The YouTube account of Sansad TV, which broadcasts live proceedings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, was terminated for allegedly violating YouTube's community guidelines. This followed reports on social media that the account was hacked and renamed as "Ethereum", a crypto currency. A video related to cryptocurrency was also posted.
Though there was no official word on the issue, officials said the issue has been raised with Google. “Something like hacking has taken place. A complaint has been lodged with Google and they are looking into it,” an official told PTI. Screenshots of Sansad TV's YouTube account shared on social media showed a message that "This account has been terminated for violating YouTube's community guidelines."
In a press release, Sansad TV later said that their YouTube channel got compromised due to "unauthorised activities by some scamsters on February 15, around 1 am."
"However, Sansad TV's social media team promptly worked on it and got the Sansad TV channel restored by early morning around 3.45 am. Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the nodal agency for responding to cyber security incidents in India, has also reported the incident and alerted Sansad TV. However, later on, YouTube has started fixing the security threats permanently and it shall be restored as soon as possible," the statement added.
In September last year, Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla jointly launched the Sansad TV on the occasion of 'International Day of Democracy'. Sansad TV was launched after merging the Lok Sabha TV and the Rajya Sabha TV channels. At the time, the Prime Minister also lauded the transformation of the channel associated with the Parliament in accordance with rapidly changing times, especially when the 21st century was bringing revolution through dialogue and communication.
"When it comes to democracy, India's responsibility is more as it is the mother of democracy. Democracy for India is not just a system, it is an idea. Democracy in India is not just a constitutional structure, it is a spirit. Democracy in India is not just a collection of streams of constitutions, it is our life stream," Modi had said.
With IANS and PTI inputs