Randomness And Stuff 2

After The Whatsapp Malware Fiasco, India Has Cut Off Its Internet

The riot was triggered by rumours a 14-year-old girl had been attacked. On August 25, hundreds of people took to the streets of the small Indian district of Banda, part of the Northern region of Shahjahanpur, in protest at reports a guard had hit her when she tried to set up her market stall outside the local Gurdwara. The action prompted anger from the local Sikh and Hindu communities who faced off.
Stones were thrown by the two groups, damaging cars and injuring 12 people. Police officers in helmets and body armour fired tear gas into the crowd to try and regain control. The incident was captured by media reports and eyewitness recordings. Days later, police brought charges of rioting, damage to public property and arson against 70 people. A peacekeeping meeting between the two religious communities was also held. Then, on August 27, local authorities ordered a shutdown of mobile internet connections in the area from 06:00 until 14:00 to stop the spread of online rumours about the alleged attack and subsequent unrest. But the real target of the shutdown wasn't the internet as a whole, it was WhatsApp.
Fake news and misinformation are intrinsically linked with WhatsApp in India. With 200 million monthly active users, India is WhatsApp's biggest market. It is also one of its most problematic. During the last year more than 30 deaths have been linked to rumours circulated through the messaging app. In June 2018 eight people were killed after rumours spread through the app about alleged child kidnappers.
"WhatsApp is so important to India's everyday life," says Allie Funk a research analyst at NGO Freedom House. WhatsApp groups are used to rapidly spread news of what's happening in local communities and messages are forwarded to multiple users at once. WhatsApp messages have been blamed for creating violent mobs – not unlike the one in Shahjahanpur – that have targeted individuals following the rapid spread of images and videos.
As a result, India has found itself in the unenviable position of being a world-leader when it comes to internet shutdowns. The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), based in New Delhi, has tracked down 116 internet shutdowns across India in 2018 alone. In 2017, it counted reports of 79 shutdowns; in 2016, that figure was just 31 and in 2012 it was just three. The rise from three shutdowns in 2012 to more than 100 this year marks a 3,766 per cent surge. Analysts say the shutdowns have cost India billions of dollars and damaged the country's online reputation. India's restrictions on internet access are increasingly being blamed on rumours, fake news and misinformation. And in India, fake news spreads on WhatsApp.
"Provocative audio and video messages were getting shared on social media sites," local district magistrate Amrit Tripathi told The Times of India after the street mob formed in Shahjahanpur. "The rumour about the death of an injured girl could have disrupted the peaceful environment," Tripathi continued. As part of the police investigation, three people were arrested for sharing messages on WhatsApp, including one group administrator.
Shutdowns based on the spread of fake news and rumours are happening across India. In August, internet connections in the Pune district of Maharashtra were shutdown to "prevent rumour-mongering" after protests. In Manipur in July, the spread of rumours via social media was also blamed for a temporary internet blackout. Back in 2016 the internet was shut off in Bihar after a video showing a Hindu god being desecrated went viral. Other media reports have also linked internet shutdowns to social media and the spread of misinformation. When they shut down the internet, Indian authorities aren't taking aim at broadband connections, they're aiming their censorship squarely at mobile data connections.
"Internet shutdown is the favourite go to mechanism to handle fake news," says Rajeev Chandrasekhar an MP in India's upper house, the Rajya Sabha. Around 500 million people in India are online, second only to China. But internet penetration is still low, with the Pew Research Center finding that only one in four adults in India use the internet. But with cheap data plans and mobile phones bringing more people online, the way information spreads around India is changing. Authorities have not directly blamed WhatsApp for internet shutdowns, preferring to use the broader term of social media – of which WhatsApp and Facebook are by far the biggest.
A spokesperson for WhatsApp refused to comment on the platform's part in internet shutdowns in India. "The challenge of mob violence requires government, civil society, and technology companies to work together," the spokerson said. "The police also use WhatsApp to discuss investigations and report crimes."
The control of the internet is largely left to the police and officials in India's states and regions. Chandrasekhar says law enforcement has failed to keep up with the country's increasing connectivity. As a result, when violence or unrest occurs, they pull the plug on the internet to try and restore order. "When the conventional police is unable to use any new tools to deal with it they often resort to internet shutdown," Chandrasekhar says.
According to the SFLC's internet shutdowns tracker, the disputed northern region of Jammu and Kashmir has seen the most blackouts (108 since 2012) and Rajastjan (56) is in second place. Both areas are often marred by violent outbursts which reportedly lead to the shutdowns. One anonymous law enforcement official from Kashmir, taking part in research around shutdowns, said provocative images shared on Facebook and WhatsApp often mobilise crowds. Fake pictures or videos of militant encounters are also often shared on the social networks, the official said.
"Any time there's going to be a protest, whether peaceful or not, the first thing the authorities do is shut the internet down so there's no communication," a spokesperson for the SFLC says. Shutdowns rarely last more than 72 hours but the rise in their frequency is worrying. Local governments justify internet outages through the Temporary Suspension of Telecom Services Rules, which were introduced in August 2017. (Previously Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was used for controlling the internet). These new rules outline some basic procedures around who can order shutdowns and say a review process must take place, although emergency situations let authorities dodge around such checks.