India witnessed the highest number of Internet shutdowns in the year 2020. As per a report, India has topped the list of 29 countries that disrupted internet access for people in 2020. Most of the incidents took place in India, some of the Middle Eastern countries, and some parts of Africa.

A total of 155 internet shutdowns were imposed globally out of which India had 109 shutdowns. In 2019 too India had led the highest number of internet shutdowns with 121 shutdowns, followed by 12 in Venezuela, 11 in Yemen, 8 in Iraq, 6 in Algeria and 4 in Ethiopia, as per the report by Access Now.

“The government shut down the internet at least 109 times. While this figure is lower than the totals in the previous two years, India had instituted what had become a perpetual, punitive shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir beginning in August 2019. Residents in these states had previously experienced frequent periodic shutdowns, and in 2020 they were deprived of reliable, secure, open, and accessible internet on an ongoing basis,” the report states.

“There were also shutdowns in India for other reasons in 2020, and these may be ripe for challenge. Notably, in West Bengal, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education and the state government’s Home Department previously introduced a curfew-style internet blackout during the Madhyamik (secondary school) examinations, cutting off internet access every day during certain hours. This internet curfew lasted for more than nine days,” the report added.