--- title: What took the Internet offline in Q3 2026 | daily.dev description: Cloudflare Radar recorded 49 global Internet disruptions in Q3 2026. Government-directed shutdowns were the most common cause, with 19 incidents including 18... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/what-took-the-internet-offline-in-q3-2026-qbxmkunf4 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: What took the Internet offline in Q3 2026 | daily.dev og:description: Cloudflare Radar recorded 49 global Internet disruptions in Q3 2026. Government-directed shutdowns were the most common cause, with 19 incidents including 18... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/what-took-the-internet-offline-in-q3-2026-qbxmkunf4 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/qbxMkuNf4.png og:image:alt: What took the Internet offline in Q3 2026 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What took the Internet offline in Q3 2026 **[Cloudflare](https://daily.dev/sources/cloudflare)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Cloudflare Radar recorded 49 global Internet disruptions in Q3 2026. Government-directed shutdowns were the most common cause, with 19 incidents including 18 exam shutdowns in Iraq. Power outages followed with 14 incidents across 10 countries, including a Cuba blackout and a Honduras interconnection facility failure that cut HTTP traffic by 63%. A Sevastopol, Ukraine power outage caused an eight-hour blackout that dropped traffic 98%, and a 10-day shutdown in Ethiopia's Tigray region cut traffic 100%. Natural disasters, including earthquakes in Japan and Colombia and flooding in Nepal, caused five more disruptions. Many outages were brief, with 14 recovering in under an hour. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What caused the most internet disruptions worldwide in Q3 2026 according to Cloudflare Radar? Government-directed shutdowns were the leading cause, accounting for 19 of 49 total disruptions recorded by Cloudflare Radar in Q3 2026, including 18 scheduled exam-related shutdowns in Iraq. Power outages were the second most common cause with 14 incidents across 10 countries, and natural disasters caused five disruptions. _Teams tracking global network reliability trends can follow infrastructure incident reports like this on daily.dev._ ### How much did internet traffic drop during the Ethiopia Tigray internet shutdown in 2026? Traffic dropped by 100%, signaling a full-scale shutdown, during a government-directed Internet shutdown in Ethiopia's Tigray region that lasted 10 days amid renewed conflict. Country-level HTTP traffic still fell by up to 30% even though the outage appeared localized to Tigray. _Anyone monitoring how conflict and policy affect regional connectivity can track reports like this on daily.dev._ ### Why did Iraq shut down internet access during Q3 2026? Iraq conducted scheduled exam-related Internet shutdowns on a strict 03:30 to 04:00 UTC window, each lasting about 15 to 90 minutes, mostly between August 26 and September 28. Iraq's Minister of Communication, Mustafa Sanad, confirmed the shutdowns and said a new digital system was planned to eliminate the need for centralized exam distribution and the related shutdowns. _Developers following internet shutdown policy trends can keep up with cases like Iraq's on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Natural disasters and government interference: examining Q2 2026’s major Internet disruption event](https://daily.dev/posts/natural-disasters-and-government-interference-examining-q2-2026-s-major-internet-disruption-event-ty7vyfkbu) · Cloudflare · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Shutdowns, power outages, and conflict: a review of Q1 2026 Internet disruptions](https://daily.dev/posts/shutdowns-power-outages-and-conflict-a-review-of-q1-2026-internet-disruptions-uwlgbucrp) · Cloudflare · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Cable cuts, storms, and DNS: a look at Internet disruptions in Q4 2025](https://daily.dev/posts/cable-cuts-storms-and-dns-a-look-at-internet-disruptions-in-q4-2025-ymbrfygw8) · Cloudflare · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Iran Internet Shutdown Report](https://daily.dev/posts/iran-internet-shutdown-report-u33pzdz14) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Schneier on Security](https://daily.dev/posts/schneier-on-security-7khgpepdu) · Schneier on Security · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking), [#cloudflare](https://daily.dev/tags/cloudflare) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/what-took-the-internet-offline-in-q3-2026-qbxmkunf4) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"What took the Internet offline in Q3 2026","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-took-the-internet-offline-in-q3-2026-qbxmkunf4","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-took-the-internet-offline-in-q3-2026-qbxmkunf4"},"datePublished":"2026-10-27T13:11:17.127Z","dateModified":"2026-10-27T13:19:57.470Z","description":"Cloudflare Radar recorded 49 global Internet disruptions in Q3 2026. 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