Ethiopian businesses have lost over 200 Millions Dollars ! ,Social Media Online Markets blackout still ongoing

An expert in the field said that the closure of some social media sites in Ethiopia has affected Online Market. 

Bahru Zeinu, the vice president of Digital Transformation Ethiopia, told Voice of America that the closure of social media has slowed down online shopping, which was already booming. He said the situation has a negative impact on the economy.  

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, on the other hand, said that blocking social media is an action that violates the right to access information and freedom of expression, and the restriction should be lifted.

Social media has become rampant, and it’s a part of our daily lives, so one can only imagine how Ethiopians reacted when the platform was restricted just before a rival rally. The decision came in after a split in the Orthodox church.

It all began about a month ago when certain clerics alleged that the main church discriminated against people based on their ethnicity. The church has denied these allegations but it didn’t stop the protestors from moving forward.

The protests which were to take place on Sunday were banned by the authorities. Some of the supporters of the church seemed angry, mainly because they believed the authorities were backing the group that accused the church.

Members of the church have said to post details of the rally and their determination to proceed with it even with the ban in place. The orthodox church is one of the oldest churches in the sub-Saharan Africa region and has been in place prior to European missionaries settling down in the region.

The internet shutdown scare is a common tactic Ethiopia uses when they need to control the population or require them to comply with rules set in place. While it’s not common for the country to go ahead with a shutdown, especially in the capital, the threat is sometimes needed when there’s a population of roughly 115 million to control and the fear that they might go rogue.

While complete internet shutdown is a  rare phenomenon in Ethiopia, it’s not unheard of. Certain areas of Tigray were deprived of the internet with an aim to put a peace deal in place last November. The ban put an end to a two-year conflict which was brokered by the African Union. It’s surprising to see what preventing people from the internet can get them to do.

Since Ethiopia has only blocked social media, sites like TikTok, Telegram, Messenger and Facebook are affected. This is being handled by an organization called Netblocks. Since people can still browse the internet, using a VPN can help them gain access to social media sites as well. However, if the country was to ban internet services, this wouldn’t be an option anymore.

According to TOP10VPN, the demand in Ethiopia for VPNs went up 1,430% on Friday. Schools were shut on Friday due to the tension between the religious societies and the fear that it might get out of control at any time.

With all that’s happening, the authorities are preparing for an annual AU summit next week. The last time such a meet was held, it was to finalize the Tigray deal. People in Addis Ababa might not be at ease while the government holds this meeting at the AU headquarters situated there.

What Caused the Split?

The leadership of the main orthodox church was accused by three archbishops from Oromia, a place that surrounds Addis Ababa (one of the most populated places in the country) that it lacks diversity and discriminates against people based on ethnicity.

They claim that for a very long time, the church has been handled only by ethnic groups. People need to use Amharic as the working language for the people due to the leader of the church being an ethnic Tigrayan.

The clerics claim that there should be services in Oromo. While the church claims to use the language for services, the clerics say it’s barely used. The archbishops have a large number of supporters in Oromia and have planned a rally in Addis Ababa to protest against the church.

Things didn’t go as planned for the clergy with the authorities placing an injunction on their plans to protest and banning them from entering the church as well. This isn’t a fallout that will go unnoticed and will grab political attention as well.

According to certain analysts, Abune Mathais who is the patriarch hasn’t been on the best of terms with the authorities post the discussion about the war in Tigray.

The rally was a planned one to prove the strength of the people who supported the notion. The interference angered Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. He stated his cabinet ministers should stay away from the conflict.

What’s Next?

Post the ban on social media and the rally, it has been announced that Mr. Abiy will meet with the patriarch to help ease tensions in the next few days. A Human Rights Commission linked to the state has also come forward. They issued a statement stating that the security forces used excessive force against the main church followers. This statement is in reference to the arbitrary arrests, harassment and beatings. This includes the killing of eight people due to these clashes which took place in Shashamane, a town in Oromia .

In 2019, Ventures Africa published a magazine titled “Why is the internet still off?” to query the rising trend of internet shutdowns across Africa. At that time, the continent averaged 15 shutdowns yearly, and Ethiopia was one of the countries under the spotlight. Now, it’s 2023, and the internet is still off in Ethiopia.

In November 2020, Ethiopia’s Tigray region entered a deadly war between Tigrayan rebels and government forces. Since then, the war has claimed up to 600,000 lives and displaced millions from their homes. But that’s not all the country has lost to the war.

Since the war started, Tigray, home to more than 5 million people, has been mostly without internet, telecommunications, and banking. And the economy has lost about $400 million to it. 

A report by Top10VPN, a London-based VPN review firm that assesses internet privacy, security, and freedom, shows that Ethiopian businesses lost $145.8 million in 2022 alone. In 2020, the country lost $100 million to its internet blackout. Then, the number rose to $164.5 million in 2021, affecting 21.3 million users. 

Mekelle, the capital of Tigray, had a 22-month-long power outage because of this war. So, despite the restoration of electricity in December, the damage had been done, with many businesses shutting down and residents fleeing the town.

Ethiopia has kept an unhealthily long record of internet blackouts over the years. Since 2016, the country has shut down the internet 22 times. But in 2022, Ethiopia’s internet shutdown lasted 8760 hours (365 days), making it the world’s longest uninterrupted shutdown, according to Top10VPN.

“As in other areas of the world, the main reason authorities implement shutdowns is to stifle the free flow of information during elections, conflict, or protests. Internet shutdowns are, above all else, a method of control, but that doesn’t mean they’re always successful,” the report says.

In November, the warring sides signed a ceasefire agreement. However, the internet is still off, with no clear timeline for Tigray to get back online. “There is no timeline,” Belete Molla, Ethiopia’s innovation and technology minister,  told delegates last November during the UN annual Internet Governance Forum in Addis Ababa. So, for now, Ethiopia will keep losing money.

Hypothetical, yet true?

In all this, it’s notable that the figures TopVPN estimated might not be accurate. It used the Cost of Shutdown Tool (COST) by Netblocks, an internet monitoring NGO. And while Netblocks claims that it bases its calculations on indicators from the World Bank, ITU, Eurostat and US Census, they’re purely hypothetical.

For instance, Netblocks’ method implies that countries lose the same amount of money when any one of the biggest social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube) gets shut down. But that theory assumes that all these platforms are equally potent, which is not a fact.

It’s difficult to track how much countries, especially in Africa, lose to internet shutdowns, primarily because no one knows how much revenue comes in when the internet stays on. However, it’s necessary to use figures like COST’s to give perspective. There is no way a region or country remains disconnected from the internet for a full year without losing a fortune.

It’s a continental affair

The trend of internet gagging is taking millions of dollars from other African countries. Last year, Sudan lost $17.8 million due to the government’s continued use of internet shutdowns to crack down on pro-democracy protests since a military coup in October. “Internet access was cut twice in early January and again in June as protests were crushed and protestors killed. Internet access in Sudan was also deliberately disrupted by the government 11 times in June to prevent cheating in exams,” TopVPN’s study says.

Burkina Faso’s government also shut down the internet for 380 hours, locking out nearly 4 million people and costing the country $12.6 million. It made this move following a failed military coup, a period of unrest, and the army’s announcement that it had taken complete control of Burkina Faso.

In Algeria, a 20-hour Facebook access restriction and a four-hour partial internet outage on June 13 affected over 25 million people, costing the country $8 million.

Also, authorities in Zimbabwe throttled internet speeds and cut off internet access during opposition party rallies last year. This happened in two separate cases in the weeks leading up to crucial parliamentary by-elections in the country. It affected an estimated 5 million people and cost Zimbabwe $1.6 million. Sierra Leone and Somaliland also lost $2.6 million and $1.2 million, respectively, to internet blackouts last year.

Internet shutdowns are slowing down Africa’s growth, and unless digital freedom becomes a priority, Africa’s digital economy might not reach its desired heights.