Overview
- The Centre defended in the Delhi High Court its March takedown of 4PM’s YouTube channel under Section 69A, a law that lets officials block online content to protect sovereignty, security and public order.
- In its affidavit, the government described a “digital lobbying” operation built on YouTube’s ad model, which it says rewards provocative content that foreign actors can amplify.
- The government asked the court to summon 4PM’s financial records and to direct Google to provide advertiser-level logs to match ads and revenue to specific videos.
- Blocking requests came from the Ministry of External Affairs and a security agency on 10–11 March, and YouTube disabled the channel and 26 videos on March 12.
- 4PM and editor Sanjay Sharma challenged the move, saying they received no formal order or reasons, and noted the channel was also blocked in May 2025 before that order was withdrawn, leaving millions of subscribers without access.