The government has blocked 104 YouTube channels and 4 Facebook accounts for spreading false information: Anurag Thakur

Union Minister Anurag Thakur said on Thursday that 104 YouTube channels, 45 videos, four Facebook accounts, three Instagram accounts, five Twitter accounts and six websites had been blocked for spreading false information and threatening national security. .

Responding to questions from the Rajya Sabha, Thakur said Section 69A of the Information Technology Act provides for the blocking of content on digital media in the interest of sovereignty or integrity of India , defense of India, state security, friendly relations with foreign states. or public order or to prevent incitement to commit any recognizable offense relating to the foregoing.

He said that under the provisions of Part II of the IT Rules, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued instructions to block 1,643 user-generated URLs, including web pages, websites, posts and accounts on social media platforms from 2021 to October. 2022.

“The government has taken action under these rules and if necessary, we will not hesitate to take such action in the future,” Thakur said.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the government asked YouTube to remove three channels for making false and sensational claims about various public welfare initiatives and spreading fake news. The three channels were declared peddlers of fake news by the Fact-Checking Unit of the Press Information Bureau on Tuesday.

“The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has ordered YouTube to remove the three channels Aaj Tak Live, News Headlines and Sarkari Updates,” an official source said on Wednesday.

Aaj Tak Live is not associated with the India Today group, the government said.

Channels used thumbnails and images of TV news channels and their anchors to mislead viewers into believing the information they were sharing was genuine, an official statement said on Tuesday.

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