‘Hindustan ko Bolne do’: DUJ Condemns Blocking of Social Media Channels

New Delhi: The YouTube channel of digital Hindi news channel, Bolta Hindustan, was removed, reportedly after instructions from the government. The channel has been on air since 2015.

The news channel’s editor, Samar Raj, told Scroll that Google-owned video sharing platform YouTube did not provide the channel any reason for doing so.

Expressing “alarm at the growing misuse” of the Information Technology Act, 2021, to shut down social media and accounts, the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ) termed as “intimidation” of the media and demanded immediate restoration of the channel, as well as others that had blocked, too.

“We note that such shutdowns of social media channels and handles are becoming frequent. On February 27, 2024 the   Facebook account of Article19-India had been restricted. On November 27, 2023, YouTube abruptly terminated the channel Media Star World but restored it after protests. In August 2023, the social media handles of Gaon Savera, a news website that reports on rural India, were blocked under instructions from the government.Journalist Mandeep Punia said the action to block his Facebook and X accounts was probably to stop his extensive coverage of the farmers’agitation.  Similarly, the website and social media accounts of The Kashmir Walla were withheld in India in August 2023,” DUJ said in a statement, adding that there were several other instances that “smack of arbitrariness”.

The journalists’ organisation said it was evident that the IT Rules, 2021, infringe both citizens’ and organisations’ basic right of free expression.

Bolta Hindustan was taken down on April 4, 2024 under Rule 15(2) of the Act, which entitles the Ministry to direct social media platforms to block content.

Google, which owns YouTube, informed Bolta Hindustan that the channel was being removed at the behest of the Information & Broadcasting Ministry but provided no reasons for the action.

“Transparency is of the essence in a democracy. The Ministry as well as Google must immediately provide the grounds for the action against Bolta Hindustan. In law it is a basic principle that an accused person or entity must be provided the full reasons for any charges against them,” said the DUJ.

It pointed out that two months ago, Bolta Hindustan’s Instagram account had also been arbitrarily deleted.

The DUJ also flayed “other forms of intimidation” being used

against journalists, and cited the example of ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) leader and senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia filing a defamation suit on April 5, 2024, in the Delhi High Court against YouTubers Navin Kumar of Article-19, Neelu

Vyas of News Launcher, Professor Akhil Swamy of BBI News and comedian Rajeev Nigam.

“The others who Bhatia is suing include some eight X (Twitter) handles, those of Sandeep Singh, Vijay Yadav, Netaflix, Sunita Jadhav, parody account of actor Pankaj Tripathi, Dawood Nadaf, Drkhatra and Virus Baba India Wala” the statement pointed out.

Bhatia, who was allegedly roughed up by lawyers at Karkardooma court in Delhi on March 20, 2024, is demanding that all the reports and commentary on the incident be taken down as they are “defamatory and damaging to his reputation.”

The DUJ called for greater tolerance of views and opinions of all shades as long as they do not constitute hate speech or incite violence.