Influencers left without influence after internet outage

If your livelihood was based on the internet, specifically social media, what would you do if there was an outage that lasted almost a week? We caught up to some popular Bangladeshi influencers to see what they were up to during these unstable times.

Rakin Absar

Photo: Collected

Before the complete shutdown took place, we had only one concern -- and that was the students' safety. We, the influencer community, tried our best to get the immediate help necessary for the students as much as we could.

Just hours before the shutdown, students had a hard time breathing due to exposure to tear shells and other harmful substances; many of the students were massively injured and they were asking for oxygen cylinders on social media. We were trying our best to arrange oxygen cylinders at that time when the situation escalated, and the internet was cut off abruptly. I really don't know what happened to those students, and whether they received the oxygen cylinders or not.

Apart from that, personally speaking, our business is also completely shut down due to the disruption of the internet.

My first priority after getting back the internet would be to look after the people who need my help. I would want to know about their whereabouts. I really hope they are fine.

Kaarina Kaiser

Photo: Sheikh Mehedi Morshed

When the internet went off, I was really confused as to what was happening around. Earlier, we were getting updates via internet, and then things escalated towards disaster. I started calling my friends to see if they were okay.

I feel like this is the longest internet blackout in our country. I thought it would come back the next day, but it is heading towards a week now. Since we don't use cable television in my house anymore, we were completely in the dark and became reliant on phone calls.

The first thing that I would do when the internet comes would be to pay my condolences to the bereaved families that have lost their bright stars. I would also like to congratulate the students for their victorious move on getting the government to approve their rightful demands. This verdict shows that our country is progressing towards the right direction.

Antik Mahmud

Photo: Sheikh Mehedi Morshed

As I was living in Mirpur, I was really panicking at that time, as a lot of rumours were circulating on social media. As soon as the internet went off, I was completely at loss.

For content creators like us, when we are active on the internet, we get an email that we have received the monetisation money from YouTube advertisements. Now that the internet is off, we won't get that, and YouTube will not give us ad money since no one in the country is able to watch our content. Apart from that, we are also not gaining any money from selling our merchandise in Rokomari, Daraz and Facebook.

After the internet comes back, I would immediately check on students who were injured during the protest.

Dana Bhai

Photo: Collected

I am a student of BRAC University and during the protest on Thursday (July 18), I witnessed numerous batchmates getting injured during the quota reform protest. I could not check up on them after the internet outage. We are so dependent on internet that we couldn't transfer money or even recharge our mobile phones.

As content creators, we are supposed to share content every week, and I used to upload my content through stories. Due to the outage, I feel entirely detached from the world, and completely helpless. After the internet comes back, my biggest priority would be to reach out to people involved with the movement and get update about the current scenario.

Pari Rukh Al Martin

Photo: Sheikh Mehedi Morshed

From the start, I had been sharing emergency helpline numbers and resources to assist the students who were injured during the protest. I was going insane seeing all the violent videos and then, the internet went off. I faced a massive reality check as I realised we were unable to pay bills and renew prepaid gas system. As the curfew started, I couldn't go outside, or even order food from restaurants. I had to buy an electric stove to cook food for my family. I was also supposed to upload a video on Saturday for my client, which I couldn't.

The government could have warned about the shutdown at least half an hour earlier, so that people could pay their necessary bills, so that they didn't have to face the challenges that they are facing right now.