Govt blocks 8 YouTube channels third time in 5 months, uses new IT Rules

The government on Thursday blocked eight YouTube channels, including one operated from Pakistan, for allegedly spreading disinformation related to India’s national security.

It is the third time in five months that the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has blocked YouTube channels invoking the Information Technology Rules, 2021, taking the tally to 46.

As many as 78 YouTube channels have been blocked since 2021, I&B Minister Anurag Thakur told Parliament recently. The channels that were blocked in the current round include Loktantra TV, U&V TV, A M Razvi, Gouravshali Pawan Mithilanchal, SeeTop5TH, Sarkari Update, Sab Kuch Dekho and Pakistan-based News ki Duniya.

The blocked channels had over 114 crore views and 85.73 lakh subscribers and the content was being monetised, the I&B Ministry said.

In April, the Ministry blocked 38 YouTube channels in two rounds. While new IT rules empower users of social media platforms, asking the latter to provide for a time-bound and robust grievance redressal mechanism to resolve complaints by users, there are rules also prescribed for digital media publishers.

Here, a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism with varying levels of self-regulation has been stipulated by the government.

Digital media publishers have argued that the mechanism will curtail their independence, prompting many to challenge the rules in court. “There are two stakeholders involved here. One are the social media platforms, the second are the digital publishers,” Siddharth Shivakumar, advocate, Delhi High Court, who has studied the new IT Rules, says.

“Many digital media publishers have challenged the rules in court, so compliance has been minimal within this set of stakeholders. As far as social media platforms are concerned, non-observance under rule 8 of the IT Rules, 2021 will deprive them of protection from litigation for third-party content hosted by them,” Shivakumar said.

A recent report by the Internet Freedom Foundation, a Delhi-based advocacy group, said that in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by them, the I&B Ministry said that over 2,000 digital media publishers had furnished details about themselves after the new IT rules came into effect in May last year.

The I&B Ministry, however, did not specify who these publishers were and whether these details were furnished after the stay order over the three-tier redressal mechanism was pronounced by the Mumbai High Court last year.