The Indian Government has ordered the blocking of 45 videos from 10 YouTube channels, which contained fake news and morphed content, with the intent to spread hatred amongst religious communities, officials said on Monday.

“Based on the inputs from intelligence agencies, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has directed YouTube to block 45 YouTube videos from 10 YouTube channels. Orders to block the concerned videos were issued on 23.09.2022 under the provisions of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021. The blocked videos had cumulative viewership of over 1 crore 30 lakh views,” an official statement stated.

“Some of the videos blocked by the Ministry were being used to spread disinformation on issues related to Agnipath scheme, Indian Armed Forces, India’s national security apparatus, Kashmir,” the statement added.

The content was observed to be false and sensitive from the perspective of national security and India’s friendly relations with foreign nations, it explained.

The government remains committed to thwart any attempts at undermining India’s sovereignty and integrity, national security, foreign relations, and public order.