EXCLUSIVE: YouTube under MIB’s scrutiny for violating content policy
From January to June 2023, Google received 2191 content removal requests from the government and 1677 content removal requests were received between July and December 2023.
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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is looking into YouTube for allegedly violating content policies.
Under Section 69A of the IT Act, the central government is legally empowered to "block public access to any information generated, transmitted, received, stored, or hosted in any computer resource" by issuing directives to intermediaries to protect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the defense of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, maintaining public order, and preventing incitement to commit any cognizable offense related to the above.
A source familiar with the matter claimed that multiple requests were made by MIB to take down certain content which were violating content policy norms and laws in the country. Despite that the Google-owned platform failed to take down or restrict certain content, claiming that YouTube's community guidelines were not violated.
In a response to questions sent by Storyboard18, YouTube said, "We have clear policies for removal requests from governments around the world. We review government removal requests when notified through the correct legal processes, and also review flagged content for violations of our Community Guidelines. And, where appropriate, we restrict or remove content in keeping with local laws and our Terms of Service after a thorough review. All of these requests are tracked and included in our Transparency Report."
In March 2024, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed YouTube to block a CBC News documentary that focused on the Indian government's alleged role in the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. X (formerly Twitter) was also reportedly ordered by MeitY to disable posts related to the documentary.
Since January to June, 2023, Google received 2191 content removal requests from the government while from July to December 2023, 1677 content removal requests were made from the government.
Over the past ten years, the Indian government has requested Google to remove approximately 115,500 pieces of content from its platforms, including YouTube, web browser, etc. According to a Surfshark study, India is now the third-highest country in terms of content removal requests sent to Google.
"Most of the content India requested to remove was from YouTube (8.8k), Google Play Apps (4.3k), and Web Search (1.4k)," the report stated.
Between 2013 and 2022, Indian government agencies requested Google to take down content over 19,600 times. The analysis showed that 'defamation' was one of the most frequent reasons for these requests.
