'Centre blocked 60 YouTube channels for circulating fake news'

New Delhi: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Thursday informed the Rajya Sabha that it had blocked 60 Pakistan-backed YouTube Channels which were circulating fake news against the government.

Responding to a question by BJP lawmaker Lt General DP Vats(Retd), Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L. Murugan stated that the government has blocked 60 YouTube channels, including their social media accounts such as twitter, facebook and Instagram which were involved in circulating fake news against the Indian government and were backed by Pakistan.

To other question by Congress lawmaker Vivek Tankha, the Minister further said that the Press Council of India(PCI) is a statutory autonomous body taking care of the journalists' ethical code. The PCI under section 14 of the PCI Act can take an action against a journalist who does not act according to the ethics. Under Section 14, actions have been taken against over 150 journalists so far.

Tankha had asked whether fake news can be disseminated by the You Tube only. It has been also circulated by the newspapers and why there was no need for the PCI yet since November, and why has the government not done anything about it.