WeeklySA_AdminSHUTDOWN: MTN and Vodacom called out for alleged involvement in supporting repressive measures in countries ruled by authoritarian governments such as Eswatini and Iran, ‘which instructed them to switch off the internet’…
By Monk Nkomo
Two of South Africa’s largest mobile network operators, MTN and Vodacom have been accused of colluding with authoritarian regimes in certain African and Middle-Eastern countries to shut down telecommunication networks during mass protests to disconnect millions of people from the rest of the world and thereby violate their human rights.
These allegations are contained in the latest report by Open Secrets, a non- profit organization which does specialized and evidence-based investigative research to uncover how private-sector economic crimes lead to human rights violations. The report used, amongst others, publicly accessible documents that included court documents from litigation cases involving MTN’s financial statements and annual reports.
The organization exposed the alleged involvement of these mobile network companies in supporting repressive policies in countries ruled by authoritarian governments and which instructed telecommunication companies to shut down the internet and other communication services including internet services, during periods of war or political unrests.
‘’ According to MTN’s transparency report, it received twelve (12) orders from the authorities to shut down the internet and or restrict services and it complied with all of these.’’
Open Secrets lamented the fact that these mobile network companies were allowed to operate with impunity despite being implicated in the alleged violation of human rights for millions of people. Any move to shut down access to these services that also included WhatsApp, Twitter, You Tube, SMS and Meta, can have a significant impact on human rights. ‘’The economic value these services offered is significant and when they are shut down, countries lose millions in revenue.’’
A total 48 documented internet shutdowns happened in African and Middle-Eastern countries between 2018 and 2021. The cost of internet shutdowns on the world economy between January 2019 and April 2024, was 52,99 billion US dollars.
The estimated cost of internet shutdowns on the world economy in 2023, dubbing it the single worst year for internet shutdowns, was 9,13 billion US dollars. These shut downs were reported in 39 countries with conflicts being the leading driver of the internet shutdowns.
Open Secrets noted that internet shutdowns were an indication of increasing human rights violations. When the internet gets shut down, people are unable to access the services of hospitals and information required for elections, amongst others.
This report was released a few months after the bloody protests in Mozambique in November last year where a number of people were killed and many injured during marches and protests over the electoral results. It was during that time when Vodacom – at the instruction of the authorities – implemented internet blackouts. This denied millions of Mozambicans their right to communicate with the rest of the world.
In an open letter to the Mozambican government dated November 8, 2024 and copied to mobile network companies, Vodacom Mozambique,Telecomunicacoes de Mocambique and Vettel Group, members of the Net Rights Coalition (NRC), a pan – African Coalition of Internet freedom activists who advocate for the protection of digital rights in Africa, called on the authorities to refrain from ordering internet restrictions.
‘’This blatant violation of human rights is not justifiable or compatible with international human rights laws standards. We are appalled by the series of internet shutdowns that commenced on October 25, 2024. We condemn the internet disruption that happened on October 25 and 26 in response to protests after the announcement of the General Election results held on October 9, 2024.’’
Other countries where shutdowns were ordered – and mobile network operators like MTN and Vodacom obliged – to silence legitimate protests included :
Eswatini
*Eswatini : A report by the Bertelsmann Foundation in 2022 established that 59% of the locals lived in abject poverty, surviving on less than R37 a day. This led to pro-democracy protests. The call for democratic reforms was met with violent police action when about 80 people were killed and hundreds injured. The government also ordered telecommunication companies including MTN to shut down internet and telecommunication services to stifle the challenge to the monarchy.
IRAN
* Iran : A total 551 people were killed by security police during a mass protest against the death of 22-year-old woman, Jina Mahsa Amini , who was tortured by police for ‘’wearing an improper’’ hijab, a violation under Iran’s repressive law. According to data obtained by internet security platform, Cloudflare, MTN Irancell and its partners was ordered by the government to shut down communication services in an effort to silence the protesters and gag attempts to expose violence perpetrated by the regime. The shut down started on September 21, 2022 and ended on October 3, 2022.
DRC
* In the Democratic Republic of Congo : When outgoing President Joseph Kabila attempted to overstay his presidency, his political opponents called on the Congolese people to protest. Nearly 42 people were estimated to have been killed by the police. The number could not be verified because Kabila ordered the shut down of telecommunication services in the country. On the government’s orders, two of the largest telecommunication companies, Vodacom (RDC) and France’s Orange, implemented the shutdown which included SMS services and access to the internet.
UGANDA
* In February 2016, voters in Uganda woke up to prepare for the Presidential elections only to establish that they could not access their social media accounts. According to Open Secrets, MTN Uganda, in a Twitter post later that day, confirmed they had received an order from Uganda’s telecommunications regulatory authority, the Ugandan Communications Commission, ‘’to disable its social media and MobileMoney services due to a threat to public order and safety ahead of the elections.’’
SUDAN
* After the military took over government in Sudan on October 29,2021, they immediately ordered a shutdown on all internet and telecommunication services including cell phones and the internet. During the protests, about 17 people were killed and 250 were injured. Journalists, however, were unable to verify the details of human rights violations by the Sudanese military forces because there was no access to internet services.
On November 9, 2021, news reports revealed that a Judge in the Khartoum District Court had ordered Sudan’s main telecommunications providers – MTN, Zain, a Kuwaiti private company and the local Sudanese provider, Sudani – to restore the internet services. The action was brought by eight complainants from the Sudanese Consumer Protection Society.
The Telecommunications and Post Regulatory Authority, defied the court order and instead stated that the internet blackouts would continue. However, the Judge dismissed this and issued arrest warrants for the Chief Executive Officers of the three companies who responded by restoring the internet services on November 18, 2021.
On April 15, 2023, Sudan was involved in another brutal civil war between two military groups. In February 2024, it was reported that all of Sudan’s main internet operators , including MTN, had again shut down down and cut off communities from the rest of the world.
‘’ In this war, MTN Sudan and its role in shutdowns, shows the impact of corporate complicity on vulnerable communities caught between the interplay of profit, politics and war’’, said Open Secrets.
Referring to MTN’s alleged involvement in the Iran shutdown, Open Secrets said during the extensive blackouts, the MTN Group either could not or chose not to disclose the extent of its role in its subsidiary’s conduct involving human rights violations in its premier human rights report. They had claimed to have a minority stake in the Iranian venture and had no management control.
The Open Secrets’ call to action is that accountability needs to be sought and that South African corporations like MTN and Vodacom needed to be held accountable for their role in alleged human rights violations in the jurisdictions they operated in.Governments, they added, were often the primary actors that instructed telecommunication companies to shut down the internet services and other telecommunication services according to contractual licence agreements .
They called on the South African authorities , including the Hawks, to properly investigate all serious and credible allegations of wrongdoing against the implicated mobile network companies. Where the allegations are not criminal in nature, Parliament should initiate an inquiry into their conduct to examine their roles in shutdowns across its operations that had serious impacts on human rights.
