YouTube removes The Juice Media's Another Caustic Video about Democracy in India

YouTube has barred another video named 'Honest Government Ad: The 'State of Democracy' by 'The Juice Media' for watching in India, according to information supplied by the channel on their Instagram page. The Juice Media (TJM) is an Australian-based channel recognized for delivering political satire on current problems.

The restricted movie discusses the situation of democracy in 14 nations, including India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Indonesia, Russia, Iran, Israel, South Africa, Mexico, Bulgaria, Serbia, Venezuela, and Belarus. YouTube restricted a YouTube short version of the same video in India in early June after receiving a notification from the Indian authorities.

Although the video is prohibited on YouTube, it is still viewable on The Juice Media's Instagram page.

According to the most recent screenshot given by TJM, YouTube received a legal complaint from a government agency in India. However, it does not identify which government institution protested to YouTube over the video and under what provisions of Indian law.

TJM alerted MediaNama that YouTube did not send them an email this time outlining the costs.

Regarding the June 11 YouTube notification to TJM:

According to the prior notification (approved by MediaNama) for the banning of YouTube Short of the same video, YouTube claimed to have received a request from India's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to prohibit the video for infringing the following provisions:

Section 153 (Provocation to Cause Riot) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Section 504 (purpose to cause a breach of peace).

Section 505 of the IPC prohibits making remarks that may cause public harm.

Section 2 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 bans insulting the Indian National Flag or the Indian Constitution.

MediaNama contacted YouTube for confirmation but did not receive a response.

Notably, the notification given to The Juice Media shows that the government did not include Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in the regulations listed to restrict the video in India.

Thus far, the government has blocked URLs, websites, tweets on X, YouTube videos or channels, and provisions under Section 69A of the IT Rules, 2021. The Intermediary Rules under Section 79 of the ITAct, which provides safe harbor to intermediaries from liability for any third-party content, and Section 69A are the only provisions in India for blocking websites, according to lawyer and co-founder of the Centre for Internet and Society Pranesh Prakash.

According to Prakash, the IT Rules' banning restrictions only apply to publishers who have operations in India or engage in "systematic business activity of making its content available in India," neither of which applies to The Juice Media.