“It used to be authoritarian governments who
did this, but we are seeing the practice become
more common in democracies such as India,”
said Darrell West, avice president of governance
studies at the Brookings Institution who has
studied internet shutdowns.
“The risk is that once one democracy does it,
others will be tempted to do the same thing. It
may start at the local level to deal with unrest,
but then spread more broadly.”