The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns in 2019 Report

The Supreme Court of India on Friday ordered immediate review of internet suspension in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Restrictions on fundamental rights cannot be done by arbitrary exercise of power, said Justice Ramana while reading out the verdict. Freedom of speech and expression includes right to internet within Article 19 of the Constitution of India, said the apex court.

But, Internet shutdowns are more than merely an inconvenience; they are also having an economic impact on the country. Atleast the ‘Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns in 2019 Report’ says so. The Report by internet research firm Top10VPN, worked on calculating the data in major regions of the world using the COST tool.

What do we mean by Internet Shutdown?

An internet shutdown is an intentional disruption of internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information.

Highlights of the Report

• The study says that India lost over $1.3 billion in internet shutdowns across the country — lasting 4,196 hours in 2019 — making it the third-most economically affected country after Iraq and Sudan, among 21 countries where major internet shutdowns happened last year.
• This is a result of internet shutdowns in regions like Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Tripura, and Uttar Pradesh.
• The total cost of internet shutdowns across the world, according to the report, stood at $8.05 billion in 2019, an increase of 235 per cent since 2015-16.
• India imposes internet restrictions more often than any other country, with over 100 shutdowns documented in 2019. Most recently, shutdowns have been imposed in the northeast in relation to the Citizenship Amendment Act resulted in around $102 million of economic impact.
• Iraq — which suffered the highest economic impact from internet shutdowns, was hit by $2.3 billion and 209 hours of blackouts.
• Sudan suffered the second highest impact at $1.87 billion, and 864 hours of blackouts.
• Countries across the world also put blocks selectively on specific online platforms. WhatsApp was the platform that saw the highest number of shutdowns globally at 6,236 hours. Facebook was second, blocked globally for 6,208 hours, followed by Instagram (6,193 hours), Twitter (5,860 hours) and YouTube (684 hours).

About the Report

• The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns in 2019 report identifies the total economic impact of every major internet blackout and social media shutdown around the world last year.
• It collated every national and region-wide incident, determined the duration of the restrictions and used the COST tool to calculate their economic impact.
• This tool, developed by internet monitoring NGO Netblocks and advocacy group The Internet Society, uses indicators from the World Bank, ITU, Eurostat and US Census.

SOURCE: Business Standard

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