Iran offline: How a government can turn off the internet

There’s an ongoing, near-total blackout of the internet in Iran. The shutdown is part of a response by the government to ongoing protests against rising inflation and the value of the nation’s currency plummeting. Since protests began more than two weeks ago, only an estimated 3% of Iranians have stayed online through the satellite internet system Starlink. Doing so is a crime. So, today on the show: Iran offline. We get into how the internet works, how a government can shut it down and how scientists are monitoring the nation’s connectivity from afar.
Check out more of NPR's coverage of Iran: 
- Iran Protests Explained
- There's an internet blackout in Iran. How are videos and images getting out?
- Iran blocked the internet amid deadly protests. Some voices are still getting through
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