4PM YouTube channel blocked for anti-India sentiment, lobbying, propaganda: Centre to Delhi High Court

The Central government has informed the Delhi High Court that digital news platform 4PM’s YouTube channel has been blocked for peddling conspiracy theories alleging involvement of Indian authorities in the Pahalgam terror attack and being part of a digital lobbying mechanism to aid the cause of foreign actors to sway India’s sovereign decision-making. .In an affidavit filed before the Court, the government has said that 4PM questioned the genuineness of India’s military response to the Pahalgam attack, amplified Pakistani propaganda and provoked social sentiments on communal lines, especially in the sensitive parts of India, such as Kashmir and Manipur.It said that the nature of the content published on the channel “manifested a consistent degenerative editorial pattern peddling anti-India/anti-Indian Armed Forces/anti-Indian Foreign Policy sentiments across all subjects, time period and formats”. "It is submitted that the videos hosted on the blocked channel attributed grave acts to the Union of India, such as compromising India’s strategic autonomy, taking sovereign stand qua its military position under foreign influence, having prior awareness of military action in West Asia, endangering Indians abroad and permitting India’s foreign policy to be shaped by communal considerations at the biggest of foreign states who are in an inter-se conflict," the affidavit states..The Central government filed its response after 4PM and its editor-in-chief Sanjay Sharma approached the High Court against the blocking of their YouTube channel in India. It has been claimed that the channel had over 8.4 million subscribers on YouTube and was ranked top for the past three years. They said that their channel and 26 of its videos were blocked in March 2026 and that Google took the action following a legal request by the government. Neither Google nor the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) provided them with any formal order or reasons, the petitioners added. The case is next listed for hearing before Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav on Wednesday..Meanwhile, the government has termed the 4PM news platform as an example of digital lobbying to perpetrate “influence operations”. It stated that historically, foreign state and non-state actors sought to influence government decision-making through lobbying conventional mechanisms, including the use of print media, newspapers, magazines and curated internet content, but this mode of influence has undergone a significant transformation. Now, the same lobbying function is operationalised through social media platforms and online content channels, it underscored.The government argues that content shared by the 4PM YouTube channel is a clear example of lobbying through internet platforms and the way it operates, “clearly reflects the hallmark of a ‘digital echo chamber’, where selected and repetitive content is circulated to promote a single narrative to influence public opinion”.“In this backdrop, the activities of the ‘4PM’ YouTube channel constitute a form of digital lobbying, wherein influence is created through repetition, amplification, and monetisation having direct and irreparable impact on the integrity of sovereign decision-making process of the Union of India,” the government has said. It added that 4PM has not disclosed the revenue generated through monetisation of its content and if the Court were to call for the financial records of platforms, the government’s contention would be substantiated.Further, the government has said that it has the power under the Information Technology Act (IT Act) and Information Technology Rules (IT Rules) to block entire channels, accounts, webpages and handles. It argued that the power of the Central government under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000 “has to be read in the widest possible terms as it is designed to operate as an effective tool to regulate access to unlawful information in the digital domain”.“The expression “any information” when read in conjunction with the phrase “any computer resource” (as defined under Section 2(l)(k) of the Act) is of expansive amplitude and is not confined to individual pieces of content alone,” the government affidavit read. .The affidavit has been prepared by Advocate Rajat Nair, settled by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma and filed through Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Avshreya Rudy.