File image used for representative purpose.

NEW DELHI: An article in People’s Daily online has “justified” internet shutdowns by citing India as an “example”. The daily is China’s largest newspaper and controlled by the country’s ruling party.

“India recently ordered a shutdown of the internet in the states of Assam and Meghalaya to control protests over the controversial new Citizenship Amendment Bill. It means that shutting down the internet in a state of emergency should be standard practice for sovereign countries,” the newspaper, considered to be the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece, mentioned in an opinion piece written by Qing Qiu titled “India’s internet shutdown shows normal practice for sovereign countries” that it ran on December 17.

The “justification” was described as a dangerous precedent for internet freedom in India by activists, considering that China has been repeatedly criticised by digital activists for censoring people’s voices online. The country, which has 840 million internet users (the largest in the world), has regularly featured poorly on global internet freedom ranks. Its citizens do not have free access to many social media platforms, including Twitter, and instead use its Chinese counterparts.

“India, meanwhile, is the world’s second-largest internet market with more than 650 million connected users; the states of Assam and Meghalaya alone boast 32 million netizens. India did not hesitate to shut down the internet in these two states to cope when there is a significant threat to national security. The internet shutdown in India has once again proved that the necessary regulation of the internet is a reasonable choice of sovereign countries based on national interests, and a natural extension of national sovereignty in cyberspace,” the editorial added.

Deepa Kumar, a public policy researcher at Oxford, whose work focuses on internet and technology, said India is dangerously “moving to that line of thought where we think it’s okay to suspend internet to stifle dissent, just like China does.”

“The West looks at India as a moral counterbalance to China in Asia. India is a democracy, China is authoritarian, India has fundamental rights, China doesn’t. China has been smart, this is it’s way of telling the West that you may have to rethink India’s classification as a liberal democracy ,” Kumar said.

Access Now, a global digital advocacy organisation, which tracks global internet shutdowns, had pointed out on Monday that India’s suspension of internet in Kashmir was the “longest” in any democracy.

“The internet shutdown in Kashmir administered by the government of India is currently one of the longest shutdowns ordered by a democratic government — as well as one that is impacting millions of people and therefore also an intense shutdown,” said Access Now policy director Raman Jit Chima, adding that the shutdown in Kashmir entered its 136th day on Wednesday.

