The government directed social media companies to block 1,643 user-generated URLs from 2021 to October 2022 under the provisions of Part-II of the IT Rules.

By Abhik Sengupta: Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Anurag Thakur, has informed that the government ordered companies to block 104 YouTube channels, 45 videos, four Facebook accounts, three Instagram accounts, five Twitter handles and six websites for threatening national security and spreading fake news. The social media handles and channels were blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, which can be invoked to restrict access to content in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of the country. The union minister informed this while responding to a query in Rajya Sabha.

As reported by the news agency, PTI, the MeitY directed social media companies to block 1,643 user-generated URLs, including webpages, websites, posts and accounts on social media platforms from 2021 to October 2022 under the provisions of Part-II of the IT Rules. The union minister said, “The government has taken action under these rules and if required, we will not hesitate to take such action in the future”.

Among the YouTube channels, three fake news accounts, Aaj Tak Live, News Headlines and Sarkari Updates, were also blocked. The government clarified that the Aaj Tak Live YouTube page is not associated with the India Today Group. The YouTube account misled viewers by using thumbnails of TV news channels and their anchors.

Previously, the government has used the same provision of the IT act to block Chinese apps and websites in the country. These were blocked to protect the sovereignty and integrity of the country. Some of the popular banned Chinese apps in India include TikTok, WeChat, PUBG Mobile, CamScanner, Alibaba, and Weibo. Krafton’s latest BGMI, the tweaked 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 WhatsApp’s “user safety report” for November 2022, the platform banned 3,716,000 WhatsApp accounts before any user reports. These were blocked to “prevent harmful behaviour on the platform”. WhatsApp’s parent company Meta has released its compliance report and said its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, took down nearly 22.9 million posts in the month of November in India.

Meta added, “Of the other 378 reports where specialised review was needed, we reviewed content as per our policies, and we took action on 218 reports in total. The remaining 160 reports were reviewed but may not have been auctioned.”