The ministry of information and broadcasting has informed that the government instructed companies to block 104 YouTube channels, 45 videos, four Facebook accounts, 3 Instagram accounts, 5 Twitter handles, and 6 websites for threatening national security and spreading fake news on social media. Social media and channels are blocked under section 69A of the information technology act.
The Meity or The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology directed the social media companies to block 1,643 user-generated URLs including webpages, websites, posts, and accounts on social media platforms from October 2021 to October 2022 under the provisions of part II of the IT rules. The government has taken action under these rules, if required, we will not hesitate to take such action in the future.
Among the YouTube channels, 3 fake news accounts, Aaj Tak live, news headlines, and Sarkari updates are also blocked. The government clarified that the Aaj Tak YouTube page is not associated with the India group. The YouTube account fooled the viewers by using thumbnails of some of the TV news channels and their anchors. Earlier, the government used the same precautions of the IT act to block Chinese apps and websites in the country.
Some of the popular Chinese apps that are banned in India include WeChat, CamScanner, TikTok, PUBG Mobile, Weibo, and Alibaba. Krafton’s latest BGMI, the twist version of PUBG Mobile for India, also remains banned. Meanwhile, global social media companies are also required to submit a compliance report to the government each month under rule 4 (1) (d) of the information technology Act. As per the WhatsApp user safety report for November 2022, the platform banned 3,716,000 WhatsApp accounts before any user reports. These were banned to prevent harmful behavior on the platform. The WhatsApp parent company Meta has released its report and said its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, let down nearly 22.9 million posts in the month of November in India.
Meta further said that in the other 378 reports where review specialized were needed, they reviewed content as per the policies, and they took action on 218 reports in total. And the remaining 160 reports were reviewed but reportedly may not have been selling.
