Indian government blocks 20 YouTube channels because of 'spreading hoaxes'

The Indian government's information broadcaster has announced that it has blocked 20 YouTube channels as 'playing anti-Indian hoaxes.'

India dismantles Pakistani coordinated disinformation operation
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1783804

anti-india websites: 20'anti-India' YouTube channels, two websites banned under new IT rules --The Economic Times
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/india/20-anti-india-youtube-channels-two-websites-banned-under-new-it-rules/articleshow/88401150.cms

The Government of India has announced that it has blocked 20 YouTube channels and 2 websites. According to the announcement, blocked YouTube channels and websites were spreading 'conflicting information about Kashmir, the Indian Army, Indian minorities, Ram Mandir, Chief of Staff Bipin Rawat, etc.' matter.

In addition, 15 of the blocked channels were operated by an information diffusion organization called 'Naya Pakistan Group (NPG)' operating in Pakistan. In addition, the total number of subscribers to the blocked channels was about 3.75 million, with a total of over 580 million views. The Government of India has stated that 'most content is a difficult issue to deal with from a national security point of view and is not factual', and 'the government has the authority to block content in an emergency', IT Law No. 16 We have announced that we have blocked content based on the article.

The modus operandi of the anti-India disinformation campaign involved The Naya #Pakistan Group (NPG), operating from Pakistan, having a network of YouTube channels, and some other standalone YouTube channels not related to NPG.

Read more: https://t.co/fs8xhjTyEE pic.twitter.com/JJtiyDVvxg

— PIB India (@PIB_India) December 21, 2021

The material released by the Government of India includes an example of a movie released by a blocked channel. For example, the following movie entitled 'Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent 35,000 mercenaries to Kashmir' has been determined by the Indian government to be a hoax.

The Indian government has blocked YouTube channels: 'These YouTube channels also tried to incite ethnic minorities by posting content on issues such as farmer protests and protests regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act. A YouTube channel post was concerned that it could undermine the democratic process of upcoming elections in five states. '