Guwahati: India continued to be at the top of the global list of nations that impose internet shutdowns for the fifth consecutive year in 2022, according to the most recent report from the New York-based internet advocacy group “Access Now,” which was released on February 28. According to the data, India accounted for 84 out of the 187 internet shutdowns that were implemented globally last year.
There were 49 such blackouts in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) alone. According to the report, “political instability” and violence were to blame for the internet blackouts in Jammu and Kashmir. Included in this were a series of 16 consecutive directives for the three-day curfew-style shutdowns that took place in January and February of last year. Second on the list and engaged in a war with Russia is Ukraine. Once an armed war with Russia began on February 23 of last year, it recorded 22 internet outages.
Iran ranked third on the list, having taken down the internet 18 times last year to quell dissent and agitation. J&K was the location of around 80% of all internet shutdowns in India in 2021 compared to only 58 percent in 2022. Aside from Jammu and Kashmir, authorities shut down the internet 7 times and 12 times, respectively, in West Bengal and Rajasthan in reaction to demonstrations and violence.
The research claims that between 2015 and 2022, Indian authorities blacklisted at least 55,607 websites, URLs, mobile applications, social media posts, and accounts. In India, there were 107 instances of internet shutdown in 2021, with orders to delete 6,096 social media posts; in contrast, 6,775 social media posts and accounts were ordered to be deleted in the previous year. Fourth place on the list of nations that frequently shut down their internet access is still held by Myanmar. In 2022, internet shutdowns were implemented in 35 nations around the world, including India.
The analysis makes the surprising discovery that in 2022, protests forced 62 internet shutdowns in 16 countries, while active conflicts caused 35 of them. Eight instances of net blackouts in six countries were ascribed to efforts to stop the use of unfair methods in exams, while five internet shutdowns were imposed because of elections in five countries.