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Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

You're listening The Fifth Floor.

The Fifth Floor, you know you, listen.

The Fifth Floor, Farnaknak Amidi, Sobeth.

This is the fifth floor at the heart of global storytelling

with BBC journalists from all around the world.

I'm your host, Faranak Amidi. On the 8th of January, the Iranian government switched off people's access to internet amid widespread

protests across the country. In another part of the world in Uganda, prior to last week's elections,

the government of President Yoeri Museveni blocked its citizens from accessing the Internet.

Worldwide, Afghanistan, Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh, just to name a few,

have all taken the decision to severely restrict internet

access at times of perceived political crisis or challenge. Back in 2009, social media played a

huge role in Iran's green movement, and after that, during the Arab Spring, internet access

and digital media were seen as game-changing communications tools for democratization.

Now, how vulnerable are protests and political opposition to being taken offline?

My colleagues, Haudini Lee from BBC Persian, Roncliffe Odit from BBC Swahili, and Ragranda Rao, who reports from India, are with me to

answer this question. Welcome, everyone, to the fifth floor. Great to have you.

Great to be here. Let's start with the how. Can each of you talk a little about how the internet

is turned off in the countries you cover, technically,

and how it is actually done. So, Hadi, let's start with you, since Iran is in a complete

blackout at the moment that we're talking. Yep. January 8th was the day that many opposition

...