Twitter India bans accounts of Pakistan Embassies in UN, Turkey, Iran and Egypt; Radio Pakistan blocked too

New Delhi, June 28: Social Media giant Twitter India has banned the Twitter accounts of Pakistan Embassies in UN, Turkey, Iran, and Egypt for their access in India. Twitter India has also withheld the account of Radio Pakistan which is the national broadcaster of Pakistan.

 

 

Soon after this development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Pakistan urged the social media giant to restore access to the handles with an immediate effect. The latest move by Twitter India has come at a time when India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting had blocked 16 YouTube Channels which also included six Pakistani Channels.

 

"Deeply concerning that #India has blocked flow of information to Indian Twitter by withholding access to following official accounts @PakinIran, @PakinTurkey, @PakinEgypt and @PakistanUN_NY. These are in addition to many others for which access has been blocked," it said. Further, it added, "Diminishing space for plurality of voices & access to info in #India is extremely alarming. SM platforms must abide by applicable int’l norms; we are urging Twitter to restore immediate access to our accounts & ensure adherence to democratic freedoms of speech & expression."

 

 

Pakistan has been continuously propagating a fake agenda against India on the world stage. As per the report by the Digital Forensics, Research, and Analytics Center (DFRAC), many Pakistani accounts were also behind the hashtags that were running the propaganda against many Indian institutions. For e.g. the Jammu and Kashmir.

 

 

 

The government had earlier suspended the anti-India YouTube Channels that had a collective viewership of 80 crores. As per the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the YouTube Channels were spreading false, unverified information to create panic, incite communal harmony and disturb the public order in India.

 

Out of 16 blocked YouTube Channels, there were 10 Indian YouTube Channels and 6 Pakistani Channels with a collective viewership of 68 crores. Reportedly, the channels were also violating the guidelines laid down by the Government of India as required under the IT Rules, 2021.

 

 

It was observed that these channels were used to spread fake news over social media on matters related to national security, India’s foreign relations, communal harmony in the country, and public order. None of the digital news publishers had furnished information to the ministry as required under rule 18 of the IT Rules, 2021.