Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022

FOCUS

This report was published in February of 2023 by Access Now for the #KeepItOn coalition. The report is authored by Zach Rosson, Felicia Anthonio, Carolyn Tackett, and the Access Now team. It provides a comprehensive database on internet shutdowns all over the world for the year 2022. 

Internet shutdowns violate the fundamental human rights of individuals, the report states. The report analyses incidents of internet shutdowns all around the world. There were 187 cases of internet shutdown recorded during the year across 35 countries. Out of these 187 shutdowns, 103 occurred outside of India in 34 countries – India recorded at least 84 shutdowns. 

The 36-page report is divided into six sections: Internet shutdowns in 2022: a global overview (Section 1); Triggers for Internet shutdowns in 2022 (Section 2); New and continuing trends in 2022 (Section 3); Internet shutdowns by region (Section 4); Fighting back: the movement is growing (Section 5) and What’s next (Section 6).

    FACTOIDS

  1. India has been responsible for approximately 58 per cent of all recorded shutdowns in the year 2022, documented in Access Now's Shutdown Tracker Optimization Project (STOP) database.

  2. As high as 16 shutdowns that began in 2021 extended into 2022, as well as other 16 shutdowns that started in 2022, extended into 2023.

  3. To conceal acts of “violence and serious human rights” abuses such as murder, torture, rape, or potential war crimes, perpetrators enforced 48 shutdowns across 14 countries, the report states.

  4. About 49.2 per cent of shutdowns specifically impacted a single city, county, or village (92 instances). Roughly 31.6 per cent of shutdowns affected multiple states, provinces, or regions (59 instances). Around 18.7 per cent of shutdowns influenced multiple cities within the same state, province, or region (35 instances).

  5. In Ethiopia, a minimum of four out of the nine shutdowns in the region occurred concurrently with documented instances of human rights violations, in the context of active conflict.

  6. In 2022, out of the total 187 shutdowns, 133 of them coincided with some form of violence. This is a higher number compared to the 110 instances recorded in 2021, 99 in 2020, and 75 in 2019, indicating an increasing trend of shutdowns marked alongside violent incidents.

  7. In Myanmar, there were seven instances of shutdowns in 2022.

  8. Due to political instability and violence, internet access was disrupted on at least 49 occasions in Jammu and Kashmir. In 2021, approximately 80 per cent of all shutdown incidents in India took place in Jammu and Kashmir. However, this percentage decreased to 58 per cent in the year 2022.


    Focus and factoids by Daanish Narayan.

AUTHOR

Zach Rosson, Felicia Anthonio, Carolyn Tackett, and Access Now 

COPYRIGHT

Access Now

PUBLICATION DATE

28 Feb, 2023

TAGS

#human-rights #jammu-and-kashmir #internet #internet-shutdown #human-rights-violations

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