— Edition 1.247 52 verified trackers
ES EN
Politics · Technology · Digital regulation  ·  where data speaks before headlines
Snapshot data
AML/OFAC enforcement against banks and fintech — 418 penalties documented 418 AML/OFAC penalties documented across 177 countries and 379 regula… Corporate bankruptcy and insolvency (Chapter 11) — 4 major corporate bankrup… Corporate bankruptcies hit decade highs: over 717 in the year per S&P… High-impact litigation risk index — 4 high-impact litigations… The risk index (0-100) aggregates five objective factors —procedural … Merger control: multi-jurisdiction competition … — 9 decisions and jurisdict… Merger control diverges by jurisdiction in 2026: the Trump administra… PEPs and sanctions networks · Ibero-American graph — 40 PEP/company nodes with … Ibero-American PEP→company→sanction graph (core: Mapa del Poder, 424 … Sovereign debt distress and restructurings — 5 distress/restructuring … The IMF's 6th Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable report (April 15, 2026… Forced labor in supply chains: entity lists — 4 forced-labor exposure i… Upstream exposure intelligence densifies: the UFLPA Entity List reach… EU AI Act — designation of national authorities — 3/10/14 / 27 Member States Tracker's first event: 3 states with both authorities / 10 partial / … AI Act · Notified bodies for conformity assessment — 1 body with AI-specific a… Ecosystem 'not ready' as of Mar-2026 (standards unpublished, insuffic… Scandal → conviction gap — — milestones logged +1 mirror case: Uribe — 7 years to convict, 8 weeks to reverse, open-… Technology ↔ regulation gap — 26 regulatory milestones +1: Peru closes the generative-AI gap in ~3 years (DS 115-2025-PCM), … CNMC Spain · the Digital Services Coordinator g… — 6 documented milestones The gap becomes chronic: Congress struck down the CNMC's legal empowe… Corporate data breaches: from incident to response — 11 breaches documented +1: Canvas/Instructure, the largest known education breach (≈275M rec… Migration friction in corporate and event mobility — 3 incidents and policies … The 2026 World Cup works as a live stress test: 39 countries under fu… Power and corruption in the courts in Ibero-Ame… — 29 documented cases Jun-2026 review: Uribe updated — first-instance conviction overturned… Crypto · Licenses and authorizations by jurisdi… — 40+ CASPs with full MiCA au… July 1, 2026 cliff: the transitional regime expires (ESMA, Apr 17) wi… Data breaches · Class-action settlements — 5 settlements and mass ca… 271 million dollars across four settlements approved or with deadline… Digital regulatory risk index by country — 16 countries profiled Jun-2026 review: Brazil updated on two layers (EU adequacy Jan 26, 20… Digital services taxes (DST) by country — 3 tax-map milestones docu… About half of European OECD countries have a DST announced, proposed … Global election risk 2026: democracy and digita… — 32 elections profiled 32 electoral processes of 2026 profiled by political regime and digit… ESG · Greenwashing enforcement — 3 enforcement milestones … The legal floor arrives Sep 27, 2026 (ECGT across the 27; transpositi… EU · Digital & sustainability regulatory deadli… — 6 calendar milestones doc… Next critical deadlines: Jun 23, 2026 closes the high-risk classifica… Export controls · Entity List and advanced chips — 6 regime milestones docum… The 2026 shift: licensing for H200/MI325X and equivalents to China mo… GDPR · International transfers and adequacy dec… — 6 framework milestones do… The EU-US DPF remains in force after surviving its first judicial cha… LATAM · AI bills in legislative process — 150+ bills identified 150+ count re-verified; milestones: Peru only country with a regulate… LATAM · Judicial and regulatory sanctions on pl… — $5,2M USD · fine on X Corp. i… Paradigm shift: the STF declared Art. 19 of the Marco Civil partially… Digital political ad spending 2026 — 6 country-platform observ… AdImpact's revised projection (Jun 11): $11.6bn for the 2026 cycle — … Shadow fleet · Sanctioned vessels and enablers — 632 vessels designated by t… +46 vessels in the 20th package (Reg. 2026/506/509/511) to 632; Art. … Whistleblower awards · SEC, CFTC and equivalent… — 3 program milestones docu… The SEC awarded over $60M to 48 whistleblowers in fiscal year 2025 (2… AI Act · Sanctions regime and its actual enforc… — 0 documented AI Act fines… 0 AI Act penalties issued to date: enforcement of high-risk obligatio… Beneficial ownership transparency (UBO / CTA / … — 4 transparency milestones 4 beneficial-ownership transparency milestones documented; the EU req… Crypto industry: collapses, sanctions and convi… — 13 documented cases 13 cases of collapses, sanctions and convictions in the crypto sector… AI harms in court — litigation, rulings and set… — 103 documented cases 103 AI-related harm and rights lawsuits documented; 2026 milestones: … DMA · designated gatekeepers and real compliance — 9 documented DMA acts 9 DMA compliance actions documented against gatekeepers; 2026 develop… Documented electoral disinformation 2026 — 7 documented campaigns 7 electoral disinformation campaigns or patterns documented with open… GDPR · which national authority really sanctions — 11 authorities profiled 11 GDPR enforcement country profiles and milestones documented; 2026 … LATAM · Internet shutdowns and platform blocks — 8 documented events · 202… 8 internet shutdown and blocking episodes documented in Latin America… Operational resilience & cyber (DORA / NIS2 / SEC) — 4 regulatory milestones 4 operational-resilience milestones documented; 2026 is the first rea… Digital fines actually imposed — 61 sanctions recorded 61 high-value penalties across 18 jurisdictions and 6 continents; cov… Commercial spyware: documented cases worldwide — 23 documented cases 23 spyware and surveillance cases documented across the Ibero-America… Trade compliance & forced labor (UFLPA) — 4 actions documented 4 trade-compliance actions on forced labor documented; under UFLPA ar… US · the state AI regulation patchwork — 10 laws and milestones 10 state AI laws or milestones documented in the U.S.; 2026 developme… Electoral digital integrity 2026 — 13 elections profiled 13 elections profiled by digital integrity; 5 with transparent politi… Climate: the gap between pledge and action — 12 countries assessed 12 countries assessed by the Climate Action Tracker: 10 with insuffic… Content moderation: appeals and reversals — 19 documented decisions 19 appealed and reviewed moderation decisions, with their policy, ori… Public AI spending — global government contracts — 50 documented contracts 50 public AI contracts across 15 jurisdictions on 5 continents (45 wi… Campaign promises → fulfillment — 29 term evaluations 29 terms evaluated across 25 countries on five continents EU · Consolidated DSA enforcement decisions — €120M first DSA fine · X · 5 … 5 Member States referred to CJEU for insufficient DSC implementation LATAM · Digital spending in 2026 electoral camp… — $14.794M COP · highest declared … Only 8 of 13 campaigns had reported in Cuentas Claras by mid-May Ibero-America · documented public contracts wit… — 3 contracts verified with… DC registry kickoff · ongoing monthly manual sweep RSF · Press freedom in Latin America — 144 Peru's rank (the region… AR -11 · PE -14 · SV -8 · EC -31 · USA -7 AML/OFAC enforcement against banks and fintech — 418 penalties documented 418 AML/OFAC penalties documented across 177 countries and 379 regula… Corporate bankruptcy and insolvency (Chapter 11) — 4 major corporate bankrup… Corporate bankruptcies hit decade highs: over 717 in the year per S&P… High-impact litigation risk index — 4 high-impact litigations… The risk index (0-100) aggregates five objective factors —procedural … Merger control: multi-jurisdiction competition … — 9 decisions and jurisdict… Merger control diverges by jurisdiction in 2026: the Trump administra… PEPs and sanctions networks · Ibero-American graph — 40 PEP/company nodes with … Ibero-American PEP→company→sanction graph (core: Mapa del Poder, 424 … Sovereign debt distress and restructurings — 5 distress/restructuring … The IMF's 6th Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable report (April 15, 2026… Forced labor in supply chains: entity lists — 4 forced-labor exposure i… Upstream exposure intelligence densifies: the UFLPA Entity List reach… EU AI Act — designation of national authorities — 3/10/14 / 27 Member States Tracker's first event: 3 states with both authorities / 10 partial / … AI Act · Notified bodies for conformity assessment — 1 body with AI-specific a… Ecosystem 'not ready' as of Mar-2026 (standards unpublished, insuffic… Scandal → conviction gap — — milestones logged +1 mirror case: Uribe — 7 years to convict, 8 weeks to reverse, open-… Technology ↔ regulation gap — 26 regulatory milestones +1: Peru closes the generative-AI gap in ~3 years (DS 115-2025-PCM), … CNMC Spain · the Digital Services Coordinator g… — 6 documented milestones The gap becomes chronic: Congress struck down the CNMC's legal empowe… Corporate data breaches: from incident to response — 11 breaches documented +1: Canvas/Instructure, the largest known education breach (≈275M rec… Migration friction in corporate and event mobility — 3 incidents and policies … The 2026 World Cup works as a live stress test: 39 countries under fu… Power and corruption in the courts in Ibero-Ame… — 29 documented cases Jun-2026 review: Uribe updated — first-instance conviction overturned… Crypto · Licenses and authorizations by jurisdi… — 40+ CASPs with full MiCA au… July 1, 2026 cliff: the transitional regime expires (ESMA, Apr 17) wi… Data breaches · Class-action settlements — 5 settlements and mass ca… 271 million dollars across four settlements approved or with deadline… Digital regulatory risk index by country — 16 countries profiled Jun-2026 review: Brazil updated on two layers (EU adequacy Jan 26, 20… Digital services taxes (DST) by country — 3 tax-map milestones docu… About half of European OECD countries have a DST announced, proposed … Global election risk 2026: democracy and digita… — 32 elections profiled 32 electoral processes of 2026 profiled by political regime and digit… ESG · Greenwashing enforcement — 3 enforcement milestones … The legal floor arrives Sep 27, 2026 (ECGT across the 27; transpositi… EU · Digital & sustainability regulatory deadli… — 6 calendar milestones doc… Next critical deadlines: Jun 23, 2026 closes the high-risk classifica… Export controls · Entity List and advanced chips — 6 regime milestones docum… The 2026 shift: licensing for H200/MI325X and equivalents to China mo… GDPR · International transfers and adequacy dec… — 6 framework milestones do… The EU-US DPF remains in force after surviving its first judicial cha… LATAM · AI bills in legislative process — 150+ bills identified 150+ count re-verified; milestones: Peru only country with a regulate… LATAM · Judicial and regulatory sanctions on pl… — $5,2M USD · fine on X Corp. i… Paradigm shift: the STF declared Art. 19 of the Marco Civil partially… Digital political ad spending 2026 — 6 country-platform observ… AdImpact's revised projection (Jun 11): $11.6bn for the 2026 cycle — … Shadow fleet · Sanctioned vessels and enablers — 632 vessels designated by t… +46 vessels in the 20th package (Reg. 2026/506/509/511) to 632; Art. … Whistleblower awards · SEC, CFTC and equivalent… — 3 program milestones docu… The SEC awarded over $60M to 48 whistleblowers in fiscal year 2025 (2… AI Act · Sanctions regime and its actual enforc… — 0 documented AI Act fines… 0 AI Act penalties issued to date: enforcement of high-risk obligatio… Beneficial ownership transparency (UBO / CTA / … — 4 transparency milestones 4 beneficial-ownership transparency milestones documented; the EU req… Crypto industry: collapses, sanctions and convi… — 13 documented cases 13 cases of collapses, sanctions and convictions in the crypto sector… AI harms in court — litigation, rulings and set… — 103 documented cases 103 AI-related harm and rights lawsuits documented; 2026 milestones: … DMA · designated gatekeepers and real compliance — 9 documented DMA acts 9 DMA compliance actions documented against gatekeepers; 2026 develop… Documented electoral disinformation 2026 — 7 documented campaigns 7 electoral disinformation campaigns or patterns documented with open… GDPR · which national authority really sanctions — 11 authorities profiled 11 GDPR enforcement country profiles and milestones documented; 2026 … LATAM · Internet shutdowns and platform blocks — 8 documented events · 202… 8 internet shutdown and blocking episodes documented in Latin America… Operational resilience & cyber (DORA / NIS2 / SEC) — 4 regulatory milestones 4 operational-resilience milestones documented; 2026 is the first rea… Digital fines actually imposed — 61 sanctions recorded 61 high-value penalties across 18 jurisdictions and 6 continents; cov… Commercial spyware: documented cases worldwide — 23 documented cases 23 spyware and surveillance cases documented across the Ibero-America… Trade compliance & forced labor (UFLPA) — 4 actions documented 4 trade-compliance actions on forced labor documented; under UFLPA ar… US · the state AI regulation patchwork — 10 laws and milestones 10 state AI laws or milestones documented in the U.S.; 2026 developme… Electoral digital integrity 2026 — 13 elections profiled 13 elections profiled by digital integrity; 5 with transparent politi… Climate: the gap between pledge and action — 12 countries assessed 12 countries assessed by the Climate Action Tracker: 10 with insuffic… Content moderation: appeals and reversals — 19 documented decisions 19 appealed and reviewed moderation decisions, with their policy, ori… Public AI spending — global government contracts — 50 documented contracts 50 public AI contracts across 15 jurisdictions on 5 continents (45 wi… Campaign promises → fulfillment — 29 term evaluations 29 terms evaluated across 25 countries on five continents EU · Consolidated DSA enforcement decisions — €120M first DSA fine · X · 5 … 5 Member States referred to CJEU for insufficient DSC implementation LATAM · Digital spending in 2026 electoral camp… — $14.794M COP · highest declared … Only 8 of 13 campaigns had reported in Cuentas Claras by mid-May Ibero-America · documented public contracts wit… — 3 contracts verified with… DC registry kickoff · ongoing monthly manual sweep RSF · Press freedom in Latin America — 144 Peru's rank (the region… AR -11 · PE -14 · SV -8 · EC -31 · USA -7
/ trackers / latam-internet-shutdowns
LATAM · Digital freedom · Shutdowns and blocks

LATAM · Internet shutdowns and platform blocks

Registry of internet shutdowns, platform blocks, and connectivity restrictions documented in Latin America, based on technical verification by specialized organizations: the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), Access Now and its #KeepItOn coalition, Global Voices Advox, Freedom House, and regional observatories. The tracker distinguishes between total connectivity shutdowns, selective blocks of platforms or services (social media, messaging, VPN), and traffic degradations, and records the context in which they occur — elections, protests, inaugurations. Each event is classified by whether it was confirmed through independent technical measurement, reported by observers, or alleged without documentary confirmation. Diálogo Ciudadano logs only events with a verifiable basis and does not attribute governmental intent without evidence.

Snapshot · June 8, 2026
8
documented events · 2024-2025 · 4 countries
↑ 8 internet shutdown and blocking episodes documented in Latin America; Q1 2026 development: Cloudflare Radar recorded three separate collapses of Cuba's national grid in one month with direct connectivity impact, amid a global trend UNESCO puts at 300+ shutdowns in 54 countries over two years

Evolution

Data analysis

Statistical readings derived from the attributes of each recorded case. All figures come from the documented events; amounts are computed only over cases with a sum expressed in the indicated currency, without converting between currencies.

Shutdowns by country

Where the recorded internet shutdowns and blocks were documented.

Type of shutdown

Type of block: platform, satellite device, etc.

Context of the shutdowns

Political or social circumstance in which each shutdown or block occurred (protests, election day, shortages, etc.).

Regional incidence map

Choropleth by number of forensically or judicially documented cases. Countries with no verifiable public cases remain in the base colour — the absence of events does not equal the absence of surveillance. Hover or click a coloured country to see the cases.

Natural Earth 50m · Diálogo Ciudadano

Reading the data

Seven internet shutdowns and platform blocks documented in four Latin American countries share one trigger: political power. Venezuela, El Salvador and Cuba concentrate the cases, and most coincide with inaugurations, elections or protests.

CT
Celinda S. Tórrez · Correspondent — Colombia · Bogotá
June 4, 2026 · 3 min read

Switching off the internet is a political decision disguised as a technical incident. This tracker gathers seven Latin American cases —platform blocks, traffic degradation, satellite-device bans— in which technical verification by organisations like Access Now, OONI or Freedom House confirmed the restriction and, above all, its context.

And the context is the revealing part: the shutdowns concentrate in Venezuela (three), El Salvador (two) and Cuba (two), and switch on at moments of peak political tension —an inauguration, an election day, a wave of protests over shortages. Telegram appears as the most-blocked platform. The pattern suggests connectivity becomes a control variable exactly when citizens most need to communicate.

Methodology note

Each case requires technical verification of the restriction by a specialised organisation; the type of shutdown, affected platforms, context and verifying entity are recorded. The attribution of political context is based on those technical reports, not on an assessment of our own.

Assessments are attributed to the cited organisations, never to this outlet.

Documented events (8)

January 15, 2025 VE confirmed

Venezuela bans TikTok for failing to appoint a local representative

Venezuela banned TikTok after the platform failed to appoint a local representative in the country. This is a regulatory pressure mechanism distinct from context-based blocking: it conditions the platform's operation on the existence of a local legal figure, which facilitates governmental control over content. It is a pattern repeated in other countries in the region and worldwide, where the local-representative requirement functions as a compliance lever.

Surfshark · Internet shutdowns in 2025 global overview ↗
January 10, 2025 VE confirmed

Venezuela blocks TikTok, Telegram and 21 VPN services during Maduro's inauguration

In January 2025, during the inauguration of the current Maduro administration, Venezuelan authorities began blocking access to digital platforms including TikTok and Telegram, and to the websites of at least 21 VPN and circumvention services. The blocking of VPN tools is especially significant because it targets the mechanisms the population uses to bypass earlier blocks. Access Now denounced these shutdowns as part of a recurring government pattern to suppress opposition voices and limit information flow.

Access Now · 2025 elections and internet shutdowns watch ↗
July 29, 2024 VE confirmed

Venezuela blocks Signal, X, Microsoft Teams and Reddit after presidential election

Following the 28 July 2024 presidential election and the mass protests after the National Electoral Council's unsubstantiated announcement that Nicolás Maduro had won, the Venezuelan government deployed a battery of internet controls. It blocked access to Signal, X, Microsoft Teams, and Reddit in response to post-election protests. Freedom House recorded the second-largest decline in its Freedom on the Net 2025 index due to these events. Venezuela also ordered a ten-day block of X over the disputed electoral result.

Freedom House · An Uncertain Future for the Global Internet ↗ Access Now · 2025 elections and internet shutdowns watch ↗
June 1, 2025 SV reported

El Salvador: Telegram access problems during Bukele's inauguration

Digital rights organizations including Access Now, APES, ARTICLE 19, and the Central American Network of Journalists reported Telegram access problems from 1 to 3 June 2025, coinciding with President Nayib Bukele's inauguration. The organizations called on El Salvador's government to investigate the block. As in September 2024, the block coincided with a leak of alleged government data via Telegram.

Global Voices · Internet outages and blocks in Latin America in 2024 ↗
September 15, 2024 SV confirmed

El Salvador: five providers block Telegram on Independence Day

The Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) recorded that at least five internet providers in El Salvador blocked access to Telegram on 15 September 2024, Independence Day, when the president delivers an awaited speech to the nation. OONI's technical measurement confirms the block independently. The block coincided with a leak of alleged government data via Telegram.

Global Voices · Internet outages and blocks in Latin America in 2024 ↗
March 31, 2026 CU confirmed

Cuba · Three national grid collapses in one month disrupt connectivity (Q1 2026)

The Cloudflare Radar team documented that the first quarter of 2026 was marked by severe, prolonged Internet disruptions, and included three separate collapses of Cuba's national electrical grid in a single month, evidencing infrastructure fragility with direct consequences for connectivity. Unlike government-ordered blocks during protests, these disruptions stem from power-supply failures, though their effect on Internet access is comparable. The regional context fits a global trend UNESCO puts at more than 300 shutdowns in 54 countries over two years.

Cloudflare — Q1 2026 Internet disruption summary (tres colapsos de la red de Cuba) ↗
March 15, 2025 CU confirmed

Cuba bans and seizes unregistered satellite internet devices

The Cuban government banned the entry of unregistered satellite internet devices into the country, seizing many in March 2025. Satellite internet providers, being relatively new to the market, have not yet widely implemented the censorship and surveillance mechanisms many governments require — particularly countries ranked 'Not Free' in the Freedom on the Net index. This is why some authorities have sought to ban them: they represent a connectivity path outside state control.

Freedom House · An Uncertain Future for the Global Internet ↗
March 17, 2024 CU confirmed

Cuba: five-hour internet traffic dip following protests

On 17 March 2024, Cuba experienced a five-hour internet traffic dip following protests against food shortages and power outages. Governmental control over internet connections in Cuba makes blocks and interventions more direct and easier to implement than in other countries in the region, where infrastructure is more distributed. The 2021 precedent, with internet and electricity cuts during mass protests, ended with over 5,000 people arrested, including 120 journalists and activists.

Global Voices · Internet outages and blocks in Latin America in 2024 ↗

Methodology

Type
event-log
Construction
DC editorial construction
Cadence
monthly

Sources consulted

  1. Access Now · #KeepItOn coalition ↗ civil-society

    Global coalition documenting internet shutdowns with rigorous methodology. Publishes the annual shutdowns report and election monitoring. International reference source.

  2. OONI · Open Observatory of Network Interference ↗ civil-society

    Project that measures internet censorship through open-source software deployed by volunteers. Its technical measurements confirm blocks independently and reproducibly.

  3. Global Voices Advox ↗ press

    Global Voices project dedicated to digital free expression. Publishes annual analyses of shutdowns and blocks in Latin America with local context.

  4. Freedom House · Freedom on the Net ↗ civil-society

    Annual report assessing internet freedom by country. Documents internet controls, platform blocks and encryption restrictions.