Government orders were the leading cause of internet disruptions in Q3 2026 , ahead of power failures and natural disasters, according to Cloudflare Radar. Between July and September 2026, the monitoring service recorded 49 disruptions worldwide, including repeated exam-day shutdowns in Iraq and a complete, 10-day internet blackout in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Key takeaways
Government-directed shutdowns accounted for 19 incidents, including 18 in Iraq.
Power failures disrupted connectivity across 10 countries.
Earthquakes, typhoons and floods caused five recorded disruptions.
Internet disruptions in Q3 2026: the global picture
Cloudflare Radar recorded 49 disruptions during the quarter by monitoring traffic reaching Cloudflare customers. The company’s global network handles more than 20% of web traffic , giving it visibility into changes in internet connectivity.
Government-directed shutdowns accounted for 19 incidents, power outages for 14, and natural disasters for five. The disruptions ranged from scheduled access restrictions to damage affecting electricity supplies and telecommunications infrastructure.
Recovery times varied. Cloudflare reported that 14 disruptions returned to typical traffic levels in under an hour, while 16 recovered in less than three hours.
Iraq’s exam shutdowns dominated government restrictions
Iraq accounted for 18 exam-related shutdowns , making it the main contributor to government-directed internet disruptions in Q3 2026. The restrictions followed a strict schedule around 03:30–04:00 UTC, with individual outages lasting approximately 15–90 minutes.
Most occurred between August 26 and September 28, with three taking place between July 1 and July 8. Internet Society Pulse reported that Iraq’s Minister of Communication, Mustafa Sanad, confirmed the shutdowns in a video message and pledged to develop a digital system that would remove the need for centralized exam distribution and exam-day internet restrictions.
In Ethiopia, renewed conflict in Tigray accompanied a 10-day government-directed shutdown . Traffic in the region fell by 100%, indicating a complete loss of access. The disruption also registered nationally, with HTTP traffic declining by up to 30%.
Power failures spread from local facilities to national networks
Power outages caused 14 disruptions across 10 countries , making electricity failures the second-largest category in Cloudflare’s quarterly count. Routers, mobile base stations, data centers and interconnection facilities all depend on power to maintain connectivity.
Four separate outages affected Cuba’s power supply: incidents on July 6, July 14, and August 3, followed by a blackout lasting three days between September 18 and September 20. The drop in traffic varied between a low of 18% recorded on July 14 and a high of 59% on August 3.
In Honduras, a September 10 power failure at an interconnection facility affected at least 11 major providers. The roughly three-hour outage cut national HTTP traffic by 63% , illustrating how a localized failure at a concentrated traffic exchange point can disrupt access across a country. Telecomunicaciones de Guatemala and Celtel remained unaffected.
A July 5 power outage in Sevastopol, Ukraine, lasted eight hours and reduced HTTP traffic by 98%. On August 12, drone strikes against energy infrastructure caused another power outage, producing a ten-hour internet disruption and a traffic decline of up to 95%.
Infrastructure failures also affected individual networks. A cooling system breakdown at a Phoenix data center on August 13 caused a near-total traffic drop at Namecheap.
Storms, earthquakes and floods damaged connectivity
Natural disasters caused five recorded disruptions , with damage to electricity and telecommunications infrastructure affecting connectivity from Guam to Colombia. Recovery ranged from hours after flooding to several days following major physical damage.
In Guam, Super Typhoon Bavi brought widespread power outages and a multi-day internet recovery. According to the Guam Power Authority, powerful winds damaged critical transmission lines, which at one point left only roughly 25% of distribution feeders operational.
In Japan, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake prompted evacuation orders affecting roughly 150,000 people in Kumamoto. Cloudflare observed the connectivity impact primarily in desktop traffic.
A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck Colombia in August, triggering a four-and-a-half-day internet disruption ; fiber-optic infrastructure damage, together with broader effects from the quake, led to a significant drop in traffic at Colombia Telecomunicaciones.
In Nepal, flash floods struck the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river systems on August 26, damaging homes, infrastructure and essential services across Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Dhading districts. The resulting connectivity disruption lasted two hours, with HTTP traffic falling by up to 18%.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
