Delegating censorship: Internet service providers’ engagement in internet shutdowns

Internet disruptions–the temporary halt of access to (specific) internet services–have become a popular tool to control the flow of digital information and communication, especially in autocracies during politically contentious times. While governments rely on internet service providers (ISPs) to implement such disruptions, there is no systematic evidence as to which ISPs follow or resist government requests to disrupt their services. In this paper, we develop a tool that allows to infer variance in ISP behaviour at times of political contestation based on abnormal trends in the use of virtual private network (VPN) providers. Specifically, we examine real-time usage data of Psiphon, one of the worldwide most-used free and open-source VPN providers, across ISPs during all national elections that happened on the African continent between 2018 and 2021. VPN real-time usage data can shed light on the day-to-day contestation over access to internet services by indicating when users sought out uncensored content and censors adapted new methods to prevent this. Overall, our research produces a more realistic understanding of the societal, political and economic implications of internet provision and its disruption in authoritarian-developing contexts, considering the role of telecommunication companies. The paper is co-authored with Joss Wright, Oxford Internet Institute, who is not yet registered with the ECPR.