Massive crackdown on fake news! Govt blocks 45 YouTube videos, including one of Dhruv Rathi

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on Monday informed that it has directed YouTube to block 45 videos from 10 YouTube channels for spreading fake news and morphed videos with the intent to spread hatred among religious communities. The blocked videos, including one video of YouTuber Dhruv Rathi, had a cumulative viewership of over 1 crore 30 lakh views.

The content included fake news and morphed videos spread with the intent to spread hatred among religious communities.

Examples include false claims such as the government has taken away the religious rights of certain communities, violent threats against religious communities, declaration of civil war in India, etc. "Such videos were found to have the potential to cause communal disharmony and disrupt public order in the country," the ministry said.

Some of the videos blocked by the ministry were being used to spread disinformation on issues related to the Agnipath scheme, the Indian Armed Forces, India’s national security apparatus, and Kashmir. The content was observed to be false and sensitive from the perspective of national security and India’s friendly relations with foreign countries.

Certain videos depicted erroneous external boundary of India with parts of J&K and Ladakh outside the Indian territory. "Such cartographic misrepresentation was found to be detrimental to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India," the ministry said.

I&B Minister Anurag Thakur said the government has banned and suspended 10 YouTube channels for attempting to sabotage ties with friendly countries through misinformation, spewing venom against the country. "It has been done before in the interest of the nation, will also do it in future," he added. 

The content blocked by the ministry was found to be detrimental to sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the State, India’s friendly relations with foreign States, and public order in the country. 

The ministry has also directed YouTube to block one video of Dhruv Rathi. Sources, however, said YouTube has not yet deleted the video of Rathi with the wrong depiction of the Indian boundary in J&K.

(With additional inputs from Sumit Kumar Singh)