India has seen 20 internet shutdowns in 2017, says report According to a report by the Software Freedom Law Centre, India has seen 20 internet shutdowns in 2017. It said that since 2012, the Indian government has shut down the internet 79 times. Very recently, on 5 June and 6 June, the government had shut down the internet in the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, during the farmer agitation. Meanwhile, on 7 June, the People’s Development Party (PDP) had called for a shutdown of the internet in Jammu and Kashmir when a civilian was killed by security forces. The following day, the shutdown was called in Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit leader had been arrested following a clash between the upper and the lower caste. In all these cases, the shutdown was used as a preventative measure so that India’s internal administrative machinery does not get jeopardised, since most of the content encouraging violence was circulated through social media apps like WhatsAp...