Cuba’s Internet Cutoff: the Go-To Tactic for Global Despots

On Monday, Cuban authorities were blocking Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram said Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, a London-based nonprofit internet monitoring group. “This does seem to be a response to the social media-fueled protest,” he said. Twitter did not appear to be blocked, though Toker noted Cuba has the ability to cut it off if it wants to.

Toker noted that while the recent easing of access by Cuban authorities to the internet has increased social media activity, the level of censorship has also risen. Not only does the cutoff block out external voices, he said, it also squelches “the internal voice of the population that wanted to speak out.”

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