it's more high speed and low fees so there is a chance they will change their service.

[pokeronlinestatus]

If a government should take down the internet , that’s their own loss because the country or region where the internet was shut down is going to be affected badly. There are lots of businesses these days that rely on internet to carry out their activities and communicate with their staff and customers, so imagine the government shutting down the internet, these type of businesses are going to be affected as there will be a lack of communication.

Moreover, another thing we have to put into consideration is the fact that most Businesses these days, even the small stores are online doing their business, so if you should do such a thing, it’s going to have a negative impact since these stores are going to be losing money.

[iv4n]

I think we can all agree that shutting down the internet is not a good option, on the contrary it will have side effects that will be very painful. Which is totally understandable, we all get nervous when we don't have connection! It's even worst when you really need it and you have so many things to do! So shutting down the internet is bad for everyone, or at least for majority!
Internet is an important part of our lives, we can admit or deny that, but it's a fact! Now many people and many business relays on this internet, and to not go off-topic here but that can become serious addiction! Now imagine the addict without his drug?! Shutting down the internet will have the same effects on some people! Maybe many people, I am not sure.

[el kaka22]

There was a topic about how sharks literally cut internet down for some countries. It is not something that we all want to see because it is horrifying if you want to watch it, but if you google (or youtube search) shark attack cable you will see some videos, they literally attack internet cables under the oceans.

However if you live in mainland Europe that means most probably you are getting your internet not via overseas, it may come from up top and you wouldn't worry about it. Long story short the kill switch is not really for these purpose, it is for more political stuff, like let's say if there is a civil war or sorts, they could use the kill switch to prevent the terrorists (or liberators if they are successful, weird) which would really do hurt everyone in that nation as a whole.

[ultrloa]

Internet is an important part of our lives, we can admit or deny that, but it's a fact! Now many people and many business relays on this internet, and to not go off-topic here but that can become serious addiction! Now imagine the addict without his drug?! Shutting down the internet will have the same effects on some people! Maybe many people, I am not sure.

It's now part of the business of all people around the globe and without internet all will struggle to go back on manual things and I believe this will never happen to any country since government also got the benefit of this technology.

But although if this scenario will happen then for sure all will be back in physical things which is so hard for others who used to make things easy with internet.

[noorammak]

I think it's just a problem and carriers are working on it. No country has ever turned down the opportunity to be marketed and thrived in cyberspace. The Internet is a real opportunity and they will take advantage of it, not prevent businesses from accessing it.