Belarus internet shutdown: how did it happen?

Belarus has a new-but-old president Alexander Lukashenko, but 
some people just don’t buy that he was re-elected fair and 
square. The internet shutdown only reinforced suspicions that 
the results might be counterfeit.

“Once they shut down the internet, it was clear they are hiding 
something,” Michael Klimarev, executive director at the Internet 
Protection Society,  told CyberNews. The internet shutdown was 
expected, he said, but it wasn’t done professionally.


Intelfeedia
@intelfeedia
Police and protesters clash in #Minsk as pro-democracy activists 
take to the streets to claim #Lukashenko’s election victory was 
rigged. #Belarusprotests #BelarusPresidentialElection 
@TheWarMonitor @TheresaAFallon @Natsecjeff

2:46 PM · Aug 9, 2020
20
17 people are Tweeting about this

Maksimas Mita, Head of the Communication and Development Unit at 
European Humanities University told us how exactly the shutdown 
has happened. Both experts agree – the disruption of the 
internet is likely to repeat as Belarusians are not quite happy 
with the official results.


NetBlocks.org
@netblocks
·
Aug 9, 2020
?? Confirmed: Internet service has been significantly disrupted 
in #Belarus amid presidential elections.

Real-time network data show social media and other services now 
becoming unavailable on multiple fixed-line and cellular 
operators ?? #Belarus2020

?? https://netblocks.org/reports/internet-disruption-hits-
belarus-on-election-day-YAE2jKB3
NetBlocks.org
@netblocks
Network metrics indicate that some internet disruptions 
affecting #Belarus started at ~3:00 a.m. local with brief but 
high impact observed in #Minsk, varying by route.

A second wave of disruptions began as #Belarus2020 polls opened, 
exhibiting increasing severity as of noon ??
2:51 AM · Aug 9, 2020
98
See the latest COVID-19 information on Twitter

How did it start?
Maksimas Milta told CyberNews that the shutdown slowly began on 
Sunday morning. First, it was YouTube and Messenger that stopped 
working.

Then the authorities got hold of two important election 
platforms, with the stated aim of safeguarding the election’s 
transparency. One of them – Golas (“vote” or “voice” in 
Belarusian) – is designed to register your vote and report any 
possible violations in constituencies. You have to sign in with 
your unique phone number and upload a picture of your ballot so 
the platform can register your vote.

Another important platform is Zubr – a map for reporting 
violations in real-time.

“So first the authorities blocked these platforms so that people 
could not observe news about possible violations in real-time,” 
said Mr. Milta.

In the afternoon the whole mobile internet was shut down, most 
of the media outlets were unavailable. “Only a few independent 
media outlets were available,” said Mr. Milta. The biggest 
Belarusian independent website tut.by and news agency were 
available, while other independent media, such as Free Radio 
Europe, were out of reach.

Viber, WhatsApp, and Messenger were blocked, and the authorities 
even tried to block Telegram, the most popular app for 
information sharing in Belarus.

When the electoral districts were closed, home internet was 
blocked too, said Mr. Milta. It was impossible to reach any 
independent media.

“At 10 pm, clashes with OMON started, and the internet was 
blocked completely. It was impossible to reach even application 
stores and buy a VPN client,” said Mr. Milta.

Only at 3 or 4 am was it possible to connect to some services 
via proxy: “We are talking about 9.5 million people who were 
refused the internet.”

He is sure that in case protests continue, so will the 
disruption of the internet.

The shutdown was not successful?
“We foresaw this would happen. Shutdowns are not rare in the 
world. We just didn’t know how it would be done in Belarus,” 
Michael Klimarev, executive director at the Internet Protection 
Society, told CyberNews.

He was prepared for the worst, and Belarus came close to that 
scenario.


Sebastian Plocharski
@SPlocharski
Belarusian democracy by Lukashenko. Europe's last dictator, 
yesterday again rigged the election, I belive again. The 
internet and phone calls in Minsk are still jammed. This is how  
the eastern part of the Europe looks like, just right now 
#Belarus
3:47 AM · Aug 10, 2020
2
See Sebastian Plocharski’s other Tweets

“The worst thing that could happen is the shutdown of the whole 
country. Technically they didn’t succeed to do that as some 
information was getting through,” said Mr. Klimarev. But the 
authorities managed to hurt the business.

“The ATMs, various services, Github and Google Docs, Slack, and 
other online services that are vital to business operations were 
down. Some medical equipment didn’t work, navigation for 
transport control. About half of Belarus was shut down. If that 
lasts for a short period, it’s ok, but if it goes on for a week, 
the consequences for the business will be immense,” said Mr. 
Klimarev.

He reckons that the authorities didn’t succeed in shutting down 
the internet.

“Look at Lukashenko. He is senior and is not tech-savvy. And the 
team he’s surrounded himself with is just like him. They are 
trying to control something but they do not succeed. Of course, 
you can’t access YouTube but you can communicate with each 
other. People pass the information along,” said Mr. Klimarev.

He is also sure the presidential elections were not transparent.

“Once they shut down the internet, it was clear they are hiding 
something. To put it mildly, the elections were not transparent. 
We don’t believe Belarusians elected Mr. Lukashenko. He hijacked 
power,” said Mr. Klimarev.

https://cybernews.com/editorial/belarus-internet-shutdown-how-
did-it-happen/