" Bangladesh's Internet shutdown isolates citizens, disrupts business", 28 July 2024

Student-led protests against quotas for highly sought-after government jobs led to violent clashes that killed at least 147 people in Bangladesh this month.

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The government responded with a countrywide curfew, sending troops to patrol empty roads, and a comprehensive Internet outage on July 18, a tactic it has employed previously at refugee camps and ahead of elections.

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Broadband connectivity was partially restored on Wednesday. Banks and the corporate sector came online first, with others reconnecting more gradually.

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Independent professionals who find work at freelancing platforms are now worried they could be downgraded, while those who provide regular services such as online marketing might lose longstanding relationships after the week-long outage

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Amid the protests, government officials also took aim at social media sites such as Facebook, blaming them for enabling the turmoil. The sites are still offline in Bangladesh.

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Hundreds of thousands of garment workers draw their monthly salaries from automated teller machines; the week-long closure of banks and ATMs left many without cash.

Families that rely on online apps to obtain cooking gas or subsidised food from government supplies struggled to make food.

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People flocked to social media sites, including Facebook, WhatsApp and the messaging platform imo, for updates from friends and family, as well as to speak out during the quota protests. Once these sites fell silent, people felt isolated.