YouTube has been ordered to remove 45 videos from its 10 channels by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. According to officials, the blocked videos have received a cumulative view count of over 1.30 crore since September 23, 2022, when the videos were ordered to be blocked under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.
A YouTube channel called The Live TV has taken down 13 videos, Hind Voice has taken down nine, Inqilab Live and Desh India Live have taken down six, Mr. Reaction Wala has taken down four videos, GetsetflyFACT and 4 PM have taken down two, and National Adda, Dhruv Rathee and Vinay Pratap Singh Bhopar’s channels have taken down one.
There was “fake news and morphed videos aimed at spreading hatred among religious communities,” according to officials. In India, there are false claims about the government taking away the religious rights of certain communities, violent threats against religious communities, and declarations of civil war, according to officials.
Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, commented on the move, saying “These channels were found to be involved in the conspiracy to spread hatred in India, and their content is detrimental to India’s friendly relations with foreign countries.” The process is ongoing, and we will take action against all such channels and sites in the future.”
In accordance with intelligence agencies’ inputs, officials took action on the videos because they were found to have the potential to cause communal disharmony and disrupt public order in the country.
In a statement released by the ministry, it said that some videos were spread to spread disinformation about the Agnipath scheme, the armed forces, national security apparatus, and Kashmir. In some videos, parts of J&K and Ladakh were depicted outside Indian territory. India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity were adversely affected by such cartographic misrepresentations.
