747 websites, 94 YouTube channels working against India brought down in 2021-22: I&B minister

NEW DELHI: Union minister of information and broadcasting Anurag Thakur said his ministry took action against 94 YouTube channels, 19 social media accounts and 747 websites working against the interest of the country in 2021-22, and got them blocked. These actions were taken under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, Thakur said in a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Thakur added that the government has acted against agencies working against the sovereignty of the country by spreading fake news and spreading propaganda on the Internet.

This January, I&B ministry blocked 35 news channels on YouTube operating from Pakistan and two websites which were spreading misinformation about India.

The YouTube accounts blocked by the ministry had a total subscriber base of over 12 million, and their videos had been viewed 1.3 billion times.

Additionally, two Twitter handles, two Instagram accounts, and a Facebook page were also blocked for spreading coordinated anti-India information over the Internet, the officials had said. The ministry had issued five separate orders under rule 16 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and used its emergency powers to order blocking these Pakistan-based social media accounts and websites.

The 35 accounts blocked included the Apni Duniya Network that operated 14 YouTube channels, and Talha Films Network operating 13 YouTube channels. A set of four channels, and a set of another two, were also found to be running in synchronization with each other, the ministry had said.

Indian intelligence agencies had been monitoring these social media accounts and websites, and flagged them to the ministry for immediate action, Apurva Chandra, secretary, information and broadcasting ministry had said.

The government had blocked 20 YouTube channels and two websites in December when emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021, were first utilised to act against anti-India fake news networks.