The Centre has blocked 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for spreading misinformation against India and its security agencies. This decision comes in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. The 16 Pakistan YouTube channels that have been blocked include Dawn News, SAMAA TV, ARY News, BOL News, Geo News , SUNO News HD, GNN, the Pakistan Reference and Raftar.
Sources said this decision was taken on the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs after it was found that thesechannels were disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content, besides false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India, its Army and security agencies.
The government has simultaneously written to BBC conveying the country’s “strong sentiments” regarding their reportage on the recent terror attack, sources said. The news channel, for instance, termed “terrorists” as “militants” in one of the headlines which was also criticised by some social media users. The formal letter has been sent to Jackie Martin, India Head, BBC.
Some of the Pakistani channels that have been blocked seem to run by individuals such as Irshad Bhatti, Asma Shirazi, Muneeb Farooq, Umar Cheema Exclusive and Razi Naama. Cumulatively, these 16 YouTube channels have a subscriber base of over 63 million.
YouTube channels run by Shoaib Akhtar and Basat Ali have also been blocked as part of this crackdown.
The message displayed on YouTube for these blocked channels states, that, “this content is currently unavailable in this country on because of an order from the government related to national security or public order.”
On Saturday, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry had issued an advisory asking all media platforms to refrain from live coverage defence operations and movement of security forces.
(This is a developing story. Kindly check back after some time for more information.)