Anti-national news: Eight YouTube channels banned

NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has banned eight YouTube channels for spreading anti-India news in a manner that incites communal hatred. One of these channels is from Pakistan. The blocked YouTube channels had cumulative views of over 114 crore and were subscribed by over 85 lakh users.

The banned channels are SeeTop5TH (30 lakh subscribers), Sab Kuch Dekho (19 lakhs), Loktantra TV (12 lakhs), U&V TV, AM Razvi, Gouravshali Pawan Mithilanchal, Sarkari Update and Pakistan-based News Ki Duniya. Loktantra TV's Facebook account and posts were also banned.

After analysing the content it was established that the purpose of these YouTube channels was to spread hatred amongst various religious communities in the country and included the agenda of spreading fake news, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said.

Examples of some of the fake news spread via the means of these channels included news such as the "Government of India to have ordered demolition of religious structures; Government of India to have banned the celebration of religious festivals, Declaration of religious war in India, etc."

The YouTube channels were also used to post fake news on various subjects such as the Indian Armed Forces and Jammu and Kashmir.

The blocked Indian YouTube channels were observed to be using fake and sensational thumbnails, images of news anchors and logos of certain TV news channels to mislead the viewers to believe that the news was authentic.