Handles of many Pakistani celebrities and YouTube channels that were banned in India after the Pahalgam attack in April this year became temporarily visible again on July 2, leading to massive outrage on social media.
However, almost all these handles and YouTube channels are being blocked in India again. Government sources have stated that the temporary visibility was due to a technical glitch, and the banned Pakistani handles will stay banned.
Instagram handles of many Pakistani celebrities, like Yumna Zaidi, Ahad Raza Mir, Saba Qamar, Danish Taimoor, Mawra Hocane and Dananeer Mobeen, and Shaid Afridi etc, were briefly accessible in India yesterday on July 2.
Banned YouTube channels like Hum TV, Shoaib Akhtar’s official channel, etc appeared to have been restored briefly between July 2 and July 3, leading to speculations on Indian social media about a possible lift of the ban by the government.
However, the ban seems to be in place as most of the above-mentioned Instagram handles are no longer accessible. Government sources have informed that soon, the YouTube channels that briefly appeared ‘unblocked’ will be blocked again too.
It is notable here that banning a YouTube channel only blocks its homepage in a country; the individual videos posted by that channel stay visible to YouTube users unless YouTube itself decides to delete those channels for some violation.
