- Videos containing hateful speech against religious communities and spreading communal disharmony blocked
- Morphed images and videos being used to harm India’s national security, foreign relations and public order
NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, SEP 26
The Ministry of Information of Broadcasting directed the YouTube to block 45 videos on Friday, September 23. The Ministry in a statement said that the 45 videos on 10 YouTube channels, with a cumulative viewership of over 1 crore 30 lakh views, are being blocked as they were found to have ‘the potential to cause communal disharmony and disrupt public order’ in the country.
#BreakingNews | @MIB_India blocks 45 YouTube videos from 10 YouTube channels under IT Rules, 2021.
Videos containing hateful speech against religious communities and spreading communal disharmony blocked.@ianuragthakur pic.twitter.com/trWZStq2Dm
— DD News (@DDNewslive) September 26, 2022
“Content included fake news & morphed videos spread with the intent to spread hatred among religious communities. Examples include false claims such as Govt to have taken away the religious rights of certain communities, violent threats against religious communities, etc,” the Ministry said in the statement.
Some of the videos blocked by the Ministry were being used to spread disinformation on issues related to Agnipath scheme, Indian Armed Forces, India’s national security apparatus, Kashmir, etc. The content was observed to be false and sensitive from the perspective of national security and India’s friendly relations with foreign States.
Certain videos depicted erroneous external boundary of India with parts of J&K and Ladakh outside the Indian territory. Such cartographic misrepresentation was found to be detrimental to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.
The content blocked by the Ministry was found to be detrimental to sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, India’s friendly relations with foreign States, and public order in the country. Accordingly, the content was covered within the ambit of section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Government of India remains committed to thwart any attempts at undermining India’s sovereignty and integrity, national security, foreign relations, and public order.
Directions to block the concerned videos were issued under the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021.
Confirming the development, Anurag Thakur, I&B Minister said, “This is not the first time that 10 channels are being blocked. Before this, 102 YouTube channels were blocked. Besides this, 4 Facebook accounts, and 3 Instagram accounts have also been blocked. Against any page, which resorts to such tactics even in the future, the I&B Ministry of the Government of India would take appropriate action from time to time.”
