- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Indian ministry of information and broadcasting on Thursday (20) blocked 35 YouTube channels besides two Twitter accounts, as many Instagram accounts and websites and a Facebook account that are allegedly operated from Pakistan and spread fake anti-India news.
Vikram Sahay, joint secretary (P&A), ministry of information and broadcasting, confirmed the news saying the step was taken to counter spreading of misinformation.
“The common factor amongst all these accounts have been that they operate from Pakistan and spread fake anti-India news and other content,” Sahay said.
The ministry has issued orders to respective social media intermediaries and internet service providers through the department of telecom for blocking the accounts.
“The blocked accounts have contents on Indian Armed Forces, Kashmir, India’s foreign relation with other countries and the death of former CDS (chief of defence staff) Bipin Rawat.” The ministry said.
“The blocked social media accounts had over 1.2 crore subscribers with a viewership of 130 crores,” Sahay added.
All the 35 accounts blocked by the ministry were operating from Pakistan and were identified to be part of four coordinated disinformation networks.
The blocked accounts include the ‘Apni Duniya Network’ operating 14 YouTube channels, and ‘Talha Films Network’ operating 13 YouTube channels, a release from the ministry said.
The contents on the blocked accounts violated five separate orders issued under rule 16 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, Indian news channel NDTV reported.
