India, the world’s largest democracy, tops the global list of internet shutdowns | CNN Business

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India imposed the highest number of internet shutdowns worldwide in 2022, a new report has revealed, in what critics say is a further blow to the country’s commitment to freedom of expression and access to information.

Of the 187 internet outages recorded worldwide, 84 took place in India, according to the report released Tuesday by Access Now, a New York-based advocacy group that tracks freedom Internet.

This is the fifth year in a row that the world’s largest democracy of more than 1.3 billion people has topped the list, the group said, raising concerns about India’s commitment to internet freedom under its current government of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. .

“Indian states’ responsibility for the majority of closures globally is impossible to ignore and is a profound problem on its own,” the report said. “Authorities in regions across the country are increasingly resorting to this repressive measure, causing closures for more people in more places.”

Almost 60% of India’s internet shutdowns last year occurred in Indian-administered Kashmir, where authorities cut off access due to “political instability and violence,” according to the report

In August 2019, the BJP revoked the autonomy of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir and split it into two federally administered territories, bringing the region under greater control from New Delhi. The unprecedented decision sparked protests and the government has often restricted lines of communication since then, rights groups say, a move aimed at stifling dissent.

Apart from Jammu and Kashmir, authorities in the states of West Bengal and Rajasthan imposed more lockdowns than other Indian regions in response to “protests, communal violence and examinations”, according to the report.

India has the second largest digital population in the world, after China, with over 800 million internet users. The Internet has become a vital social and economic lifeline for large swaths of the population, connecting isolated rural pockets of the country with its growing cities.

Outages “impacted the daily lives of millions of people for hundreds of hours in 2022,” the report said.

The Access Now report comes at a time when India’s commitment to freedom of speech and expression is under increasing scrutiny.

In January, the country banned a BBC documentary criticizing Modi’s alleged role in the deadly riots more than 20 years ago. Indian tax authorities raided the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai in the following weeks citing “irregularities and discrepancies” in the broadcaster’s taxes.

But critics of the government were unconvinced, instead calling the raids “a clear case of revenge” and accusing the BJP of intimidating the media.

Last week, police in New Delhi arrested a senior opposition politician for allegedly “disturbing harmony” after he got the prime minister’s middle name wrong, a move Modi’s critics likened to a ” dictatorial behavior”.

In recent years, the government has repeatedly justified blocking Internet access on the grounds of preserving public safety amid widespread fears of public violence.

As the country was in the midst of the 2019 general elections, with more than 900 million people eligible to vote, some Indians were denied internet access for days at a time as they prepared to vote.

Authorities said the blockade was “a precautionary measure to maintain law and order”, leading many critics to question India’s grand exercise of political freedom during the world’s biggest election.

During a nearly year-long protest by angry farmers in 2021 over controversial new price laws, the Indian government blocked internet access in several districts after violent clashes broke out between protesters and police.

Some individual blackouts have been challenged in court, and there is an effort to change the country’s laws to make such blackouts harder to enforce.

Last year saw more internet shutdowns worldwide than ever before, Access Now said, prompting the group to raise fears of “digital authoritarianism” as governments continue the trend.

Apart from India, other countries that saw internet shutdowns last year include Ukraine, Iran and Myanmar.

During Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the Kremlin cut Internet access at least 22 times, according to Access Now, engaging in “cyber attacks and deliberately destroying telecommunications infrastructure.”

The Iranian regime responded to protests sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini by imposing 18 lockdowns, a move Access Now called “a further escalation of its repressive tactics.”

Myanmar, which saw the junta oust its democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, suffered seven internet outages, the report said. The Southeast Asian country continues to be rocked by violence and instability, while many are struggling with shortages of fuel, food and basic supplies.

“The army persisted in keeping people in the dark for extended periods, targeting areas where the copyist resistance is strongest,” the report said.