India leveraged blackouts to crush farmers protest and Kashmiris, according to digital rights organisation Access Now
APP
March 05, 2021
India topped the list for the most internet shutdowns in 2020 globally for the third consecutive year, a new report by digital rights and privacy organisation Access Now said.
India leveraged blackouts to crush the nationwide farmer’s protest and the Kashmiris, the report said. It pointed out that India shut down the internet more than any other nation at 109 times out of a total of 155, recorded worldwide. India was followed by Yemen with six instances.
According to a new report by Access Now, a global non-profit that works on digital rights and online freedom, around 70% of cases of internet shutdowns globally happened in India in 2020, with shut down of the internet in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) roughly once every two weeks.
India reported the highest number or recorded Internet shutdowns last year, at 109 out of a total of 155 globally. This is the third consecutive year India has topped the global charts on this score, a new report by digital rights and privacy organisation Access Now has found. India was followed by Yemen with at least six shutdowns, Ethiopia with four, and Jordan three. India, Yemen, and Ethiopia had been among the worst disruptors of the internet in 2019, the report said. From Belarus to Bangladesh, authorities in 29 countries shut down or interfered with the internet at least 155 times in 2020, the report, Shattered dreams and lost opportunities: A year in the fight to #KeepItOn, found.
Access Now 25 February 2021 | 11:08 am
Access Now is extremely concerned by the alarming new powers the Indian government has granted itself, announcing today,
February 25, its increased control over content on social media platforms. It has finalised an amended set of rules for immediate publication and implementation to change how it can regulate internet intermediaries such as social media platforms, and online media sites. The
Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules are delegated legislation issued by the Union Government, purportedly under India’s Information Technology Act.
These new rules supersede earlier, controversial guidelines which were
restricted on fundamental rights grounds by the Indian Supreme Court in a 2015 judgement. The original rules aimed to specify the basic due diligence requirements telecom companies, internet service providers (ISPs), online platforms, and other internet intermediarie
The government on Friday specified 5 million registered users in India as the threshold for a social media intermediary to be considered a significant social media intermediary as mentioned in the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. The rules make a distinction between social media intermediaries and significant social media intermediaries, who have a large number of users. The government had said on Thursday, while notifying the Rules, that it will specify the threshold of the user base that will distinguish between the two. Large social media firms including Facebook and Twitter said they are studying the rules.
Access Now 19 February 2021 | 6:41 am
Access Now is deeply concerned about a precarious precedent set today,
19 February, limiting the right to freedom of expression online in Malaysia, after independent media outlet Malaysiakini was convicted by the country’s highest court for user comments published on its site.
The
Federal Court of Malaysia charged the media outlet’s operator, Mkini Dot Com Sdn Bhd, with contempt of court on a motion moved by the Attorney General relating to the outlet’s alleged failure to moderate five comments on its platform deemed to scandalize the judiciary, fining it RM 500,000 (approx. USD 123,548). The user comments had been deleted by Malaysiakini upon notification by the police.