NEW DELHI: The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry on Tuesday ordered blocking of 22 YouTube-based news channels —18 of them from India — three Twitter accounts, one Facebook account and a news website for spreading disinformation related to the country’s national security and foreign relations.
The blocked YouTube channels, the ministry said, were used to spread fake news and coordinated disinformation over social media on sensitive subjects from the perspective of national security, India's foreign relations and public order.
“Many things shared on these digital platforms did not comply with the IT Rules. Taking this and the malicious content they were disseminating into consideration, we took the decision to block them with immediate effect. We want to assert that if we find any platform being misused for spreading misinformation, fear or anti-India content, we will take stringent action in future also,” I&B minister Anurag Thakur said.
While the government has blocked 78 YouTube-based news channels since December last year, this is the first instance of the ministry initiating action against Indian YouTube-based news publishers since the notification of the IT Rules, 2021 in February. Apart from the 18 Indian YouTube channels, four Pakistan-based YouTube news channels have also been blocked.
“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,” the ministry statement said.
