YouTube channel banned over ‘national security’, editor-in-chief claims it was only asking questions
New Delhi: YouTube news channel 4PM has been banned in India following a government order linked to concerns over “national security or public order.”
The channel’s owner and editor-in-chief, Sanjay Sharma, confirmed the development, revealing that he had received an email from YouTube on Tuesday morning notifying him that the channel had been closed in compliance with government directions, as reported by Newslaundry.
Sharma expressed concern over the ban, asserting that the channel had only been seeking to ask the government questions about ongoing issues. “I am concerned about national security and was only asking the government questions,” Newslaundry quoted Sharma as saying.
The specific reasons behind the government's order for the ban remain unclear.
In recent days, 4PM had uploaded numerous videos questioning the Narendra Modi government’s handling of the Pahalgam attack, including attention-grabbing headlines such as, “Pahalgam hamle ka khul gaya raaz. Raaton raat kya hua ki hat gayi sena?” (The truth behind the Pahalgam attack revealed. What happened overnight that the army was withdrawn?) and “Laal kaaleen par Amit Shah ka swaagat. Mritakon ko shraddhanjali dene gaye the ya tamasha banaane?” (Amit Shah was welcomed on red carpet. Was he there to pay respects to the deceased or create a spectacle?).
At the time of writing this report, a message on 4PM’s YouTube page read: “This content is currently unavailable in this country because of an order from the government related to national security or public order.” Viewers were directed to the Google Transparency Report for further details about government removal requests.
4PM operates six other YouTube channels, including 4PM UP and 4PM Rajasthan. The ban comes just a day after the Indian government banned sixteen Pakistani YouTube channels in India.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
