93 Final Project

India’s Digital Authoritarianism

Since 2020 India has had 269 internet shutdowns, 26 journalists have been attacked, and they have implemented many new media regulations. Despite all this, India has a huge media landscape, with the second most internet users, over 930 million. This is about 3 times as much as the United States. Along with media consumption, there are always regulations set by the government to prevent misinformation and violence. Although many countries still profess that freedom of the press and information overall is a right. India’s actions to censor their media and control the press that is consumed in their country can be seen as infringements on their freedoms of press and free speech while claiming to be a democracy that professes these freedoms.

There have always been extensive limitations on India’s digital information network. In 2008 the country’s power to monitor online media was heightened by The Information Technology Act, proceeding the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Although much of India’s contemporary issues are often associated with the current prime minister, Narendra Modi. Narendra Modi became India’s prime minister in 2014 and since then there was an increase in government orders to take down online content, along with more than 350 internet shutdowns.  In a New York Times article, Anuradha Bhasin says, “His Hindu-chauvinist movement…has already put severe pressure on India’s once-rambunctious press, with journalists surveilled and jailed and the government using strong-arm tactics against media outlets to ensure favorable coverage” (Bhasin 2023). In this article, Bhasin describes journalism before Modi. Journalism was always dangerous, especially during times of war, when journalists were influenced by security forces over what to write. Yet this journalism was still rapidly being produced and it was spoken for the public, not for the government. This changed after Modi gained his position as prime minister. Now journalists aren’t only threatened but actions are being taken against anyone who criticizes the government. An example is when government officials raided The Kashmir Times newspaper office and closed it in 2020. This was also done to BBC’s office in 2022. While the online media landscape has been difficult to sensor, through new laws implemented by Modi, the information online can be controlled by the government too.

India in 2021 completely changed their set of regulations for SMIs or social media intermediaries (SMIs) by enacting the Information Technology (IT) Rules 2021. This set of rules is said to ensure better protection of their users on social media. This included requiring social media platforms to have a system that can trace the creator of encrypted messages, identify sexually explicit content, and hire people that will respond to India’s government and users’ complaints about the platforms’ content. Along with this set of new rules, regulations on streaming services and digital news outlets have changed too. Regulations that were previously set by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, are now being controlled by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. What this essentially does is hold streaming services and news outlets to the same rules that Indian television and newspapers have. This includes having age verification systems and abiding by their code of ethics. This is a lot to ask for from media outlets, and that’s why immense changes in Indian media are expected. India is also adamant about their regulations. Based on the IT Act of 2000 they can prosecute those who don’t follow these regulations if the content goes against their rules. India has also previously shown that they are not resistant to banning whole platforms.

While enforcing and changing its online regulations, India has since banned a list of apps and platforms. Most of these are Chinese apps. India and China have had tensions and issues at their shared border for years, although in 2020 they had a violent clash that resulted in some dead. Soldiers often come into confrontation, disputing the border that changes through the environmental impacts of rivers, snowcaps, etc. This happened again in May of 2020, it lasted for months and resulted in soldiers dead on both sides. This conflict along with other tensions between the countries seems to have begun large banning streaks, with over 200 Chinese app/websites in 2020 alone. One of the most influential banned sites was TikTok, the 6th most-used social network globally, which had more than 200 million Indian users before it was banned. More platforms banned include WeChat, AliExpress, Shein, Clash of Kings, etc.  India didn’t use the border clash as an explanation though, instead, they claim that it was done for national security and concerns about their users’ accessible data. The Chinese embassy refuted this saying they always abide by international laws. This highly affects the economic relationship between India and China. A CNN report says since the clash at the border, “The tensions have spilled over into the trading relationship, worth more than $80 billion” (Pham, 2020). Since these apps being banned aren’t the only current instances of India restricting online platforms, it’s possible that there are other intentions. The countries have opposing governments, while India claims to be a democracy, China has a communist system. This can lead some to think that by banning the country’s platforms, they are constricting online perspectives that may oppose their own government or beliefs.

Another result of the new IT regulations for the platforms India continued to work with is that they are asking for a lot more content to be removed from the internet. The IT rules state that platforms are required to respond to these ‘requests’ in 24 hrs. and act in 15 days (Aljazeera, 2022). While a lot of social media platforms, (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn) worked with India to follow their regulations Twitter initially did not. Just like many others, Twitter believed that the regulations would hinder users’ free speech. This led to Twitter deciding to sue the central government in June of 2022 when they stated that the new set of rules were way too broad to follow. The platform also released information about the content that was ordered to be taken down, which was often ‘political and journalistic’. Others such as the Unfreedom Monitor’s media observatory reveal that India justifies the content taken down by claiming it to be “anti-India” and “anti-national” (Advox, 2022). WhatsApp, an instant messaging app with around 480 million Indian users, additionally filed a lawsuit in 2021 against the Indian government’s new rules to make all messages traceable. This they said was a hindrance to their users’ privacy. India has the 2nd most internet users in the world, therefore abiding by their rules is essential for the platforms to be able to grow. Although this gives India huge amounts of power that leads to no limits on what India can have taken down from the platforms. If the platforms don’t comply with the rules, India can criminally charge those based on their regulations also.

With so many global platforms it can be difficult to regulate everything that is spread on the internet. This is why many countries now are taking action to stop the spread of misinformation or harmful content. India too has a large problem with misinformation that they claim to be fighting against with their new regulations. In fact, when a Facebook researcher studied what it was like to use Facebook as if they were in India, they saw a large amount of misinformation, hate speech, and violence (Frenkel and Alba, 2021). Although India is Facebook’s largest consumer, there is a lack of resources for non-American users on the platform making it a dangerous place for Indian users. For example, Facebook uses A.I. systems to detect hate speech although in Hindi and Bengali, the 2 most spoken languages in India, they don’t work effectively. Alt News is a non-profit created in 2017 that tries to strike down lies and hate speech on platforms like Facebook. The non-profit “speaks truth to power and is free from corporate and political control” (Alt News). This source has debunked harmful conspiracies or lies and criticizes those who target minorities, about rising Muslim hate on the internet. Mohammad Zubair, one of the founders of the non-profit has faced charges for his work. “Anonymous critics and B.J.P. officials accused him of spreading communal unrest” (Raj, 2022). India claims to want to stop the spread of misinformation but prosecute people like Mohammad for criticizing Modi’s administration. Content removal and new regulations are said to fight against the spread of misinformation, but the content that is removed is often about the Indian government or officials, while other harmful information stays.

While India fights against disinformation, online platforms are increasingly not safe for certain users. According to Reporters Without Borders, “charges of defamation, sedition, contempt of court and endangering national security are increasingly used against journalists critical of the government” (2021). Journalists are silenced by the government if they are critical of the government. As previously mentioned, India has had 26 journalists attacked in the past 2 years. On the World Freedom Index of 2022, India is ranked 150 out of 180 based on their violence against journalists. On the internet, nationalists harass or threaten journalists who oppose the government on the internet. “Women journalists in India have been trolled, received death and rape threats, found themselves objectified on apps, and are allegedly targeted by spyware” (Advox 2023). These acts happen unevenly towards women or other marginalized communities such as those of a lower caste or Muslims. It is especially apparent that Muslims in India are targeted on and off the internet. Since Modi and his party have been in power there has been a rise in Muslim discrimination and their rights have been limited. Online conspiracies about the group have furthered hate towards them. In 2020, during the scare of the pandemic, on social media platforms, it was shared that Muslims spread Covid. Alt News debunked this, yet it didn’t stop harassment of Muslims or more information from being shared.

In a Global Voices article, Subhashish Panigraphi compares India’s internet censorship to that of China, or specifically China’s ‘great firewall’. Although what is different from China’s censorship to India’s is that it is much more organized. Panigraphi claims this is why India often results in completely shutting down the internet as a way to stop the spread of information during times of protests or opposition against the government. Central and state Indian governments can ban internet services without referring to an Indian court, which is why in the past few years complete internet shutdowns have been common. In fact, in 2020 there has been 269 internet shutdowns in many different territories. The longest internet shutdown in the country started in 2019, in Kashmir and it lasted 18 months. Here, communications were additionally shut off. This happened without given reasons although many times the internet has been shut down following protests. In 2020 India enacted 3 new farm laws that farmers went to protest to protect the guaranteed prices they made from their crops. This resulted in multiple districts being shut off from online access. This kept protestors from organizing online. Although these shutdowns didn’t last long, during these times people have to travel outside of their territories in order to send emails, work online, make online appointments, etc. The government claims they do this to keep public order and to minimize the spread of misinformation.

Whether it’s because of Chinese and Indian tensions, the Information Technology Rules of 2021, or the authoritarianism of Modi’s political party, there has been an increase in digital censorship in India. The Indian government now has more control over global platforms through the IT Rules of 2021. This has made it harder for journalists to criticize the government’s acts without being charged or harassed on the internet, especially for marginalized journalists. Additionally, India’s access to the Internet overall is not certain because of the government’s ability to completely shut it down when there is any opposition. In these ways, India suppresses their citizens and the perspectives that can be shared through the internet.

References

Alt News. (n.d.). Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.altnews.in/

Fegan, S. (2022). India’s social media crackdown is a challenge to the rules-based order. Lowy Insitute.

India. (2021). Reporters Without Borders. https://rsf.org/en/country/india

Isaac, M. (2021, May). WhatsApp sues India’s government to stop new internet rules. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/25/technology/whatsapp-india-lawsuit.html

Jyothish, R. (2021, March). How India’s new internet regulations will change social media, online news and video streaming. Global Voices Advox. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://advox.globalvoices.org/2021/03/16/how-indias-new-internet-regulations-will-change-social-media-online-news-and-video-streaming/

New Delhi gives itself power over social media content moderation. (2022, October). Aljazeera. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/10/28/in-india-govt-now-has-power-over-social-media-content-moderation

Number of government-imposed internet shutdowns in India from 2012 to 2022. (n.d.). Statista. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1095035/india-number-of-internet-shutdowns/

Number of internet users in selected countries in 2022. (n.d.). Statista. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/271411/number-of-internet-users-in-selected-countries/

Number of journalists attacked in India between 1992 and 2022. (n.d.). Statista. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/1364587/india-abuses-against-journalists/?locale=en

Panigrahi, S. (2020, February 17). What do we know about the ‘great firewall of India? Global Voices Advox. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://advox.globalvoices.org/2020/02/10/what-do-we-know-about-the-great-firewall-of-india/

Pham, S. (2020, November). India bans more Chinese apps as tensions remain high. CNN Buisness. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/tech/india-bans-chinese-apps-hnk-intl/index.html

Raj, S. (2022, September). In India, debunking fake news and running into the authorities. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/world/asia/india-debunking-fake-news.html

Singh, K. D., & Conger, K. (2022, July). Twitter, challenging orders to remove content, sues India’s government. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/05/business/twitter-india-lawsuit.html

The tweets may flow: A look into India’s take-down requests. (2022, November). Global Voices Advox. Retrieved April 23, 2023, from https://advox.globalvoices.org/2022/11/04/the-tweets-may-flow-a-look-into-indias-take-down-requests/