YouTube pulls down music videos related to farmers' protest

New Delhi: Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday blocked a music video by famous Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal titled 'Ailaan' that was related to the ongoing farmers' protest, raking in over 60 lakh views, the IANS reported on Wednesday.

The song named Ailan, meaning 'proclamation', had clocked over 6 million views before it was taken off. YouTube has placed a notification on the original video, saying, "This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government."

Meanwhile, Grewal said that taking down his song will not reduce its appeal. "The song has been banned but people still hum it," he was quoted as saying by The Wire.

"We comply with valid legal requests from authorities wherever possible, consistent with our longstanding policy and act quickly to remove identified content," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.

However, several farmer leaders criticised the move. Bharatiya Kisa Ekta Ugrahan Secretary Shingara Singh Mann told The Tribune that the government can remove the songs from YouTube but cannot erase them from people's hearts.

The fans of the singer posted the same video on various other channels on YouTube which can still be accessed.

According to media reports, another video by artiste Himmat Sandhu titled 'Asi Vaddange' which had 1.3 crore views has also been blocked on the platform.

Several Punjabi celebrities and singers have come out in support of the farmers, as the government toughens its stand on malicious and inflammatory accounts, posts and videos.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has sent three notices to Twitter, the latest one asking the microblogging site to block 1,178 accounts which are believed to be linked to Khalistan sympathisers and those backed by Pakistan.

In another notice, MeitY had asked Twitter to block 257 accounts using the #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide hashtag amid the farmers' protest, under Section 69A of the IT Act.