India incurred an economic cost of $585.4 million due to internet shutdown extending up to 7,812 hours in the year 2023, according to a report by Top10VPN.com. Needless to say, with over 5000 hours of internet blackout in different parts of Manipur from May to December 2023, the State government contributed most to the economic cost of internet shutdowns in India, the research showed.
Further, with 30 major internet shutdowns, India ranked fifth in the list of countries that imposed the most internet restriction measures— the top four countries being Russia, Ethiopia, Iran, and Myanmar. In 2022, India had inflicted a loss of $184.3 million due to internet shutdowns for around 1533 hours, according to Top10VPN.
How is the research conducted? This research sources incidences of internet outage from trackers like Netblocks real-time graphic data and reports, Internet Outage Detection and Analysis, the SFLC.IN Internet Shutdown Tracker, and OONI’s internet censorship measurement tools. Top10VPN has said that the economic cost of each internet shutdown is calculated using the Netblocks Cost of Shutdown Tool, which is based on the Brookings Institution method, and regional shutdown costs are derived from the region’s economic output as a proportion of national GDP.
Reasons for internet bans: According to the report, the most common reasons for internet shutdowns in 2023 were:
- Exams
- Protests
- Information control
- Conflict
- Military Coup
- Election Interference
Internet bans due to conflict, protests, and exams cost the most to countries in 2023. The report says that in India, most of the internet outages were highly localised in nature and were restricted to specific districts, cities, and villages. These tended to be in response to civil unrest and were often pre-emptive, the research informed.
Why it matters:
The Government of India has largely been evasive about questions regarding evaluation of the cost that an internet ban inflicts upon the economy. Further, a lack of official data also means that there is not enough clarity on the actual number of shutdowns, its economic cost and impact on people’s fundamental rights; the effect of which may be greater than what’s being reported. In the past, a parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, and Member of Parliament Pradyut Bordoloi had highlighted the need for a central repository of internet shutdown orders issued across different States.
Despite a lack of evidential studies on the effectiveness of internet shutdowns in restoring peace, governments in India have adhered to the norm of imposing prolonged preventive internet bans. These include restrictions enforced in anticipation of an event which may trigger a situation in which the government feels that the internet should be shut down. In 2023, the Manipur government continued re-circulating the internet shutdown order in the State from May to December, under “public order” reasons. Citizens petitioned the Supreme Court that a prolonged ban on internet access affected their lives and livelihood, even in areas where the violence was “substantially quelled”. On December 4, the government had restored mobile internet services in some parts of the state until December 18. However, an update on SFLC’s Internet Shutdown Tracker recently indicated that the Manipur government had reimposed internet ban in five districts on January 2, 2024, but MediaNama could not verify the source of this information.
Also Read:
- Summary: Petition In Supreme Court Against Prolonged Internet Shutdown In Manipur
- Parliament Report: 7 Key Recommendations On Internet Shutdowns India’s Telecom Dept Didn’t Follow
- J&K Saw Most Internet Shutdowns In 2022; “Preventive Shutdowns” On Rise In India: SFLC
- No Report Available On Economic Cost Of Internet Shutdowns In India: Telecom Dept In Parliament
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