About 300 million Africans experienced internet outages in 2022, according to a new Surfshark research.

According to the report made public on Thursday, after Asia, Africa saw the second-highest level of global censorship in 2022.

Five African countries—Sudan, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, and Somalia—were listed in the report as having banned the internet 13 times in 2022.

The report further detailed that about 4.2 billion people were affected by mass internet censorship globally in 2022, with Asia accounting for nearly half of all new cases.

It further explained that autocratic governments commonly adopt Internet censorship to isolate their citizens from the outside world.

According to the report, Facebook is the social media platform most hated by autocratic governments and was highly censored in 2022.

It specified that since 2015, an astounding 46 per cent of the world’s population had been impacted by several government bans on Facebook.

In response to the findings, Gabriele Racaityte-Krasauske, a spokeswoman for Surfshark, stated that internet censorship had an impact on half of the world’s population in 2022. She emphasised that internet outages were extremely harmful, particularly during conflicts and demonstrations.

“More than half of the world’s population was affected by internet censorship last year. Many of these cases involved full internet disruptions on a local or national level. These can be devastating and extremely dangerous, especially during wartime, protests, or violent government repressions. Internet restrictions can make it difficult or even impossible to mobilise people for the defence of democracy, contact loved ones, access news sites, and spread information to the outside world on what’s happening,” she said.