India tops internet shutdowns globally for the fifth consecutive year: Report

India has imposed the highest number of internet shutdowns globally in 2022 a new report has revealedThe report published by Access Now ndash a New York based advocacy group that tracks internet freedom ndash said that of the 187 internet shutdowns recorded globally in 2022 84 took place in India The country has topped the list with highest number of internet shutdowns for the fifth consecutive yearUkraine suffered through 22 shutdowns imposed by the Russian military during its fullscale invasion and occupation the second highest total globally Iran followed with 18 shutdowns breaking its own annual shutdown record with layers of shutdowns during massive protests around the countryAccess Now report said that authorities disrupted internet access at least 49 times in Jammu and Kashmir due to political instability and violence including a string of 16 backtoback orders for threedaylong ldquocurfewstylerdquo shutdowns in January and February 2022In 2021 around 80 per cent of all shutdowns in India were in Jammu and Kashmir compared to 58 per cent in 2022 ldquoAuthorities in regions across the country are increasingly resorting to this repressive measure inflicting shutdowns on more people in more placesrdquo the report statedSetting aside Jammu and Kashmir authorities in West Bengal ndashseven internet shutdowns and Rajasthan ndash twelve internet shutdowns ndash imposed more shutdowns than authorities in other regions in India responding to protests communal violence and exams with disruptions that ldquoimpacted the daily lives of millions of people for hundreds of hours in 2022rdquo according to the reportAlso readWe will not pay Mehbooba Mufti on imposition of property tax in Jammu and KashmirLast week internet was shut down by the Rajasthan government in 11 districts to prevent cheating in a competitive examination to recruit government schoolteachersOn Wednesday a petition was filed in the Supreme Court seeking the implementation of the ldquoAnuradha Bhasin guidelinesrdquo for internet shutdownsThe petitioner Chhaya Rani an advocate practising in the Rajasthan High Court said that as a result of the internet shutdown judicial work also got disruptedThis is not the first time that the Rajasthan government shut internet services for preventing or minimising malpractices during competitive exams There was a statewide internet shutdown last year as well during REET 2021 The petitioner has claimed that this practice flies in the face of the decision in Anuradha Bhasin v Union of India in which the apex court not only laid down procedural rules for internet shutdowns but also supplemented them with the requirement of timely reviews and nonpermanence of shutdown ordersWith more than 800 million internet users India has the secondlargest digital population in the world after China The internet connects the countryrsquos remote rural areas with citiesIn addition to shutdowns Access Now report added Indian authorities have increased censorship blocked websites and issued takedown orders to social media platformsFrom 2015 to 2022 Indian authorities blocked at least 55607 websites URLs applications social media posts and accounts ldquoThese censorship acts have been steadily on the rise with the government blocking 24 times or 142 per cent more social media posts in 2022 than 2018rdquo the report mentionedIt is not surprising that India is at the top of the list Lara Jesani a lawyer and a rights activist based in Mumbai told middayInternet shutdowns have become so common that they are broadly applied and are being normalized she said ldquoThe government arbitrarily shuts down the internet for long periods of time suspending daily businesses and activities of citizensrdquoJesani said the state governments have been applying this ldquodisproportionately contrary to law laid down by the Supreme Court and in gross abuse of their powerrdquo ldquoIt has been used to silence citizensrsquo voices of dissent and free and independent news reporting in areas where human rights violations are occurringrdquoElsewhere in the Asia Pacific region the Access Now report said Pakistan and Bangladesh ordered shutdowns during protests and China Afghanistan and Sri Lanka blocked social media servicesOn April 3 2022 in an attempt to quell widespread protests against the presidentrsquos declaration of a state of emergency the Sri Lankan Telecommunications Regulatory Commission banned all social media services across Sri LankaldquoThe shutdown accompanied a recent spike in censorship information regulation and isolation from the outside world mdash all markers of a governmentrsquos descent into digital authoritarianismrdquoldquoOngoing shutdowns in Tigray Ethiopia since 2020 and in regions across Myanmar since 2021 highlight the cruelty of singular prolonged blackouts in exacerbating humanitarian crises These shutdowns demonstrate a pattern of entrenchment in the use of shutdowns where countries repeatedly use this tactic mdash both over time and within the annual reporting period mdash or persist in keeping people in the dark for extended periodsrdquo Access Now said in its report