Vodafone Group—Vodafone publicly proposed a transparent governance framework requiring legal basis, judicial review, and public reporting for government-ordered network shutdowns
Citing a record 313 deliberate internet shutdowns across 52 countries in 2025 affecting roughly 800 million people, Vodafone Group published a report calling on governments to treat network shutdowns only as an exceptional last resort. Chief External & Corporate Affairs Officer Joakim Reiter proposed a 'Transparent Governance Framework' requiring a clear legal basis, a legitimate public policy objective, evidence of necessity and proportionality, written orders, independent oversight, access to judicial challenge, and public reporting on rationale and impact for any shutdown.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infrastructure Accountability | +toward | primary | +1.00 |
| Open Internet & Web Freedom | +toward | secondary | +0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | +0.443 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Vodafone's own newsroom published its call for a transparent governance framework on network shutdowns
Vodafone Group's official newsroom published a report finding 313 deliberate internet shutdowns across 52 countries in 2025, the worst year on record, and set out a proposed governance framework requiring legal basis, necessity and proportionality tests, written orders, independent oversight, judicial challenge, and public reporting for any shutdown.