Kayah State mobile internet blackout, 2022
2022-01-06 → Ongoing
- Kayah: confirmed by 1 independent source — STOP — last checked 2024-07-21
DRAFT — needs an editor rewrite. Access Now's STOP dataset records mobile internet as "virtually inaccessible for most of 2022" across Loikaw, Demoso, Bawlakhe, Hpasawng, and Mese townships in Kayah State, starting January 6 (Loikaw) and February 1 (the other four) for the remaining townships. The STOP record's own status field is "Ongoing" with no end date filled in — this reflects the dataset never being revisited after initial entry, not a confirmed claim that the blackout is still active as of 2026. No corroborating technical signal (OONI, BGP, IODA) was found or attempted for this event — it is STOP-anchored only, per M2 scope (detection-sequence backfill was limited to the top 5 events). Stale-ongoing review (2026-07): confirmed genuinely persisting, not a stale STOP record — active fighting in Karenni State continues through at least Q2 2026, with connectivity in these townships remaining severely restricted per contemporaneous reporting. See detection_sequence for the dated 2026 confirmation.
Detection sequence
- Access Now STOP
Access Now STOP record: mobile internet virtually inaccessible for most of 2022 across five Kayah State townships (Loikaw from Jan 6, four others from Feb 1).
- Media
Myanmar Digital Coup Quarterly (EngageMedia/myanmarinternet.info, Feb–Apr 2026): communication disruptions ongoing in Karenni (Kayah) State townships tied to active fighting — junta airstrike on Mawchi area (Hpasawng township) cut phone/internet during the quarter; only MPT/Mytel sporadically available, and only in Loikaw and Shadaw. Myanmar Now separately reports blackouts 'worsening' in Karenni State through 2025. Stale-ongoing check (M2 patch): this closes the >60-day gap with a dated, sourced confirmation rather than leaving the 2022 record to imply continuity on its own.
- IODA
IODA cross-check (maintainer research, 2026-07): queried region 2748 (Kayah) directly. bgp: NO DATA before 2026-01-18, 2022 (region not yet instrumented by IODA at this event's Jan 6, 2022 start — a coverage-boundary null, not a signal); from 2022-01-18 through Dec 31, 2022 the signal is flat at 'fully up' (constant value=1) with zero drop detected anywhere in the STOP-reported 'most of 2022' window. ping-slash24: NO DATA for this region at any time queried, including a 2026-recent sanity check — a genuine, permanent coverage gap for Kayah on this datasource, not a time-window issue. Result: NO SIGNAL either datasource, consistent with sub-country/mobile-level resolution limits — a five-township mobile-data restriction would not necessarily show up in region-aggregate BGP prefix visibility. Does not corroborate or contradict the current 'ongoing' status; not used to change it.