It's ridiculous to see in the 21 century some governments shut down internet to the people. Actually this time, the intention was close the gate to the news agencies to rest of the world
They could still send media and information out via sneakernet. It's simply not possible to "close" a country to information flows in this day and age.
This is a reason the US government should be funding satellite internet.
Get the population of Iran, Syria, North Korea, etc hooked on Google/Twitter/Facebook and take away the local governments ability to cut it off, and suddenly you can influence hearts and minds worldwide. Whoever controls those tweets can overthrow any government at will.
Silicon valley tech companies extend US law worldwide. I know of no case of a US tech company allowing on its platform anything illegal in the US, but legal in another country.
Those same platforms project US culture and norms, eventually giving the US government indirect control of the policy of a target country. For example, gay marriage and acceptance of smoking weed have both spread to much of the world via US influence, primarily exerted over the internet.
