A record number of countries shut down the Internet in their territory during the year 2022, as revealed today (Tuesday) by the report of the human rights organization "Access Now" which was widely published in the media in the United Kingdom and the United States. According to the report, at least 187 different cases of intentional shutdown
of Internet services by government around the world occurred throughout the year, with the vast majority of them occurring due to civil protest and demonstrations.
The report does not deal with countries that regularly prevent access or severely restrict online content on their territory, such as North Korea in China and focuses on countries where Internet access is often free but discriminated against by the government for various reasons. Surprisingly, the country marked by the report as a
criminal The biggest disadvantage of the access to the Internet from its citizens is a democratic country, in fact, the most populated democratic country on the planet.
According to the report, India brought down the net in its territory 84 times during the past year.
A protest in the state of Kashmir against the policies of the Indian government, photo: AFP
Most of the shutdowns initiated by New Delhi took place in the territory of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, where there is an ongoing civil uprising against Indian control, alongside a wave of terrorism led by Islamist organizations with the encouragement of neighboring Pakistan.
However, the report claims that the Indian government is increasingly willing to use the tactic of disconnecting the network in other areas as well, mainly in order to prevent protests and strikes.
The second country on the list of major offenders of disconnecting the population from the Internet is Iran, which has struggled in the past year with a widespread popular protest against the imposition of religious laws in the country.
Tehran has initiated at least 18 major disconnections of entire areas of the country from the internet.
Russia was also widely mentioned in the report, mainly due to the attempt to bring down the Internet network in Ukraine during the war.
Protest against the hijab laws in Iran (archive), photo: AFP
"Governments use the disconnection of the Internet as a weapon of control and as a shield for total immunity," said Felicia Antonio from the organization "Access Now".
"In 2022, in both authoritarian regimes and democracies, power-hungry leaders have increased their use of this devious tactic of disrupting the Internet in order to strengthen their agenda," the activist wrote.
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