YouTube

As per informed sources, orders were also issued to Twitter for blocking of over 50 tweets containing the links of the concerned YouTube videos. The directions were reportedly issued by Secretary, Information and Broadcasting on Friday using the emergency powers under the IT Rules, 2021. Both YouTube and Twitter have complied with the directions, the sources said.

Orders to block the concerned videos were issued on September 23 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.

"It has come to the notice of the ministry that an inappropriate and derogatory advertisement of a deodorant is circulating on social media. The Ministry has asked Twitter and YouTube to immediately pull down all instances of this advertisement," the ministry tweeted, attaching the email it has sent to the platforms. Also, the TV channel on which it appeared has already pulled it down on directions of the broadcasting ministry, another tweet said.

In a statement, the ministry said that the YouTube accounts blocked by the Ministry had a total subscriber base of over 1.20 crore and their videos had garnered 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.