The ministry of information and broadcasting said on Friday that it had blocked 35 YouTube channels, two Twitter accounts, two Instagram accounts, a Facebook account, and two websites, Scroll reported. According to the ministry, the accounts were being operated from Pakistan and spreading “anti-India disinformation”.
The report states that the accounts were flagged by Indian intelligence agencies that were monitoring the accounts. After receiving the information, the centre blocked the accounts on Thursday, invoking emergency provisions under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
In a statement, the ministry said, “The channels propagated content to encourage separatism, divide India on the lines of religion, and create animosity among the various sections of the Indian society. Such information was feared to have the potential to incite the audience into commission of crimes adversely affecting public order in the country,” the Indian Express reported.
According to the report, I&B secretary Apurva Chandra in a press briefing said that they were “very, very toxic channels” and that “it was sort of a war against the country, war of misinformation,”. The channels had a combined subscriber strength of 1.2 crore and more than 130 crore views. Chandra added that the accounts blocked also had content on “Indian armed forces, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s foreign relations, separatist ideas,” and the recent death of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat.
Calling for people to give inputs on any such content to the ministry, Chandra said “intelligence agencies are now alive to this issue...now since this process has started, I’m sure more and more such channels will get blocked.”
In December last year, the ministry had blocked 20 YouTube channels saying that they were spreading “anti-India propaganda” and fake news. The ministry had said that the channels had carried content on topics such as Kashmir, the Indian army, Ram Mandir, late chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat, farmer protests, and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and accused them of inciting minorities.
On Thursday, I&B minister Anurag Thakur had warned that action would be taken against any websites or YouTube channels “spreading lies” or “hatching conspiracy”.
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