New Delhi: Within a week’s time, two digital news outlets Bolta Hindustan and National Dastak received notices from YouTube stating the video streaming platform had received a notice from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) directing that both YouTube channels be blocked with concern to Rule 15(2) of the Information Technology Rules 2021, read with Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The Wire has learnt that YouTube had informed Bolta Hindustan and National Dastak that the notice it received from MIB was confidential so they were unable to share it with the news platforms.
Bolta Hindustan and National Dastak are both small-scale media start-ups and have striven to report on news that they claim does not make it to big media.
YouTube’s Response
With reference to Bolta Hindustan’s channel being blocked, a YouTube spokesperson told The Wire, “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 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.”
The YouTube channel of ‘Bolta Hindustan’, which had close to 3 lakh subscribers, was suspended after a notice it received on April 4.
In January, this year, Bolta Hindustan also saw the suspension of their Instagram handle, which had 40,000 followers, without any explanatory communication from the social media platform.
The Wire has learnt that YouTube has taken the channel off for circumventing their Terms of Service.
Sources say that YouTube believes that all users agree to comply with their Terms of Service and Community Guidelines when they sign up to use YouTube. The platform takes seriously any attempts to circumvent their Terms of Service to use or create another channel in an attempt to circumvent a termination or restrictions placed on the channel and we remove channels that attempt to do so.
Sources told The Wire that previously too, Bolta Uttar Pradesh was terminated for allegedly “violating spam, deceptive practices and scams policies.”
Action against Indus News TV
In The Wire’s recent story, Indus News TV had claimed that their videos are no longer monetised and their reach is throttled.
On this, YouTube told The Wire, “All channels on YouTube must comply with our Community Guidelines. Creators who wish to monetise their videos with ads are held to an even higher bar and must also comply with our Advertiser-Friendly Guidelines. Any claims that are demonstrably false and could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process are in violation of our policies. These guidelines are enforced consistently, regardless of the creator, their background, political viewpoint, position or affiliation.”
YouTube also mandates that for monetisation, channels on its platform follow YouTube monetisation policies as well as YouTube’s Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, Copyright, Rights Clearance Adjustment policies, and Google AdSense programme policies.
Sources have indicated that they regularly monitor channels to ensure they comply with their rules, and if they find content that violates their policies, they take actions in accordance with their standard enforcement practices.
YouTube therefore retains the right to remove ads from serving on a particular video.
In Indus News TV case, The Wire has learnt that the channel was suspended from the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) due to alleged violations of YouTube’s Advertiser-friendly content guidelines process.
If a creator has turned on ads monetisation for a video, but if YouTube reviewers – plus automated systems it has put in place – identify that the video does not comply with its Advertiser-Friendly Content Guidelines, the video will have limited or no ads.
The Wire is unable to confirm exactly what has been found to be demonstrably false. It is likely that claims that the platform establishes as patently false or could be seen to significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral/democratic process, such as casting doubts on EVMs, could attract such restrictions.
Bolta Hindustan and Indus News TV have said that they have been victims of this alleged throttling both on YouTube and Facebook.
Earlier in April, an investigation by Access Now and Global Witness found that YouTube approved ads which had blatant disinformation on the elections in India.