PIB's YouTube channel unblocked right after Modi's Yoga Day program
The YouTube channel of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) is finally up and running again after being blocked for nearly week. Unfortunately for the government, this week saw several ministers holding press conference on the Modi government's four-year anniversary, none of which could be streamed. Coincidentally, the channel came up today at 8am, right after PM Narendra Modi's Yoga Day event in Dehradun ended.
Channel was blocked after YouTube updated its partner agreements
The channel was one of the "limited number of sites" that got blocked as YouTube updated its partner agreements, a spokesperson of the video sharing platform said. PIB said it didn't receive any intimation from YouTube. It didn't even realize when the channel got blocked on June 15, only discovering the glitch when Railway Minister Piyush Goyal's press conference on June 18 couldn't be streamed live.
PIB, an Indian channel, wasn't "available" in India
During this week, PIB not only failed to upload new videos, but even the ones already online couldn't be accessed. When opened, it would display a message saying, "This video contains content from Press Information Bureau. It is not available in your country." The PIB YouTube channel, which was set up in May'11, has more than 1.5L subscribers and over 3,500 videos.
Modi led a 50,000-strong crowd in yogic exercises this morning
The channel came back up online around 8am today. But PM Modi's Yoga Day event in Dehradun had already got over by then, so it couldn't be live-streamed. Modi led a gathering of around 50,000 people at the Forest Research Institute to celebrate the fourth International Yoga Day. Addressing the crowd, he said Yoga Day has become the biggest mass movement towards a healthy lifestyle.
