Ibrahim Khalilullah :
The governments of different countries shut down the internet at different times raising the issue of security breach as an excuse. But such shutdown is a manifestation of a kind of digital authoritarian behavior of governments.
A site that works with Internet shutdowns, ‘Access Now’ publishes a report on Internet shutdowns in 2021 called ‘THE RETURN OF DIGITAL AUTHORITARIANISM’. The report was released on April 28 as part of the international campaign #KeepItOn against Internet shutdown. The campaign was launched by a coalition of about 70 organizations in 2016 at RightsCon in Silicon Valley.
In that report, various shocking information about internet shutdown in different countries of the world was presented. The report says ‘Access Now’ and the #KeepItOn coalition documented at least 182 internet shutdown incidents around the world in 34 countries in 2021. There were at least 159 shutdowns in 29 countries in 2020 with a global increase of 23 shutdowns from 2020 to 2021.
The most surprising information is available about India. India, one of the world’s largest democratic countries, was responsible for 106 incidents of shutdowns documented in 2021, making it the world’s biggest offender for the fourth consecutive year. After India, Myanmar imposed the highest total number of shutdowns in 2021, with 15 disruptions, followed by Sudan and Iran with five shutdowns in each country. The report says over the past five years authorities have increasingly moved to disrupt the internet during events that affect the country’s political situation, such as elections, protests, coups, and violent conflicts. Bangladesh’s position is much better than that. The government of Bangladesh shut down the internet only twice in 2021.
The report says authorities in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Chad, Cuba, Eswatini, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uganda disrupted or entirely cut connectivity during protests in 2021.
Organizations working to disrupt Internet flow say the year-over-year increase in Internet shutdowns in various countries poses a threat to digital development and human rights.
(The writer is a journalist).
