India Shut Down Internet Services 96 Times In 2018, More Than Any Other Country In The World

We may often think that we have quite a bit of freedom online in India, especially in comparison with other countries.

At least that's what it may seem like, but you'd be dead wrong. In fact we've had the most Internet shutdowns this year so far than any other country in the world.

The statistics come courtesy of Freedom House, an Internet freedom collective that works with data and research partners across the globe. And according to data they gleaned from Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Center, there were 96 incidents in India when the government ordered Internet services to be shut down, all between January to August 2018.

It's a steep rise from previous years, and even the durations of these shutdowns have increased. On the world stage India scores a 43 /100 on the freedom score, zero being the most free.

At least 36 of the shutdowns this year were implemented in Jammu and Kashmir alone, with Rajasthan coming a close second with 19 shutdowns. All told, since 2012, we've seen 259 shutdowns, the highest anywhere in the world. While most of those were in response to violence or protests, far too many were cited as being precautions to avoid violence.

And just how much have our shutdowns spiked? Well, the government shut down Internet services 69 times in 2017, which was more than twice as much as it did in 2016. To give you a clearer perspective, just last year saw us shutting off the Internet more than half the number of times it's happened in the five years since 2012. And now we're up to 96.

Things are clearly not going in the right direction if the government is so quick to turn off services in the name of emergencies.