In India, the BBC News Punjabi official Twitter account has been blocked due to a severe police raid on radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh.
The statement “account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand” is posted on the BBC News Punjabi account. Several writers’ official Twitter accounts have also been withheld from in the nation.
Earlier, the central government asked YouTube to “block” at least six accounts that promoted pro-Khalistan viewpoints. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry claimed that these channels, which are operated from abroad and feature material in Punjabi, were attempting to incite “crisis” in the border state.
The government had urged YouTube to use algorithms and artificial intelligence to quickly find and remove offensive material from its platform. However, given that their systems are designed to only display content in English, YouTube is having trouble complying with these demands in the Indian context due to the massive influx of regional language content on the platform.
A few weeks ago, Amritpal Singh’s followers broke into a police station with swords and guns to demand the release of one of his aides. Now, there is a large-scale operation underway to bring down Amritpal Singh. While Amritpal Singh is still untraceable, the crackdown has resulted in the arrest of several members of his “Waris Punjab De” organization.
