A British-made documentary about a gang rape in India spread throughout social media on Thursday, gaining a wide audience despite a government ban and official efforts to block it.
A spokesman for YouTube in India said that the company had agreed to a government request to block channels of multiple users who had uploaded the documentary. The original link posted by the BBC, however, was still available, he said. By Thursday night, the film had been viewed more than 100,000 times from that link, not including viewings from other sources.
For government regulators, the immediate challenge is to identify and remove links to the film, “India’s Daughter,” that were posted on social media, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs, adding that officials from four ministries – overseeing law, broadcasting, information technology and external affairs – “have put their best heads together to find out the best course of action.
The film set off a furor this week after publicity highlighted its most sensational element: a jailhouse interview with Mukesh Singh, one of the men convicted of the 2012 crime, in which he callously described the rape, and said the victim was to blame for being outside after dark with a male friend.
The BBC showed the documentary Wednesday night despite an appeal from the home minister, Rajnath Singh.
“We had asked not to release the documentary, but BBC still released it,” Singh told , a news channel. “We will investigate, and the MHA will take action accordingly.”
Blocking websites, something Indian authorities have done in the past, is simpler than blocking countless links, a lawyer based in Bangalore Liang said.”How can they block YouTube?” he said.
