Global cost of internet shutdowns $4 bn in 2020, India share at 70%: report

India has topped the list of restricting internet access to citizens more than any other country – over 75 times in 2020, which cost the economy $2.8 billion, says an annual report by Top10VPN, a UK-based digital privacy and security research group. According to the report titled The Global Cost of Internet Shutdowns, while the economic cost of internet shutdowns globally in 2020 was $4.01 billion, down by 50 per cent from 2019, for India it almost doubled from $1.3 million last year. In Kashmir, internet restrictions were lifted after 7 months but users were only able to access low-speed 2G connections, mentions the report. The majority of short blackouts in India affecting groups of villages or individual city districts