Govt bans 20 YouTube channels, two websites under new IT rules

20 YouTube channels and two websites on Monday were taken down by India after the Union government, for the first time, invoked the emergency powers under the intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code in the IT Act that was notified recently, according to a news report in Economic Times. The YouTube channels and the websites were allegedly running anti-India content from Pakistan.

According to the newspaper, I&B secretary Apurva Chandra directed YouTube and the Department of Telecom to ban the content as it infringes upon the sovereignty and integrity of India.

I&B officials said that the 'anti-India content' was being run by Pakistan with the help of Inter-Services Intelligence. One of the groups identified on YouTube was 'Naya Pakistan' that had more than 2 million subscribers and was running 'false news' on various issues such as Kashmir, farmers protests in India, Article 370, and Ayodhya. The total subscriber base of these YouTube channels is estimated to be more than 3.5 million and have a total viewership of 500 million, according to the officials.

These channels were flagged first by the security agencies after which the information ministry conducted its own inquiry. "This is for the first time that the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021 have been cited to ban anti-India propaganda websites," a senior official was quoted as saying in the report.