Strategic disruptions: The subnational targeting of internet shutdowns in India

Abstract

Since 2016, governments in 77 countries have implemented 1,118 internet shutdowns, revealing a growing trend in the use of ‘digital repression’. Governments often justify these shutdowns as necessary for public safety and applied impartially in response to security threats. Focusing on India, the country that has enacted the most shutdowns globally, this article explores whether shutdowns instead follow a logic of targeting political opponents, and how they compare with traditional forms of physical repression. The results align with a theory of strategic political targeting as shutdowns are predominantly executed in areas with lower ruling party support, following opposition violence, and prior to escalations in military violence. This pattern differs significantly from that of physical repression, revealing that internet shutdowns are a unique and politically motivated tool used by those in power to suppress opposition and facilitate state-sanctioned violence.