LS polls: Notice to YouTube channels under Information Technology Act

A YouTube channel, Bolta Hindustan, remained blocked to viewers, while another two channels on the video sharing platform, National Dastak and Article 19, received emails from YouTube earlier this month that the Union government had requested that they be blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and Rule 15(2) of the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code), Rules, 2021. 
 

Bolta Hindustan has over 300,000 subscribers , National Dastak and Article 19 have 9.44 million and 2.81 million subscribers, respectively. In a post on X on April 3, National Dastak shared a screenshot of the email from YouTube, and questioned how the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting could issue such notices when the Election Commission’s model code of conduct was in force. 
 

 

The email from YouTube stated that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was likely to “pass a final order” about the channel “shortly”. However, only the YouTube channel of Bolta Hindustan has been taken down for now for “a violation of YouTube’s terms of service”.