India shuts down the internet far more than any other country
restofworld.org
The country had 771 blackouts between 2016 and 2023, and there have been 51 so far this year. We mapped the affected areas.
  • Alphane Moon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    385·
    3 months ago

    I was curious about their methodology for counting “internet shutdowns”.

    I live in Ukraine and I have not experienced government run internet shutdowns since the full scale russian invasion. We do block russian resources (pretty easy to overcome via VPN), but that’s understandable as they spread genocidal propaganda.

    The internet does go down for some providers when there are longer brownouts, but that’s related to the russians targeting the energy infrastructure. To my knowledge even frontline towns (i.e. 10km to the front) still have internet if there is capability to provide it. I believe towns ~20 km from the frontline are actually exempt from planned power shutdowns when there is too much load on the system (due to russians destroying ~60% of our electricity production capacity).

    So I looked into their dataset (direct google sheets link).

    And low and behold, this is what I found:

    They do explicitly state that “Shutdowns were imposed by external parties in Palestine and Ukraine”, but it seems strange to include such cases considering this is different from the approach used in India.

  • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    3 months ago

    I don’t understand how they can keep it blocked for so long. After 3 days, I’d have a Pringles can my roof aimed at a friend/relative who wasn’t blocked…

  • TFO WinderEnglish
    422·
    3 months ago

    The situation can escalate quickly and there could be a lot of violent riots, given the history.

    I personally think these things are justified if you really know the on ground situation.

    • bestboyfriendintheworld@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      201·
      3 months ago

      The shutdowns are mostly in Jammu/Kashmir

      The majority of shutdowns in India have historically occurred in Jammu and Kashmir, a region at the center of a decades-long dispute between India, Pakistan, and China. In August 2019, it experienced 552 consecutive days of internet blackout, the world’s longest shutdown in history.