On April 5, the Central Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has blocked 22 Youtube Channels ad certain social media handles for spreading disinformation related to India’s national security and cooking up stories about India’s war with other powers of the world. The Ministry has taken this decision under its powers of IT Rules, 2021.
.@MIB_India blocks 22 YouTube channels for spreading disinformation related to India’s national security, foreign relations, and public order
— PIB India (@PIB_India) April 5, 2022
18 Indian YouTube news channels blocked for the first time under IT Rules, 2021. 1/2
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On Tuesday, The Press Information Bureau released a notice regarding the blockage of 22 Youtube channels, 1 Facebook account, 3 Twitter Accounts and 1 website which were continuously engaged in a misinformation campaign against India with malicious intent. The collective viewership of these channels was 260 crore.
According to the Ministry, these channels were engaged in an active fake news campaign against India and published fictitious reports of India participating in a war with other countries. Reports from these channels were being actively shared on social media when they selectively chose to write on subjects sensitive from the perspective of national security, India’s foreign relations, and public order.
In this action around 18 Indian Youtube Channels and 4 Pakistani YouTube Channels have been blocked by the Indian Government. The YouTube channels were used to post fake news and anti-India content on various subjects on the Indian Armed Forces, Jammu and Kashmir, etc. The social media accounts blocked in the action were being operated in a coordinated manner from Pakistan. “It was observed that a significant amount of false content published by these Indian YouTube channels related to the ongoing situation in Ukraine, and aimed at jeopardizing India’s foreign relations with other countries,” the press release says.
As noted in the press release, the blocked YouTube channels were using templates and identities of popular TV news channels, including images of the news anchors to mislead the viewers for being authentic. Among the channels blocked in the action include ARP News, AOP News, LDC News, SarkariBabu, SS ZONE Hindi, Online Khabar, and News23Hindi among others. Pakistani Twitter accounts namely Ghulam Nabi Madni, Dunya Mery Aagy and Haqeeqat TV were blocked.
“The Government of India remains committed to 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 government stated.
