New Delhi: The Centre on Friday ordered Twitter and YouTube to take down links to a BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ND TV reported.
According to reports, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has issued directions to YouTube for blocking of multiple videos which published the first episode of the documentary titled “India: The Modi Question”.
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Orders were also issued to Twitter for blocking over 50 tweets containing links to such YouTube videos.
Many tweets and YouTube videos of the documentary no longer appear on microblogging and video-sharing websites.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien was among some opposition leaders whose tweet on the documentary was removed by Twitter.
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“Censorship. Twitter has taken down my tweet of the BBC documentary. It received lakhs of views. The one-hour BBC documentary exposes how PM hates minorities,” O’Brien alleged.
The I&B Ministry gave the order to take down the links using emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, and both YouTube and Twitter have agreed to follow the order, reports said.
India has called the documentary a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.
The centre has also told YouTube and Twitter to take down fresh links to the documentary if some people upload or tweet them again, sources said.