Government has blocked 94 YouTube channels, 19 social media accounts from 2021 to 22 for spreading fake news

Information and Communications Minister Anurag Thakur on Thursday said the government had blocked 94 YouTube channels, 19 social media accounts and 747 unified resource locators (URLs) between 2021-22 for spreading information. fake ie.

Responding to a question at the Rajya Sabha, Minister Thakur said that these actions were taken under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act 2000.

The minister said the government has been strong-willed against agencies working against the country’s sovereignty by spreading Hearsay and propaganda about Internet.

Thakur said that to check the spread of fake news related to COVID-19, a dedicated branch of the fact-checking unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) was established on May 31. March 2020, so that everyone can refer to information related to COVID. to verify.

The unit responded to 34,125 lawsuitable queries, including queries related to COVID-19, Thakur said, adding that PIB also dealt with fake news and 875 posts about it. on their social media platforms.

The statement from the I&B Minister comes as India is planning to propose new IT rules. India plans establish a government panel to hear appeals against content moderation decisions that may lack independence. The proposed policy change is the latest turning point between India and tech giants who have argued for years that tighter regulations are hurting their business and investment plans. It also happened when India clashed with Twitter in a well-known controversy, which recently saw the social media company sue the government in local courts to revoke certain content removal orders.

Mandatory June Proposal social media companies are subject to a newly created government panel that will decide on user complaints about content moderation decisions. The government did not specify who should be on the panel.

However, the new Indian proposal is open for public consultation until the beginning of July and has no fixed date for implementation.