The Centre announced on Monday that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had blacklisted 16 YouTube news channels for promoting falsehoods about India’s national security, foreign relations, and public order.

The Centre went on to say that these channels were propagating incorrect and unsubstantiated material in order to cause fear, foment communal strife, and disrupt India’s public order.

Ten of the 16 YouTube news channels that have been disabled are from India, and six are from Pakistan.

They drew a cumulative audience of almost 68 crore people.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry blocked 22 YouTube channels earlier this month for the same reason.

According to a press release from the Centre, a total of 22 YouTube channels have been disabled, including four Pakistan-based YouTube news stations.

According to the announcement, the restricted YouTube channels had a combined viewership of over 260 ,000,000 people and were used to promote fake news and coordinated disinformation on social media on topics that were sensitive in terms of national security, India’s foreign relations, and public order.

Since the introduction of the IT Rules, 2021 in February last year, this was the first time that action was taken against YouTube-based news providers.