In 2022, authorities shut down the internet across 35 countries the highest number ever recorded in a single year at least 187 times.
The biggest offender: India implemented at least 84 shutdowns the highest number for the fifth year, the report said.
As per the report, India, which was responsible for 84 shutdowns in 2022, remains the country with the highest number of recorded shutdowns in the world — for the fifth consecutive year. Authorities disrupted internet access at least 49 times in Jammu 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.
Though brief, rare spells of uninterrupted internet access in the region delivered clear benefits for women and small-business owners, further proof that internet access is vital for realizing economic security and closing the gender digital divide.
In 2021, around 80% of all shutdowns in India were in Jammu Kashmir, compared to 58% in 2022. Authorities in regions across the country are increasingly resorting to this repressive measure, inflicting shutdowns on more people in more places.
Setting aside Jammu Kashmir, authorities in West Bengal (7) and Rajasthan (12) imposed more shutdowns than authorities in other regions in India, responding to protests, communal violence, and exams with disruptions that impacted the daily lives of millions of people for hundreds of hours in 2022.
“2022 was a catastrophe for human rights,” said Zach Rosson, #KeepItOn Data Analyst at Access Now. “The damage internet shutdowns caused last year is unfathomable, but, in 2023 and beyond, it is not inevitable. We — as an international community — have the power and the momentum to not only stop the resurging global trend of deliberate disruptions but to expunge it for good.”