MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th August, 2022) India has blocked access to seven Indian and one Pakistani YouTube channels for spreading fake news, the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said on Thursday.
"The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, utilizing the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021, has issued orders on 16.08.2022 for blocking of eight YouTube based news channels, one Facebook (banned in Russia) account, and two Facebook posts. The blocked YouTube channels had a cumulative viewership of over 114 crore (1.14 billion), were subscribed by over 85 lakh (8.5 million) users," the ministry said in a statement.
According to the ministry, some of the content of the blocked YouTube channels aimed to incite hatred in Indian religious communities, with false claims made regarding "the Government of India to have ordered demolition of religious structures; Government of India to have banned celebration of religious festivals, declaration of religious war in India, etc."
The blocked channels were also used to post fake news concerning the Indian armed forces and the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, and such content was sensitive from the perspective of national security and the friendly relations with foreign states, the statement read.
The decision to block channels and pages in social networks was the fourth application of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules adopted in India last year. Starting December 2021, the ministry has issued orders to block 102 news channels on YouTube and several other accounts on social networks.
