JOIN USI&B Ministry blocks 22 YouTube channels for spreading disinformation
Eighteen Indian and four Pakistani YouTube news channels, three Twitter accounts, one Facebook account and a news website were blocked for spreading fake news and indulging in coordinated disinformation campaigns over social media on India’s national security, foreign relations and public order, the government said on Tuesday.
The action against 22 YouTube channels, which has a cumulative viewership of 260 crore and "used logos of TV news channels and false thumbnails to mislead viewers", was taken under the new Information Technology Rules 2021. This is the first time these rules were invoked against Indian YouTube channels.
Since December last year, 78 YouTube channels have been blocked by invoking the IT rules.
According to an official statement, multiple YouTube channels were used to post fake news on subjects such as the Armed Forces and Jammu and Kashmir among others. The content ordered to be blocked also included certain anti-India content posted from multiple social media accounts operated in a coordinated manner from Pakistan, it said.
The blocked Indian YouTube channels were publishing a "significant amount of false content" on the ongoing situation in Ukraine and aimed at "jeopardising" the country's foreign relations.
The statement said the blocked Indian YouTube channels were using templates and logos of certain TV news channels, including images of their news anchors to mislead the viewers to believe that the news was authentic.
"False thumbnails were used and title and thumbnail of the videos were frequently altered to increase the virality of content on social media. In certain cases, it was also observed that systematic anti-India fake news was originating from Pakistan," it said.
"The Government of India remains committed towards ensuring an authentic, trustworthy, and safe online news media environment, and thwart any attempts at undermining India’s sovereignty and integrity, national security, foreign relations, and public order," the statement added.
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