Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Feb 10: In the last two months, Centre has blocked more than 60 social media accounts, including YouTube channels, Facebook and Instagram pages, for disseminating anti-India fake news, the government said on Thursday.
Minister for State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan responded to supplementary questions in the Upper House by saying that the administration is highly concerned about freedom of speech and expression.
When asked about the actions taken against those disseminating fake news and publishers of anti-national content, he revealed that over 60 accounts, including those on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, had been blocked.
“These YouTube channels are sponsored from Pakistan,” he said.
In response to fake news in publications, the minister stated that the Press Council of India is an autonomous statutory agency that oversees journalistic ethics.
“Journalists have to follow ethics code. Wherever they have not followed the ethics code under the Press Council Act Section 14, action has to be initiated. In more than 150 cases, we took action against them,” he said.
When asked about the role of the Techfog app in propagating fake news, Murugan claimed the government has set up a fact-checking team that has received over 30,000 queries.
He stated that this section also verifies viral bogus news.
According to an official statement, the ministry ordered the blocking of 35 YouTube-based news stations and two websites on January 21 for promoting anti-India fake news across digital media in a coordinated way. Two Twitter accounts, two Instagram accounts, and one Facebook account have also been suspended.
According to the official announcement, 20 YouTube channels and two websites were also blocked in December.
