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 were blocked for spreading misinformation and threatening national security.
Responding to a question from Rajya Sabha, Thakur said Section 69A of the Information Technology Act provides for preventing content exceeding digital media For the sovereignty or integrity of India, the defense of India, national security, friendly relations with foreign countries or public order, or to prevent incitement to commit any cognizable offense in connection with the foregoing.
He said the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a directive to block 1,643 user-generated URLs, including web pages, websites, posts and accounts on social media platforms, from 2021 to October under Part II of the IT rules. 2022.
“The government has taken action against these regulations and we will not hesitate to take such action in the future if required,” Thakur said.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the government asked youtube Ban the three channels for falsely promoting various public welfare activities and disseminating false information. On Tuesday, the News Information Bureau’s fact-checking unit declared the three channels to be fake news peddlers.
“The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has directed youtube Cancel the three channels Aaj Tak Live, News Headlines and Sarkari Updates,” an official source said on Wednesday.
The government has clarified that Aaj Tak Live has nothing to do with India Today Group.
The channels used thumbnails and images of TV news channels and their anchors to mislead viewers into believing the news they shared was true, an official statement said Tuesday.
