Centre orders blocking of 35 Pak-backed YouTube channels, multiple social media accounts

A month after it blocked 20 anti-India handles, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has now ordered blocking of 35 YouTube-based news channels and two websites which were involved in spreading propaganda against India in a coordinated manner over digital media, I&B secretary Apurva Chandra said.

The blocked YouTube accounts include the popular Apni Duniya network and Talha films and some operated by popular anchors of Pakistan, I&B ministry officials said. The blocked channels had a total subscriber base of over 12 million, and their videos had over 1.3 billion views.

Chandra said the blocking orders were issued under emergency provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. Indian intelligence agencies were closely monitoring these social media accounts and websites, and flagged them to the ministry for immediate action.


An inter-ministerial committee will meet next week to ratify the order, joint secretary Vikram Sahay said, adding that the content was mostly offensive and fake content about former CDS Bipin Rawat, his family, Kashmir, the Indian Army, India's position with respect to China, the sentiment of separatism in some states and other issues.