In the aftermath of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, which saw 26 civilians lose their lives last week on Tuesday, the Indian government took stringent action against Pakistan, banning as many as 16 of their YouTube channels in the country. Some of those channels belong to prominent Pakistan cricket personalities such as Shoaib Akhtar, Basit Ali, and Rashid Latif.
“This content is currently unavailable in this country because of an order from the government related to national security or public order. For more details about government removal requests, please visit the Google Transparency Report (transparencyreport.google.com),” this is what the message reads when either of the channels is visited in India.
These channels were blocked for allegedly disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content as well as false and misleading narratives against India, its Army and security agencies after the tragic incident. The decision was taken following recommendations from the Ministry of Home Affairs and constitutes a part of the Indian government’s series of non-military actions against Pakistan.
A senior government official said, “On the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government of India has banned the 16 Pakistani YouTube channels including Dawn News, Samaa TV, Ary News, Geo News for disseminating provocative and communally sensitive content, false and misleading narratives and misinformation against India, its Army and security agencies in the backdrop of the tragic Pahalgam terror incident in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Besides the aforementioned three, former Pakistan bowler Tanveer Ahmed’s YouTube channel was banned in India. As of now, none of these personalities has made a public statement on the ban, although it remains unclear whether it will be restored in the near future.
Overall, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting blocked 16 big YouTube channels of Pakistan, which have a combined subscriber base of 63.08 million. These include both news agencies and individuals. The channels are: Dawn News, Irshad Bhatti, Samaa TV, ARY News, BOL news, Raftar, The Pakistan Reference, Geo News, Samaa Sports, GNN, Uzair Cricket, Umar Cheema Exclusive, Asma Shirazi, Muneeb Farooq, Suno News HD, and Razi Naama.