Vodafone has suggested what it calls a Transparent Governance Framework, a stronger safeguards around government-mandated internet shutdowns.
According to the release, state mandated shutdowns reached record levels in 2025, with more than 300 of them recorded across 52 countries, which meant around 800 million people were affected by restrictions on connectivity.
A new report by Vodafone asserts that a growing use of shutdowns “goes beyond information blackouts to impose increasingly severe social, economic and security costs while often failing to achieve the policy objectives governments seek to deliver.”
It also says that over the last decade the frequency, duration and financial cost of them have increased, and highlights some stats on this point.
Last year, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition recorded at least 313 deliberate internet shutdowns across 52 countries, which apparently makes it the worst year on record.
That year there were 47 percent more hours of full internet blackouts than in 2024, 66 percent more hours of single platform social media shutdowns, and around 800 million people were affected by deliberate internet or network restrictions, we’re told.
It also says the global economic cost of internet shutdowns in 2025 is estimated at nearly USD 20 billion, and that losses are disproportionately concentrated in low- and middle-income countries.
“Many shutdowns have extended for days, weeks or months, cutting entire communities off simultaneously from domestic and international communications, emergency services, education platforms and financial systems,” states the release.
The report collates some perspectives on this and from this a “consistent picture emerges,” we’re told. It points to network shutdowns causing disruption to essential services, affecting healthcare, education, public safety and livelihoods.
Meanwhile, they reduce economic activity across sectors and markets, with repeated and targeted shutdowns generating “substantial cumulative losses while delivering little evidence of achieving their intended policy objectives,” says the report.
It adds that the “security rationale for network shutdowns is frequently overstated. And rather than improving public safety or national security, shutdowns can hinder emergency communications, weaken cyber security monitoring and create information vacuums that allow misinformation to spread more easily.”
The report acknowledges governments have legitimate responsibilities to protect national security and public safety, and that some connectivity restrictions “may be justified in exceptional circumstances.” However it points out that in many countries, network restrictions are imposed without “clear legal frameworks or robust accountability mechanisms.”
The purpose of the report is to present Vodafone’s Transparent Governance Framework. It’s stated goal is “to ensure any connectivity restriction is lawful, necessary, proportionate and subject to independent oversight.”
According to this network shutdowns should be considered only as an exceptional measure of last resort. It states that “shutdowns can be justified only where there is a clear legal basis, a legitimate public policy objective, and robust evidence demonstrating that the measure is necessary to address a specific and credible threat.”
This Framework would require governments to demonstrate that no alternative is available and that the expected benefits outweigh the harms.
“If a shutdown fails any of these tests, it should not proceed,” the report noted.
The premises in the framework are described as:
- Shutdown directives must be guided by national and international standards.
- Executive discretion must be documented, reasoned, and reviewable.
- Connectivity restrictions should remain exceptional measures of last resort.
It would also establish stronger procedural safeguards before, during and after any restriction is imposed, like written orders, independent oversight, regular reviews, access to judicial challenge, and public reporting.
