India leads the globe in disrupting internet access, watchdog says

• India topped the list for the fifth year in a row.
• Ukraine was second on the list.
• Authorities disrupted internet access at least 49 times in India’s illegally occupied Kashmir.

India imposed by far the most internet shutdowns in the world in 2022, according to internet advocacy monitor Access Now, as the country topped the list for the fifth year in a row.

According to a report released on Tuesday by the New York-based digital rights advocacy group Access Now, 84 of the 187 internet shutdowns reported globally occurred in India, including 49 in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

“Authorities disrupted internet access at least 49 times in India illegally occupied Kashmir due to political instability and violence, including a string of 16 back-to-back orders for three-day-long curfew-style shutdowns in January and February 2022,” the watchdog report added.

Kashmir has long been a source of contention between India and Pakistan, both of which claim the area but only rule parts of it.

In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party government abolished the autonomy of the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir, dividing it into two federally governed regions.

Since then, the government has regularly imposed communications restrictions on the region for security reasons, which rights groups have decried and portrayed as tactics to quell opposition.

Islamabad disputes the allegations

Militants have been fighting India’s rule in Kashmir for over three decades. The South Asian country accuses Pakistan of fomenting the uprising. Islamabad disputes the allegations.

Although India once again led the world in internet shutdowns, the country had less than 100 shutdowns for the first time since 2017, according to the watchdog.

Ukraine was second on the list, with the Russian military suspending internet connectivity at least 22 times since Moscow invaded Ukraine last February.

“During Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian military cut internet access at least 22 times, engaging in cyberattacks and deliberately destroying telecommunications infrastructure,” the watchdog said in its report.

Ukraine was followed on the list by Iran, where authorities implemented 18 internet shutdowns in reaction to anti-government protests in 2022.

With the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian lady Mahsa Amini in police detention on September 16, last year, nationwide anti-government protests erupted in Iran. Amini was arrested in Tehran by morality police for violating hijab standards, which demand women to cover their hair and bodies completely. She died in police custody.

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