Government blocks 45 YouTube videos, cites intent to spread religious hate

Government has ordered the blocking of 45 videos from 10 YouTube channels that contained fake news and morphed content with the intent to spread hatred amongst religious communities, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said on Monday.

The blocked videos had a cumulative viewership of over 1.30 crore and claimed that the government had taken away the religious rights of certain communities, an official statement said.

"These channels had content that spread fear and misconception among communities," Thakur said.

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An official statement said the blocked content included fake news and morphed videos spread with the intent to spread hatred among religious communities.

"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," it said.

The content was observed to be false and sensitive from the perspective of national security and India’s friendly relations with foreign nations, it added.

The order to block the videos was issued on September 23 under the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, the statement said.

Earlier, the government had blocked 102 YouTube channels and Facebook accounts that sought to create communal disharmony, Thakur said.