India continues to hold top position in internet shutdowns: Access Now

India blocked or disrupted internet connection 106 times, continuing to hold the top position for the fourth year in a row, said a report by digital right advocacy group Access Now.

In 2021, authorities deliberately shut down the internet at least 182 times across 34 countries. Access Now’s latest report - The return of digital authoritarianism: internet shutdowns in 2021 - unpacks the data, trends, and stories behind a year’s worth of internet shutdowns, released today.

"With a gradual return to normalcy following the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a dramatic resurgence of internet shutdowns1 in 2021. During this year, Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition documented at least 182 internet shutdown incidents around the world in 34 countries, as compared to at least 159 shutdowns in 29 countries in 2020. We saw a global increase of 23 shutdowns from 2020 to 2021," said the report.

After India, Myanmar imposed the highest total number of shutdowns in 2021, with 15 disruptions, followed by Sudan and Iran with five shutdowns in each country. “Over the past five years, our documentation shows that authorities have increasingly moved to disrupt the internet during events that affect the country’s political situation, such as elections, protests, coup and violent campaigns.” Stated the report.

Felicia Anthonio, #KeepItOn campaign manager at Access Now, said, “These vicious weapons of digital dictatorship were wielded at least 182 times in 2021, disrupting not only everyday life, but attacking critical moments in a nation’s epoch — during protests, wars, and elections. That’s 182 times a leader decided to deliberately silence a people instead of empowering them to speak.”

At least 85 of India’s internet shutdowns were in Jammu and Kashmir region, where authorities continue to impose intentional internet disruptions that last for extended periods; India’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology released a report highlighting the misuse of internet shutdowns, and the impact on rights and freedoms, however, it does not altogether condemn their use, and fails to state one of the most important facts of internet shutdowns: they can never be justified;

Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia Pacific policy director at Access Now, said, “An internet shutdown is not a solution — it is a disproportionate, collective punishment that violates human rights and is unacceptable in a 21st century society. The world’s largest democracy can only be preserved and strengthened with a commitment to facilitating access to the internet for all.”

Regardless of the context or rationale, internet shutdowns are an attack on human rights. The global COVID-19 pandemic has only highlighted the severity of disconnecting people from the internet when it is used for everything from access to education, work, and banking services, to access to information, culture, and entertainment, as well as basic communication in daily life.