How India’s attempt to block BBC documentary on Modi backfired

Govt efforts to ban the BBC documentary drew more attention to it and showed the inefficacy of such measures. The Indian government’s blocking orders to YouTube and Twitter against the first episode of BBC’s two-episode documentary, India: The Modi Question, drew more attention to the documentary and showed the inefficacy of trying to ban online content. The Indian government blocked links to the first episode of the documentary on YouTube and Twitter using the emergency blocking provision of the controversial Information Technology Rules 2021. In the three weeks since the documentary’s first episode was released, it has been denounced by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, blocked on YouTube and Twitter by the country’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, been subject of debate in both Indian and United Kingdom parliaments, and has caused students to be detained across at least three Indian universities. Indian law that allows online blocking On January 21, Kanchan Gupta, a senior adviser to the MIB, tweeted that the ministry had ordered YouTube and Twitter to block YouTube videos of the first episode of the documentary and that the two platforms had complied with the directions.