tl;dr
We were notified by our community that on April 27, 2023, the Commissioner (Home) of Manipur ordered an internet shutdown in two districts of Manipur for five days, because certain reported incidents of violence, and citing a possibility of false rumours and disinformation spreading through social media. Applicable Indian law requires that these orders must be reviewed by a committee of high-level government officials, to ensure that they are proportionate, lawful and necessary. We have written to the Chairperson of the Review Committee, i.e. the Chief Secretary of Manipur to review the order and consider on a day-to-day basis, whether the internet suspension needs to continue.
Why should you care?
Given the impact of internet shutdowns on fundamental rights in addition to health, education and commerce, it is essential that proper oversight is exercised over orders for internet shutdowns. The Review Committee established under the Telecom Suspension Rules is the only mechanism for oversight of internet shutdown orders, and if the Review Committee does not diligently oversee and review orders for internet suspension, there is a higher risk that the power to shut down the internet will be misused by governments, as a result of going completely unchecked.
Background
As notified to us by members of our community, that the State of Manipur has issued an internet shutdown in two districts, i.e. in the districts of Churachandpur and Pherzawl. The internet will be suspended for a period of 5 days beginning on April 27, 2023, pursuant to Order No. 1/1(3)/2008-H dated April 27, 2023 (“April 27 Order”).
The April 27 Order has been issued in relation to incidents of violence reported at Churachandpur. However, the reason cited in the April 27 Order for the internet suspension is that it intends to “thwart the design and activities of anti-national and anti-social elements… by stopping the spread of disinformation and false rumours, through various social media platform such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. on mobile phone” (emphasis reproduced). To achieve this objective, the Manipur government has issued a suspension order for the next five days.
According to the Telecom Suspension Rules, 2017, the suspension order must be forwarded to the Review Committee of the State by the next working day, and the Review Committee must sit within five days to deliberate on the legality of the order, and record their findings.
We wrote to the Chief Secretary of Manipur urging greater scrutiny of shutdown orders
Concerned by the length of the suspension order, we wrote a letter to the Chief Secretary of the Government of Manipur on April 28, 2023, in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Review Committee constituted by the Government of Manipur. In the letter, we raised our concerns regarding the length of the internet suspension order, and the legal, economic and social harms of internet suspensions.
We highlighted that communication and news reporting services over the medium of the internet are crucial in combating disinformation and false rumours, since such disinformation may spread equally well through offline means, but the primary exercise for fact-checking and receiving up-to-date verified information is carried out by means of the internet, including on social media platforms. Further, internet shutdowns are an ineffective remedy for the objectives stated in the April 27 Order. Researchers, such as Jan Rydzak and Nishant Joshi, have empirically studied internet shutdowns, and found that they are ineffective in pacifying protests and often have unintended consequences of incentivizing violent forms of collective action which require less communication and coordination.
Since the internet suspension order has been issued for five days, if the Review Committee meets after such time, the operation of the order would have lapsed and any findings by the Review Committee will become academic in nature. Accordingly, we urged the Chairperson to ensure that the Review Committee convenes as soon as possible and records its findings on the legality of the April 27 Order with reasons. In the interest of transparency and the spirit of the law, as well as the Supreme Court’s judgment in Anuradha Bhasin, we also requested that the review committee ensure that the minutes of this meeting be published in public domain.
We will continue to fight against internet shutdowns wherever they occur in India.