*A recent report indicates governments鈥� Internet outages in 21 countries lasting over 30,000 hours cost the global economy $5.45billion in 2021, a 36 percent increase from 2020, when $4.01billion was lost

Gbenga Kayode | 绿帽献妻

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) has submitted a report on Internet shutdowns in India to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

绿帽献妻 gathered IFF highlighted in the report that Internet shutdowns are extremely common in India, citing reports by Top10VPN and Access Now, and data from the Software Freedom Law Centre and Meta.

Specifically, for denying the citizens鈥� right 聽to access Internet connectivity in the economy, India鈥檚 Internet restrictions in 2021 reportedly resulted in a total of 317.5 hours; Bandwidth throttling for 840 hours; while the aggregate cost of restrictions was estaimated at $582.8 million in the past year.

Quaoting the TopVPN, the report also noted that the Indian Government imposed major Internet restrictions on citizens for 1,157 hours in 2021, the equivalent of over 48 days.

That included 317.5 hours of total internet blackout and 840 hours of bandwidth throttling.

Overall, Internet restrictions cost the India economy $582.8 million (Rs 4,348 crore) in 2021.

How Myanmar, Nigeria lost about $5billion to Internet outages

The report, however, stated that Myanmar with a loss of $2.8billion and Nigeria $1.5 billion to Internet outages did more economic damage with these self-inflicted wounds in their economies.

This dismal performance was actually an improvement for India from 2020, when it lost estimated $2.8 billion 鈥� more than any other country by far 鈥� after shutting down the Internet for a combined 8,927 hours.

Generally, the government-induced Internet outages in 21 countries lasting over 30,000 hours cost the global economy $5.45billion in 2021, a 36percent increase from 2020, when $4.01billion was lost, said the report.

The Indian government imposed more costly internet outages than almost any other nation, according to the report by TopVPN.

The teport further said: 鈥淪ome of the outages constituted election interference, while others violated people鈥檚 right to peaceful assembly and freedom of the press.

鈥淭he biggest economic hit came from throttling internet speeds in Kashmir, where authorities finally restored normal internet access in February, after 18 months.

鈥淭he intentional slowdown to 2G speeds rendered the Internet in Kashmir nearly useless, causing education and business to suffer during the pandemic.鈥�

In late January 2022, the government imposed a costly localised Internet blackout in Delhi in response to the farmers鈥� protest.

Reports that police fired teargas, and savagely beat protesters circulated despite the Internet outage.

Other Internet blackouts revolved around controlling the flow of information online in Kashmir after the death of a prominent separatist leader.

Rajasthan鈥檚 鈥淚nternet was shut down in September to prevent exam cheating.

Nevertheless, in its submission to the United Nations (UN), IFF said the government continued to impose frequent shutdowns 鈥渄espite the fact that the law permits suspension of Internet services only in exceptional circumstances.鈥�

It noted that the government uses Section 5(2) of the Indian Telegraph Act and the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services (Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules, 2017 to impose shutdowns.

Russia 鈥榬estricts access鈥� to Twitter amid Ukraine invasion

In a related development, Russia鈥檚 media regulator Roskomnadzor 鈥渞estricted access鈥� to social media network Twitter after blocking Facebook in the country.

According to Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies Friday, March 4, 2022, access to Twitter was restricted on the basis of a request of the Prosecutor General from February 24, the very day of Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine.

It was learnt an AFP journalist confirmed that Twitter was no longer refreshing its feed in Russia since February.

However, Roskomnadzor did not issue a statement to explain the reasons behind the decision even as the Russia-Ukraine war rages.

Earlier Friday, the media watchdog said it was blocking Facebook in Russia over several cases of 鈥渄iscrimination鈥� towards state media.

The measure was said to be part of an unprecedented government crackdown on independent media and activists since the start of the Russian invasion.

The country鈥檚 key remaining liberal media outlets have been shut down in recent days and a new law introducing harsh jail terms for publishing 鈥渇ake news鈥� about the war in Ukraine has forced others to abstain from covering that topic, agency report stated.

Kindly Share This Story