If you’ve been noticing a drop in your Fiverr gigs lately, the reason isn’t your lack of ratings or marketing, we figured out what happened and how you can fix it.

The issue has affected a large number of Pakistani Fiverr sellers and their income.

“My students have to deliver orders to their international clients but this […] country!!” said Warda Noor, a teacher and owner of multiple startups. “It was so difficult and such a long journey to get them started earning & earn the trust of international clients. Khuda puchy in hukmarano ko.”

Fiverr automatically made gigs unavailable for Pakistani freelancers, after the government shut down the internet across the country on May 9. The platform emailed all its sellers based in Pakistan informing them of this change.

The government shut down the internet across the country on Wednesday after violent protests erupted following PTI chairman Imran Khan’s arrest. Mobile broadband services were not working. Access to major social media platforms, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook was blocked.

Fiverr is the second largest freelancing platform in the world and hundreds and thousands of Pakistanis earn in dollars by offering various services called gigs.

However, when the internet went down, Fiverr sellers noticed a drop in their gigs. Sellers are Fiverr users who offer and perform services through Gigs or through the Logo Maker on Fiverr, according to Fiverr. People who buy services at Fiverr are called users.

“[I]t is extremely difficult to connect any Pakistani gigs for few days mostly are appearing offline,” said Waqas Hanif on Twitter.

On Fiverr, your ratings go down if you’re unable to deliver your work on time. This is part of the reason why sellers work for rates as low as 5 dollars a gig.

“I think it’s good that Fiverr is at least ensuring that this doesn’t affect the rating, but at the same time, I can imagine people without internet are having a very hard time right now,” 20-year-old illustrator and Fiveer seller Aisha said.

How to get your Fiverr gigs back up

In order to get your gigs back up, just go to settings and switch your availability back on. This way, your clients will know that the internet blackout will not affect your ability to deliver projects.

If you do not have access to Wifi, it’s best to ensure that you appear as unavailable to clients because the platform has ensured that this will not affect your ratings.

Another issue faced by Fiverr users is the inability to market their gigs on social media, as access to most major platforms is still blocked.

“[S]ocial media marketing of gigs plays a huge role on the impressions of our profiles. So this can become a huge threat to impressions and clicks on our profiles,” a freelance writer on Fiverr, Madiha Aslam, said.