Officials in India continue to issue internet shutdown orders due to social tensions, violence, exams and other reasons. Image for representational purposes only. File | Photo source: PTI
A report released on Wednesday showed that India had the highest number of internet shutdowns in the world in 2023, a record for the sixth year in a row.
Last year, the country’s Internet was interrupted 116 times, according to the Keep It On coalition, a group of civil society bodies advocating against Internet blackouts.
Officials in India continue to issue internet shutdown orders due to social tensions, violence, exams and other reasons. This was met with condemnation from civil society in India and around the world, especially in Manipur, where footage documenting atrocities committed during ethnic violence went viral weeks after the actual event.
The report found that more and more closure orders are being applied at a regional rather than local level, with “64 closure orders affecting[ing] more than one district in the same state, province or region, which follows 47 outages in Manipur but also includes statewide outages in March in Punjab.”
The Internet was shut down across Punjab during the raid on pro-Khalistan preacher Amritpal Singh, and repeatedly across Manipur during ongoing ethnic violence in the state.
“Influence [of the Internet shutdown in Manipur] were severe, particularly for women, as the shutdowns made it tough to document rampant atrocities, including murder, rape, arson and other forms of gender-based violence, and thus to hold perpetrators accountable,” the report said.
The report indicated that the publication of internet shutdown orders – as required by the Supreme Court’s guidelines – was not carried out consistently.
“A total of 13 states and Union Territories imposed blackouts in 2023, and seven of them disrupted internet services five or more times,” the report said.
“[S]the number of outages lasting more than five days increased from 15% of all outages in 2022 to over 41% in 2023.” – added.
A total of over 500 cases of internet outages have been reported in India.
The report highlighted the widespread utilize of the controversial drug. “Despite the clear economic impact, the disproportionate impact on marginalized groups and the cover-up of atrocities, authorities continue to impose shutdowns across India at all levels during protests, exams, elections and communal violence,” it said.
With 37 orders, Myanmar, where the military took power in a coup in 2021, recorded the second-highest number of internet shutdowns, ahead of Iran (34), Palestine (16) and Ukraine (8).
