The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has ordered the blocking of 35 YouTube channels and two websites, which were running anti-India propaganda and spreading fake news “in a coordinated manner”.

These websites and YouTube channels were being operated from Pakistan, MIB Secretary Apurva Chandra told the media on Friday, according to a PTI report from New Delhi

Indian intelligence agencies were closely monitoring these social media accounts and websites and flagged them to the ministry for immediate action, he added.

“Vide five separate orders issued under rule 16 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the Ministry has ordered to block these Pakistan-based social media accounts and websites,” the ministry said in a statement later.

The YouTube accounts blocked by the Indian government had a total subscriber base of over 1.20 crore and the videos playing on them had over 130 crore views. Additionally, two Twitter accounts, two Instagram accounts and one Facebook account have also been blocked by the government for being involved in spreading coordinated anti-India disinformation over the internet, the government said.

The 35 accounts blocked, according to the government, were all operating from Pakistan and were identified to be part of four coordinated disinformation networks. These included the Apni Duniya Network operating 14 YouTube channels and Talha Films Network operating 13 YouTube channels. A set of four channels, and a set of two other channels were also found to be acting in tandem with each other.

“All these networks appeared to be operated with a single goal of spreading fake news oriented towards the Indian audience. The channels, which were part of a network, used common hashtags and editing styles, were being operated by common persons, and cross promoted each other’s content. Some of the YouTube channels were being operated by anchors of Pakistani TV news channels,” the government statement said.