HC restores ‘4PM News’ YouTube channel blocked by Centre citing ‘national security’

The Delhi High Court has ordered to restore the YouTube channel 4PM News, which had been blocked in March following directions from the Centre under the Information Technology Rules. The court also directed that 26 allegedly “objectionable” videos remain blocked.

On March 12, the Union government ordered the channel to be blocked, citing concerns related to national security and public order.

Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav passed the order on May 5 while disposing of a petition filed by 4PM News and its editor Sanjay Sharma challenging the blocking of the channel in India.

The petition argued that neither Google, which owns YouTube, nor the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had provided them with a formal order or reasons for blocking the channel.

The absence of the order and the lack of reasons for the blocking prevented them from effectively defending themselves before the authorities, the petitioners added.

Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma, representing the Centre, submitted that the Inter-Departmental Committee had passed an order on March 24 after examining the material on the channel and concluding that it should not remain accessible to the public, Live Law reported.

The Union government argued that the content was detrimental to “India’s national security, sovereignty and public order”.

In an affidavit before the court, the government alleged that the platform was peddling conspiracy theories about the...

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