Internet Shutdowns, Causes, Trends, Legal Framework, Implications

The 2026 #KeepItOn report, “Rising Repression Meets Global Resistance: Internet Shutdowns in 2025,” highlights the growing use of internet shutdowns worldwide. In 2025, India recorded 65 internet shutdowns, the highest number among democracies showing how these measures, originally meant to maintain law and order, are increasingly becoming a tool of governance, raising constitutional and human rights concerns.

Internet Shutdowns Globally

The 2026 #KeepItOn report, titled “Rising Repression Meets Global Resistance: Internet Shutdowns in 2025”, revealed a sharp rise in deliberate internet disruptions worldwide, highlighting their growing use as tools to suppress dissent, control narratives, and restrict human rights.

• The 2026 #KeepItOn report revealed that , in 2025, the world witnessed 313 internet shutdowns across 52 countries, marking the highest number ever recorded by Access Now since it began tracking such data.

• Out of these 313 shutdowns, 75 shutdowns in 33 countries continued into 2026, indicating prolonged disconnection.
• Shutdowns were persistent rather than isolated events, with at least one shutdown occurring somewhere in the world every single day throughout the year.
• Seven countries imposed internet shutdowns for the first time in 2025, including Albania, Angola, Cambodia, Lithuania, Panama, Papua New Guinea, and the United States of America.
• The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the majority of shutdowns, with 195 occurrences across 11 countries.
• Myanmar experienced the highest number of shutdowns, totaling 95 incidents, primarily implemented by the military junta to suppress dissent, control information, and isolate civilians, especially after the 2021 coup.
• Other countries with significant shutdowns included Pakistan, which reported 20 shutdowns, often during protests or politically sensitive periods, and Afghanistan, where the Taliban imposed four shutdowns, affecting millions and further restricting access to education, employment, and essential services.
• The main triggers for shutdowns globally were conflict, accounting for 125 incidents, and protests or political instability, which caused 64 shutdowns, showing that authorities frequently use connectivity restrictions to suppress dissent and consolidate power.
• Internet shutdowns were also used to conceal human rights abuses, with 70 shutdowns in 2025 linked to severe violations, such as those during humanitarian crises in Sudan and Gaza, or nationwide blackouts in Iran that hid state violence during protests.
• Authorities increasingly targeted alternative connectivity solutions, including Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite internet, which was blocked 14 times across seven countries, demonstrating efforts to fully control access to information.
• Social media and messaging platforms were heavily restricted, with 94 communication platform blocks across 40 countries, affecting platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram, and even dating apps, severing critical communication channels during crises.
• Some shutdowns were cross-border in nature, with 18 incidents imposed by external actors in countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Russia, Ukraine, Yemen, Central African Republic, and Palestine, often aggravating existing humanitarian or conflict-related crises.

Internet Shutdowns in India 

India recorded 65 internet shutdowns in 2025, the lowest since 2017 but still the second highest globally, after Myanmar. These shutdowns were imposed across 12 states and territories, during protests, communal violence, conflicts, and religious holidays. 

Over the past decade, India has witnessed a fluctuating but consistently high trend of shutdowns, from 30 in 2016 to a peak of 134 in 2018.

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Legal and Constitutional Framework 

Internet shutdowns in India are now governed by the Telecommunications Act, 2023, which empowers the government to restrict internet services in specified areas for reasons such as public order, sovereignty, or security.Further, the Supreme Court in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020) clarified key principles:

• Access to the internet is essential for freedom of speech and expression (Article 19(1)(a)) and the right to carry on business or profession (Article 19(1)(g)).
• Restrictions must satisfy necessity, proportionality, and legality; indefinite or arbitrary shutdowns violate constitutional rights.
• Shutdown orders must be published and subject to judicial review, ensuring transparency and accountability.

Despite this, compliance remains inconsistent, with many shutdown orders lacking adequate justification, reflecting a gap between law and practice.

Key Drivers of Internet Shutdown

The 2026 #KeepItOn report highlights that internet shutdowns are not random but strategically employed by authorities to manage unrest, suppress dissent, and control information, both in India and globally.

• Conflict: Conflict remains a major trigger for shutdowns. In India, internet disruptions during communal violence or border tensions are used to prevent mobilisation and maintain order. Globally, conflict-related shutdowns disrupt civilian communications, conceal atrocities, and exacerbate human suffering, as seen in Myanmar, Sudan, and Gaza.
• Protests and Political Instability: Shutdowns are frequently employed to manage protests and political unrest. Authorities use them to suppress dissent, curb opposition rallies, and influence elections. In India, such measures are often implemented during anti-government protests or politically sensitive periods to control public narratives and prevent mobilisation.
• Hiding Human Rights Abuses: Shutdowns are also timed to coincide with violations of civil liberties, cutting off populations from critical information. In Jammu & Kashmir, prolonged disconnections have affected education, commerce, and access to essential services, particularly for vulnerable groups. Globally, similar tactics have been observed in Iran, Uganda, and Myanmar, where blackouts have been used to conceal state-perpetrated human rights violations.

Implications of Internet Shutdown 

The 2026 #KeepItOn report notes that internet shutdowns have serious global and domestic consequences, affecting human rights, access to information, and socio-economic stability.

• Restriction of Civil Liberties: Shutdowns limit freedom of expression and access to information, preventing people from communicating, sharing opinions, or participating in public life.
• Obstruction of Emergency and Humanitarian Efforts: Shutdowns disrupt rescue operations and access to critical services, as seen in Myanmar during the earthquake and in Sudan and Gaza during humanitarian crises.
• Concealment of Human Rights Violations: Blackouts are used to hide state-perpetrated violence and civil rights abuses from both domestic and international scrutiny.
• Suppression of Dissent and Political Manipulation: Shutdowns prevent mobilisation, suppress protests, and are sometimes used to influence elections or control public narratives.
• Targeting Alternative Connectivity and Platforms: Authorities block VPNs, satellite internet, and social media platforms to fully control communication and restrict access to information during crises.
• Prolonged Socio-Economic Impact: Shutdowns affect education, commerce, and essential services, especially harming vulnerable populations who rely on the internet for critical information and services.

Way Forward

The 2026 #KeepItOn report emphasises that governments must take urgent steps to prevent internet shutdowns and protect access to information as a fundamental right.

• End Arbitrary Shutdowns: Authorities should stop using shutdowns as a default response to protests, conflict, or political events, and recognise that deliberate disruptions must never be normalised.
• Strengthen Legal Accountability: Strategic litigation, civil society action, and court interventions should be used to challenge shutdowns and hold governments accountable.
• Protect Communications Infrastructure: Measures should ensure safe and secure access to communication platforms, including alternative connectivity like satellite internet, to maintain connectivity during crises.
• Global Recognition of Impact: International bodies should acknowledge the link between shutdowns and human rights violations, ensuring that internet blackouts do not enable abuse or impede humanitarian assistance.