Nuh Violence: Mobile internet suspended; What is internet shutdown and how does it work? Find out

Two people have died, more than 200 people have been injured and multiple vehicles were set on fire in the violence that took place in Nuh, a district in Haryana. The incident occurred after clashes erupted during a religious procession. After the violence spread, the state government had to suspend mobile internet in the district till August 2 in order to stop fake news, misinformation and paranoia among the public.

In an official statement, the Nuh administration stated, “In order to stop the spread of misinformation and rumours through various social media platforms, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Twitter, etc. on mobile phones and SMS, for facilitation and mobilisation of mobs of agitators and demonstrators who can cause serious loss of life and damage to public and private properties by indulging in arson or vandalism and other types of violent activities, Home Secretary, Haryana do order the suspension of the mobile internet services and all dongle services etc. provided on mobile networks except the voice calls in the territorial jurisdiction of district Nuh of Haryana State”.

But what exactly is internet shutdown and how does it work? Let us take a look.

Internet shutdowns

Internet shutdowns are any disruptions in access to internet services. These actions are taken in order to subdue situations that can turn into riots or to dissipate an already ongoing riot. As the internet, particularly mobile internet has become an accessible form of communication, bad actors use it for unlawful gatherings during riots, which can be stopped by taking away the connection altogether.

Such decisions can be taken by either the Central government or the State government. During such a shutdown, people are unable to access the internet no matter which network or broadband service they use.

How do internet shutdowns work

Since there is no ‘off’ switch on the internet that a person can press to take away access to the internet, governments or entities entrusted with this power tell internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict network connectivity in a certain region. ISPs then can do a number of things to take away access from a region. They can make the underlying IP address of all websites and servers inaccessible, resulting in people not being able to access the internet.

DNS blocking is another way to achieve the same effect. Apart from these, there are other sophisticated methods such as speed throttling, blacklisting, and more. And if you’re wondering, how does the ISP know you are in the internet shutdown area, they use your phone number and location data in order to track and take away the access.

India’s track record with internet shutdowns

According to a report by Access Now, a digital rights group, India shut down the internet at least 84 times in 2022, the highest number of shutdowns for any country that year. India won this title for the fifth consecutive year in 2022. In 2021, the instances of internet shutdowns were 106.