16 Pakistan YouTube channels blocked for provocative content
The Centre has blocked 16 Pakistani YouTube channels for disseminating “provocative and communally sensitive” content and written to the BBC over its objectionable reportage of the Pahalgam terror attack. Action has also been initiated against some media reports for misreporting facts related to the attack and the Army as well as security agencies.
The banned YouTube channels have been found peddling “false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India, the Army and security agencies in the backdrop of the terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir”, said official sources. The ban has been imposed on the recommendation of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the sources said.
The channels, some of which belong to prominent media houses such as Dawn News, ARY News, Samaa TV, BOL News and Geo News, have a combined subscriber base of around 63 million.
Besides, the Ministry of External Affairs has conveyed its strong objections to BBC India head Jackie Martin regarding their reporting on the Pahalgam terror attack.
A formal letter has been sent to the British public service broadcaster for terming terrorists as “militants”, MEA sources have said, adding that the ministry will monitor its reporting on the Pahalgam incident.
In an article, “Pakistan suspends visas for Indians after deadly Kashmir attack”, the BBC had referred to the carnage as a “militant attack”, prompting the government to write to its India head.
The government has also initiated action by filing an FIR against a news report thread on generating fake Aadhaar. Further, the government has conducted a fact check on a fake press release being circulated, attributed to the Defence Ministry, regarding the setting up of a welfare fund for the Army.
After formally taking over the investigation into the attack on April 27, the NIA is currently recording statements of eyewitnesses in the matter.
It has also traced the digital footprints of the terrorists to the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, sources said.
The Resistance Front (TRF) — a proxy group of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) — which had initially taken responsibility of the attack has backtracked from its claim.
India