JOIN USCentre orders blocking of 20 'anti-India' YouTube channels, two websites
The government said that in a ‘closely coordinated’ effort with intelligence agencies, it has ordered the blocking of 20 YouTube channels and two websites which were allegedly spreading anti-India propaganda and fake news.
On Monday, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued two orders -- one directing video sharing platform YouTube to block the 20 channels and the other, for blocking of the news websites.
A government release said that the content across these channels had garnered a total of 58,68,07,175 views and had 37,52,898 subscribers.
“The channels and websites belong to a coordinated disinformation network operating from Pakistan and spreading fake news about various sensitive subjects related to India. The channels were used to post divisive content in a coordinated manner on topics like Kashmir, Indian Army, minority communities in India, Ram Mandir, General Bipin Rawat, etc,” a release from the I&B ministry read.
The move also marks the maiden application of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which was notified by the government in February this year. The government invoked section 16 of the Rules and intimated YouTube India’s offices for the takedown.
Channels that were taken down include The Punch Line, Khalsa TV, Punjab Viral, and International Web News.
Among the content that was taken down was a video by The Punch Line titled ‘200 Indian Army Personnels Accept Islam In Srinagar’. Another video, uploaded by a channel called 48News, was titled ‘Chinese army plans to occupy Assam after Ladakh’. Another such video, titled ‘Turk Army Enter Ayodhya Ram Mandir To Takes’ was uploaded by a channel called Historical Facts.
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