Work is getting harder for Indian journalist Mandeep Punia: His web magazine’s social media accounts keep getting blocked. Is the government to blame
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00:00Mandeep Punia is truly passionate about reporting on issues concerning the rural community.
00:07On his website, he focuses on developmental issues faced by farmers and marginalized groups.
00:17Our social media handles were blocked for three to four months.
00:21That's a long break for a digital publication.
00:23It's frustrating as it prevents you from sharing your work.
00:31Mandeep contacted the social media platforms.
00:33He was told that they had received legal removal demands from the Indian government for allegedly
00:38violating India's Information Technology Act.
00:42The journalist feels like he's been targeted for his coverage of the farmers' protests
00:46in India.
00:47When they started in 2021, he recorded videos and reported from the ground every day.
00:57The government doesn't want anyone to show the reality to prevent being shown in a bad
01:02light.
01:03In 2024, a court got his social media handles unblocked, but the damage had been done.
01:11Frequent suspensions had affected both reach and views on his channels.
01:16This also makes it harder for him to get paid for ads and campaigns.
01:23I haven't been able to run the YouTube channel and social media pages as well as before.
01:29The revenue has also gone down.
01:31It's very hard.
01:33We used to be a team of three to four people, but I'm alone now.