The Indian government has asked YouTube to block access to eight channels – seven from India and one from Pakistan – for “fake, anti-India content”, bringing the number to 102 since last December. A Facebook account has also been blocked in this latest action, using emergency powers under the 2021 IT Rules, the Ministry of Information and Communications said in a statement today.
Eight YouTube channels – with nearly 86k subscribers and over 114 views – “sow hatred in religious communities in India… [with] false claims,” the ministry said.
“Examples include fake news such as the Government of India ordered the demolition of religious buildings … banned the celebration of religious festivals, declared war on religion in India,” the statement said. more.
They used “fake and sensational thumbnails, news anchor images and logos of certain TV news channels to mislead viewers”. The ministry said the armed forces and Jammu and Kashmir were among their subjects. pictures of the thumbnails or the cover image of the video.
Among the blocked Indian channels, ‘Sab Kuch Dekho’ has the most subscribers, 19.4 lakh and almost 33 views. Others include Loktantra TV – whose Facebook account has also been banned – alongside U&V TV, AM Razvi, Gouravshali Pawan Mithilanchal, SeeTop5TH and Sarkari Update.
The Pakistan based channel called ‘News ki Dunya’ has around 1 thousand subscribers.
Doesn’t give a country wise breakdown of subscribers and views.
In April, 22 YouTube channels have been blocked with similar fees. Four of them are from Pakistan; the rest, run from India.
Today’s statement states that the government is “committed to ensuring an authentic, reliable and secure online news media environment”. The action against some social media channels is to “dissuade any attempt to undermine India’s sovereignty and integrity, national security, foreign relations and public order”.
