For propagating fake news, the Indian government has shut down 22 YouTube news channels and other social media accounts. 18 Indian and four Pakistani YouTube channels have been disabled.
According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, four Pakistani YouTube news channels misled viewers by using TV news channel logos and bogus thumbnails.
This is the first time that action has been taken against the Indian YouTube-based news publishers since the notification of the IT Rules, 2021 in February last year, it said.
In an official statement, the ministry said that it issued an order on Monday to block 22 YouTube channels, three Twitter accounts, one Facebook account and one news website.
Since December 2021, the I&B Ministry has issued directions for blocking 78 YouTube-based news channels and several other social media accounts on grounds related to national security.
“The blocked Indian YouTube channels were using templates and logos of certain TV news channels, including images of their news anchors to mislead the viewers to believe that the news was authentic. False thumbnails were used; and title and thumbnail of the videos were frequently altered to increase the virality of content on social media. In certain cases, it was also observed that systematic anti-India fake news was originating from Pakistan,” the ministry stated.
(With inputs from agencies)
