India enforced as many as 106 web shutdowns final 12 months and was on prime of the listing of countries that utilized web shutdowns for the fourth 12 months in a row, as per a report printed by Access Now and the KeepItOn coalition.
“India was responsible for at least 106 incidents, making it the country imposing the highest number of shutdowns globally for the fourth consecutive year. Of these, 85 were in Jammu and Kashmir, … where authorities continue to impose intentional internet disruptions that last for long periods…,” the report stated.
There have been at the very least 182 documented web shutdowns throughout 2021in 34 international locations, as towards 159 documented throughout 29 nations in 2020, as per the report.
“Following trends we’ve seen developing for years, in 2021, governments imposed both prolonged and increasingly targeted internet shutdowns, and relied on many of the same justifications for deploying these inherently disproportionate and drastic measures,” it stated.
While India led the pack of nations which enforced these shutdowns for the fourth 12 months in a row, Myanmar — at quantity two — imposed 15 shutdowns in 2021, adopted by Sudan and Iran which imposed 5 shutdowns every.
In a report launched earlier this 12 months, web agency top10vpn.com had stated that web shutdowns, ordered by central, state and district degree authorities in India had lasted for 1,157 hours in complete, leading to a lack of $583 million in 2021. These shutdowns impacted 59.1 million folks. India was third by way of complete period of home web shutdowns, behind Myanmar and Nigeria, with blackouts of 12,238 and 5,040 hours, respectively.
