Internet shutdowns in Ethiopia: Discourses of digital sovereignty and information suppression amid political instability

Abstract

This study examines Ethiopia’s Internet shutdowns between 2005 and 2024, analyzing their frequency, motives, and socio-political impact within the discursive frames of digital sovereignty and Internet governance. By adopting a mixed-methods approach of quantitative trend analysis and secondary qualitative research of government narratives, we identify four different types of shutdowns including Internet blackouts, network shutdowns, platform blockages, and Internet slowdowns. Our findings reveal Ethiopia experienced a systematic escalation of shutdowns, transitioning from sporadic disruptions in the early periods of our data sample to sustained, highly targeted interventions by 2023–2024. We found official government narratives portray shutdowns as “necessary” measures for public safety, linking cyberhate and misinformation to real-world violence. We argue the Ethiopian case underscores the usefulness of a nuanced approach to digital sovereignty in Global South contexts where shutdowns are used ambivalently as reactive tools to mitigate platform failures in content moderation while also lending themselves to political control and expressive repression.