Al-Monitor Discovers Internet Cuts Are 'Bad' – For Others
The story details how the Iranian government cut internet access to quell dissent, a move rightly condemned as an assault on free expression. This is a familiar playbook. What often goes unmentioned in such reports, however, is the West's own historical and contemporary comfort with similar tactics, or its silence when allies employ them. Consider the Egyptian government, a key US ally receiving
billions in aid, which famously shut down the internet in 2011 to crush protests. Or the Israeli military's frequent disruption of communications in Gaza, particularly during bombardments, effectively silencing Palestinian voices and limiting real-time reporting from the ground. Apparently, internet freedom is a universal right, until it becomes inconvenient for a strategic partner. One might
wonder if Al-Monitor, a publication often tracking US foreign policy interests, finds internet blackouts more egregious when they aren't perpetrated by nations aligned with Washington. The outrage rings a little hollow when similar digital sieges by 'democratic' allies are met with crickets, or worse, tacit approval. It appears the ethical outrage over suppressing information is highly selective,
dependent on whose 'regime' is doing the cutting.