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The documentary produced by the BBC "The Modi Question", was uploaded onto YouTube several times the week of release but taken down by request of the Indian Gov

The documentary produced by the BBC "The Modi Question", was uploaded onto YouTube several times the week of release but taken down by request of the Indian Government. I was astonished a foreign entity can stop the world watching something if they don't like it, it wasn't just geo blocked it was removed off YouTube.

garettmd 4y ago
China's done similar things, the most prominent I can think of being them bullying the NBA into policing what their players can say.
- dmix 4y ago
  And NBA franchise executives
  - oaththrowaway 4y ago
    And reporters covering the situation (The Athletic)
unpopularopp 4y ago
But it's on the iPlayer and works perfectly? So you can watch it in your own country https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dkb144 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dkb144
- CommanderData 4y ago
  BBC iPlayer is restricted to UK residents only.
  - iso1631 4y ago
    It's quite sad, it's a generic "this video isn't allowed globally due to rights". That makes perfect sense when you're talking about last nights showing of Moanna, or even Eastenders (where background music in the pub might not be cleared for use outside the UK), but when it comes to a program like this you'd hope exceptions would be made.
    - jeroenhd 4y ago
      These programs are often made by commercial entities (like BBC Worldwide, which is separate from the normal state funded BBC) who license their material to foreign streaming services like Netflix. If every impactful documentary would be given away for free, there's no incentive for anyone to pay the company behind it to make more. Journalism is expensive and I don't think enough people would donate to a large corporation through Patreon. I would love documentaries like these to be available without restriction, but when it comes to copyright and business model, it really does come close to Moanna or Eastenders.
      - iso1631 4y ago
        Part of the BBC's remit is the world service, and serving India especially. There is a very large production office in Delhi which produces multiple TV programs each day in various languages.
- Hizonner 4y ago
  Kind of not the point. The BBC being unwilling to be intimidated doesn't imply that Youtube should be willing. And I wonder if that BBC link works in India. Or if this one does: https://btdig.com/search?q=modi+question&order=2 https://btdig.com/search?q=modi+question&order=2
  - archon1410 4y ago
    > BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues. BCC iPlayer doesn't work in any country other than the UK, so there isn't any question of it working in India. BTDigg is blocked in India, along with most piracy oriented websites, since long before the BBC documentary thing I think.
    - wkat4242 4y ago
      But for the content they make, they own the rights. Including this doc, right? So what's the problem?
      - Hizonner 4y ago
        They make money selling the rights to stuff they produce in other parts of the world. Maybe not for this particular show, but in general. They presumably treat everything on the service exactly the same, because it would cost them money to do otherwise, and also because they probably don't want to pay for the bandwidth for foreign users. I suspect you probably have to have a UK TV license to watch it, too, which means they're charging for it in the UK. It'd actually be surprising if they had a way to treat different content differently, as opposed to the whole service being all or nothing. They probably also have foreign stuff on there that they've bought only the UK rights for.
        newswasboring 4y ago
        At some point BBC needs to make a streaming service for everyone. Anyone with a 100 video content library is making their own, BBC is leaving money on the table I think. Unless licensing their content makes them way more money, the only other blockers I can think of are competence related and things being slow because of BBC's semi government organization.
- jamal-kumar 4y ago
  Not outside of the UK without a VPN (And let's be honest, who buys one in a country which has restricted internet to begin with?) but if they haven't blocked this link in your locale here's an option to watch it as well: https://archive.org/details/india.-the.-modi.-question.-s-01-e-01.720p.i-p.-webrip.x-264-galaxy-tv/India.The.Modi.Question.S01E01.720p.iP.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV.mkv https://archive.org/details/india.-the.-modi.-question.-s-01...
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    > And let's be honest, who buys one in a country which has restricted internet to begin with? It would be the first thing I'd get in a country with restricted internet :)
    - marcosdumay 4y ago
      You'd buy a VPN outside of that country, not inside it.
      - wkat4242 4y ago
        Ah but most VPNs have exit nodes in pretty much every major country in the world.
  - gorbypark 4y ago
    Are there VPN services that reliably work with geo-blocked content? I haven't tried many but I have currently have a Mullvad subscription and I basically can't watch anything as all the IPs are blocked. I've also done some searches about the other big VPN providers and it seems like they are all blocked too. I wonder if I can spin up a VPS and roll my own? I kinda of assume all the major cloud provider IPs would be blocked as well.
    - jamal-kumar 4y ago
      Roll your own for sure I suggest trying out wireguard, it's a ton easier to set up than openvpn or ipsec I haven't been blocked on decently reputed hosting providers
- cpufry 4y ago
  i thought the whole point is that you cant watch it in india
desi_ninja 4y ago
It was timed perfectly. 20 years later, nobody can question the documentary makers. A hitjob is hitjob.
- 0x5FC3 4y ago
  A hitjob is a hitjob, but a pogrom is not a pogrom?
  - random314 4y ago
    EDIT: My response was sarcastic. Just characterizing the right wing misinformation accounts on HN. The pogrom is an internal matter. A hitjob is external interference. /s Btw, I watched the documentary and it actually covers the Supreme court judgement, so the responding accounts are actually spreading misinformation.
    - Hizonner 4y ago
      > The pogrom is an internal matter. A hitjob is external interference. I'm sure that line on the map is really important to the victims...
    - leereeves 4y ago
      A pogrom is a crime against humanity and therefore not an internal matter.
    - 0x5FC3 4y ago
      > The pogrom is an internal matter. A hitjob is external interference. I find myself continually dumbfounded by the kind of reasoning and justifications, the supporters BJP come up with. Thousands of people killed and in many cases, even worse. Terming it an "internal matter" is being cruel beyond my comprehension. > Btw, I watched the documentary and it actually covers the Supreme court judgement, so the responding accounts are actually spreading misinformation. So you're implying the Supreme Court has a "Ministry of Truth" type of thing going on? How many judges transferred, maligned and were even killed for clean chits? Institutions ceased being autonomous and ethical a long time ago in India.
scottLobster 4y ago
"You want access to my market of a billion potential consumers? Do what I say!" Simple as that really. The government of Tuvalu making a similar request probably would have been politely ignored.
- SuoDuanDao 4y ago
  I don't know how country domains work legally, but I imagine twitch.tv might be very quick to respond to a request from Tuvalu.
- N19PEDL2 4y ago
  The bigger (and richer) the market, the stronger a country is in negotiations. All those politicians who would like their country to leave the European Union should be reminded of this.
- mc32 4y ago
  One solution (not an ideal solution) might be where every entity that wants to serve the citizens of a sovereign country have to have a local company that serves the local population, a local subsidiary like in most brick and mortar industries. They may even require that all compute happen locally. And of course that all content and so on meet local regulations. Sort of like what we see with other telecommunication, be it T-mobile or other. Sure, they operate in many countries, but they have local staff and follow local rules.
  - newswasboring 4y ago
    India is kind of moving towards this? Data security is a big discussion in whatever policy discussion is left in the country. I think legislation is in the works to mandate that all data related to indian citizens need to be in India and not leave it's virtual borders.
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    Couldn't New Delhi just tell Youtube HQ to obey worldwide and enforce it on all their subsidiaries, or lose the market? In that case it wouldn't matter how many intermediary entities are there between HQ and local operations.
jwestbury 4y ago
This is, in fact, the topic of the article linked.
6510 4y ago
you can watch it easy enough
foverzar 4y ago
What surprises me is that these kind of thing often get treated as "all or nothing". Why remove it, instead of a geo block? 451 HTTP code is a thing. Stories like that always make me think that this is always some kind of a political play on the side of western media platforms, likely coming from ex-spooks they like to hire so much. Especially judging by how e.g. in Russia, YouTube has learned to play nice over time and generally doesn't act like it's "delete everywhere or leave as is" kind of choice.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- CommanderData 4y ago
  I'm unsure but the original links are still available online on Twitter that go to YouTube error pages and the request from the Indian govnement is public too. The original rush to remove the content was fueled by alot of publicity around the documentary.
  - foverzar 4y ago
    My point is that YouTube could have just geoblocked the content and be fully compliant. Everything beyond that is kinda their own initiative.
- IlliOnato 4y ago
  Because they can? Because they don't want it to be watched outside of India either? By foreigners, by millions of Indians abroad, by millions in India on VPN?
  - foverzar 4y ago
    Can they though? Because they actually can't. They can only regulate the content accessible from India IPs or hosted on their territory. Everything beyond this is YouTube's own doing, really.
ignoramous 4y ago
> ...it wasn't just geo blocked it was removed off YouTube. "Later today, I have the honor of meeting with His Excellency Prime Minister Modi to discuss how we are supporting small businesses and start-ups, investing in cybersecurity, providing education and skills training, applying AI in sectors like agriculture and healthcare, and other priorities." A message from our CEO: https://archive.is/t3f7R https://archive.is/t3f7R / https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/optimism-india-digital-future/ https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/optimism-india...
meltyness 4y ago
In the same vein, YouTube and the rest of big media (to virtually no fanfare or protest) blocked The RT for their supposed ties -- which would be fine except that RT's ties were covert. Sanctions are sanctions, but is RT to simply stop paying taxes? This is like wholesale embargo, jamming, and further insulates the Russian government from the reality of their actions. I expect the high road from my country's communications sector on freedom of speech, and even though RT has always sucked, this behavior is distasteful. Obviously the war is an abomination, but I'd prefer that in the interim, "platform" corporations stay the hell out of the 4D-chess.
- salawat 4y ago
  ...Platform companies are the basis of power in the modern world. Essentially an unstoppable superweapon. What makes you think those in power won't abuse them as early and often as possible?
sorokod 4y ago
Available on Peertube: https://peertube.tv/search?search=The+Modi+Question+&searchTarget=local https://peertube.tv/search?search=The+Modi+Question+&searchT...
- IlliOnato 4y ago
  You can also watch it on BBC site, although it requires a VPN if you are watching from outside of UK.
lenkite 4y ago
We learned how to do this from the Americans and the Chinese.
- hulitu 4y ago
  Chinese i underestand. But the Americans ? The land of the free ? The hearth of democracy ? /s
nhchris 4y ago
> I was astonished a foreign entity can stop the world watching something While I'm just as displeased with India censoring stuff for the rest of us, keep in mind that for most of the world, Google/YouTube is that censorious foreign entity.
- daemoens 4y ago
  Is this because of DMCA/copyright takedowns or something else?
  - nhchris 4y ago
    DMCA and copyright are by far not the only reasons Youtube bans accounts and videos.
pmarreck 4y ago
S01E01: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:3C378A82CF67A1107523CA6C647077403A1EF74D&dn=India%20The%20Modi%20Question%20S01E01%201080p%20HDTV%20H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2710%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.me%3A2780%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2730%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=http%3A%2F%2Fp4p.arenabg.com%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.torrent.eu.org%3A451%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.tiny-vps.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.stealth.si%3A80%2Fannounce S01E02: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:F55992F922B9A0E49C09E198835F0F06EE07635B&dn=India%20The%20Modi%20Question%20S01E02%201080p%20HDTV%20H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2710%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.me%3A2780%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2730%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=http%3A%2F%2Fp4p.arenabg.com%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.torrent.eu.org%3A451%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.tiny-vps.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.stealth.si%3A80%2Fannounce Still seems pretty available here. =) Everyone's anti-bittorrenting until some asshole with more power but even more insecurity comes along and refuses to be legitimately criticized or questioned.
- hulitu 4y ago
  Torrenting copyrighted material is illegal in some (democratic) countries.
windows_kernel 4y ago
That documentary is based on fake news and intended to destabilize India's social harmony. The arguments it makes have been rejected by the supreme court of India.
- Idk__Throwaway 4y ago
  We have investigated ourselves and found that we did nothing wrong.
  - throwawayxx123 4y ago
    Are you saying Supreme court of India is in bed with Modi? That is a very strong accusation. Modi didn't investigate himself and give himself a clean chit. He was been scrutinised by Supreme Court of India multiple times. And we have much better functioning courts. Many BJP party members who has been found guilty of various things have been punished by Courts. This BBC propaganda piece has been made now only because Modi didn't do as per the wishes of war mongering western governments.
    - lostmsu 4y ago
      > war mongering western governments What do you mean?
      - viewtransform 4y ago
        ref is to India's stance on Ukraine war.
        lostmsu 4y ago
        I am unaware of the official stance. Would add to the pile I guess.
    - random314 4y ago
      > Are you saying Supreme court of India is in bed with Modi? Ummm.... Yes
throwawayxx123 4y ago
Well, as an Indian let me tell you this. We don't want a propaganda piece. I am not even a huge Modi fan, but he has been investigated by various courts including the Supreme Court of India and has not been found guilty. Will BBC make a documentary about the many crimes the British did in India? With the current geo political situation, the western nations sure want to taint his image, and even destabilize India if they can.
- unmole 4y ago
  > Well, as an Indian let me tell you this. We don't want a propaganda piece. Speak for yourself. As an Indian, I don't want the government telling me what I can't watch. > investigated by various courts including the Supreme Court of India The same Supreme Court also ruled that the 2G Scam did not happen. Would you like to acquire an ownership interest in the Bandra-Whorli Sea Link? > Will BBC make a documentary about the many crimes the British did in India? They did even in the face of backlash from British Nationalists: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/historians-accuse-bbc-news-at-ten-of-tarnishing-winston-churchill-3b6srt9vb https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/historians-accuse-bbc-new... > taint his image, and even destabilize India So, Modi is India and India is Modi?
  - throwawayxx123 4y ago
    You can say whatever you want to. I haven't said Modi is India and India is Modi. It is far from that. I have faith that India's democracy will work. It has seen darker days during times of Indira Gandhi, but we didn't turn into a dictatorship. BJP started as an answer to bad ruling by the congress party. If in the future BJP becomes the new congress, a new political party or many of the thousands of existing political party will come into power. If you want to watch the documentary it is available in the internet. Just because it is removed from youtube doesn't mean its illegal to watch it. In fact, just because Modi banned it, in many states there has been public viewing of the documentary.
SanjayMehta 4y ago
Until Twitter was acquired by Musk, that was the state of that website.

garettmd 4y ago

China's done similar things, the most prominent I can think of being them bullying the NBA into policing what their players can say.

dmix 4y ago
And NBA franchise executives
- oaththrowaway 4y ago
  And reporters covering the situation (The Athletic)

unpopularopp 4y ago

But it's on the iPlayer and works perfectly? So you can watch it in your own country https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dkb144 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0dkb144

CommanderData 4y ago
BBC iPlayer is restricted to UK residents only.
- iso1631 4y ago
  It's quite sad, it's a generic "this video isn't allowed globally due to rights". That makes perfect sense when you're talking about last nights showing of Moanna, or even Eastenders (where background music in the pub might not be cleared for use outside the UK), but when it comes to a program like this you'd hope exceptions would be made.
  - jeroenhd 4y ago
    These programs are often made by commercial entities (like BBC Worldwide, which is separate from the normal state funded BBC) who license their material to foreign streaming services like Netflix. If every impactful documentary would be given away for free, there's no incentive for anyone to pay the company behind it to make more. Journalism is expensive and I don't think enough people would donate to a large corporation through Patreon. I would love documentaries like these to be available without restriction, but when it comes to copyright and business model, it really does come close to Moanna or Eastenders.
    - iso1631 4y ago
      Part of the BBC's remit is the world service, and serving India especially. There is a very large production office in Delhi which produces multiple TV programs each day in various languages.
Hizonner 4y ago
Kind of not the point. The BBC being unwilling to be intimidated doesn't imply that Youtube should be willing. And I wonder if that BBC link works in India. Or if this one does: https://btdig.com/search?q=modi+question&order=2 https://btdig.com/search?q=modi+question&order=2
- archon1410 4y ago
  > BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues. BCC iPlayer doesn't work in any country other than the UK, so there isn't any question of it working in India. BTDigg is blocked in India, along with most piracy oriented websites, since long before the BBC documentary thing I think.
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    But for the content they make, they own the rights. Including this doc, right? So what's the problem?
    - Hizonner 4y ago
      They make money selling the rights to stuff they produce in other parts of the world. Maybe not for this particular show, but in general. They presumably treat everything on the service exactly the same, because it would cost them money to do otherwise, and also because they probably don't want to pay for the bandwidth for foreign users. I suspect you probably have to have a UK TV license to watch it, too, which means they're charging for it in the UK. It'd actually be surprising if they had a way to treat different content differently, as opposed to the whole service being all or nothing. They probably also have foreign stuff on there that they've bought only the UK rights for.
      - newswasboring 4y ago
        At some point BBC needs to make a streaming service for everyone. Anyone with a 100 video content library is making their own, BBC is leaving money on the table I think. Unless licensing their content makes them way more money, the only other blockers I can think of are competence related and things being slow because of BBC's semi government organization.
jamal-kumar 4y ago
Not outside of the UK without a VPN (And let's be honest, who buys one in a country which has restricted internet to begin with?) but if they haven't blocked this link in your locale here's an option to watch it as well: https://archive.org/details/india.-the.-modi.-question.-s-01-e-01.720p.i-p.-webrip.x-264-galaxy-tv/India.The.Modi.Question.S01E01.720p.iP.WEBRip.x264-GalaxyTV.mkv https://archive.org/details/india.-the.-modi.-question.-s-01...
- wkat4242 4y ago
  > And let's be honest, who buys one in a country which has restricted internet to begin with? It would be the first thing I'd get in a country with restricted internet :)
  - marcosdumay 4y ago
    You'd buy a VPN outside of that country, not inside it.
    - wkat4242 4y ago
      Ah but most VPNs have exit nodes in pretty much every major country in the world.
- gorbypark 4y ago
  Are there VPN services that reliably work with geo-blocked content? I haven't tried many but I have currently have a Mullvad subscription and I basically can't watch anything as all the IPs are blocked. I've also done some searches about the other big VPN providers and it seems like they are all blocked too. I wonder if I can spin up a VPS and roll my own? I kinda of assume all the major cloud provider IPs would be blocked as well.
  - jamal-kumar 4y ago
    Roll your own for sure I suggest trying out wireguard, it's a ton easier to set up than openvpn or ipsec I haven't been blocked on decently reputed hosting providers
cpufry 4y ago
i thought the whole point is that you cant watch it in india

desi_ninja 4y ago

It was timed perfectly. 20 years later, nobody can question the documentary makers. A hitjob is hitjob.

0x5FC3 4y ago
A hitjob is a hitjob, but a pogrom is not a pogrom?
- random314 4y ago
  EDIT: My response was sarcastic. Just characterizing the right wing misinformation accounts on HN. The pogrom is an internal matter. A hitjob is external interference. /s Btw, I watched the documentary and it actually covers the Supreme court judgement, so the responding accounts are actually spreading misinformation.
  - Hizonner 4y ago
    > The pogrom is an internal matter. A hitjob is external interference. I'm sure that line on the map is really important to the victims...
  - leereeves 4y ago
    A pogrom is a crime against humanity and therefore not an internal matter.
  - 0x5FC3 4y ago
    > The pogrom is an internal matter. A hitjob is external interference. I find myself continually dumbfounded by the kind of reasoning and justifications, the supporters BJP come up with. Thousands of people killed and in many cases, even worse. Terming it an "internal matter" is being cruel beyond my comprehension. > Btw, I watched the documentary and it actually covers the Supreme court judgement, so the responding accounts are actually spreading misinformation. So you're implying the Supreme Court has a "Ministry of Truth" type of thing going on? How many judges transferred, maligned and were even killed for clean chits? Institutions ceased being autonomous and ethical a long time ago in India.

scottLobster 4y ago

"You want access to my market of a billion potential consumers? Do what I say!" Simple as that really. The government of Tuvalu making a similar request probably would have been politely ignored.

SuoDuanDao 4y ago
I don't know how country domains work legally, but I imagine twitch.tv might be very quick to respond to a request from Tuvalu.
N19PEDL2 4y ago
The bigger (and richer) the market, the stronger a country is in negotiations. All those politicians who would like their country to leave the European Union should be reminded of this.
mc32 4y ago
One solution (not an ideal solution) might be where every entity that wants to serve the citizens of a sovereign country have to have a local company that serves the local population, a local subsidiary like in most brick and mortar industries. They may even require that all compute happen locally. And of course that all content and so on meet local regulations. Sort of like what we see with other telecommunication, be it T-mobile or other. Sure, they operate in many countries, but they have local staff and follow local rules.
- newswasboring 4y ago
  India is kind of moving towards this? Data security is a big discussion in whatever policy discussion is left in the country. I think legislation is in the works to mandate that all data related to indian citizens need to be in India and not leave it's virtual borders.
- MichaelZuo 4y ago
  Couldn't New Delhi just tell Youtube HQ to obey worldwide and enforce it on all their subsidiaries, or lose the market? In that case it wouldn't matter how many intermediary entities are there between HQ and local operations.

jwestbury 4y ago

This is, in fact, the topic of the article linked.

6510 4y ago

you can watch it easy enough

foverzar 4y ago

What surprises me is that these kind of thing often get treated as "all or nothing". Why remove it, instead of a geo block? 451 HTTP code is a thing. Stories like that always make me think that this is always some kind of a political play on the side of western media platforms, likely coming from ex-spooks they like to hire so much. Especially judging by how e.g. in Russia, YouTube has learned to play nice over time and generally doesn't act like it's "delete everywhere or leave as is" kind of choice.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
CommanderData 4y ago
I'm unsure but the original links are still available online on Twitter that go to YouTube error pages and the request from the Indian govnement is public too. The original rush to remove the content was fueled by alot of publicity around the documentary.
- foverzar 4y ago
  My point is that YouTube could have just geoblocked the content and be fully compliant. Everything beyond that is kinda their own initiative.
IlliOnato 4y ago
Because they can? Because they don't want it to be watched outside of India either? By foreigners, by millions of Indians abroad, by millions in India on VPN?
- foverzar 4y ago
  Can they though? Because they actually can't. They can only regulate the content accessible from India IPs or hosted on their territory. Everything beyond this is YouTube's own doing, really.

ignoramous 4y ago

> ...it wasn't just geo blocked it was removed off YouTube. "Later today, I have the honor of meeting with His Excellency Prime Minister Modi to discuss how we are supporting small businesses and start-ups, investing in cybersecurity, providing education and skills training, applying AI in sectors like agriculture and healthcare, and other priorities." A message from our CEO: https://archive.is/t3f7R https://archive.is/t3f7R / https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/optimism-india-digital-future/ https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/optimism-india...

meltyness 4y ago

In the same vein, YouTube and the rest of big media (to virtually no fanfare or protest) blocked The RT for their supposed ties -- which would be fine except that RT's ties were covert. Sanctions are sanctions, but is RT to simply stop paying taxes? This is like wholesale embargo, jamming, and further insulates the Russian government from the reality of their actions. I expect the high road from my country's communications sector on freedom of speech, and even though RT has always sucked, this behavior is distasteful. Obviously the war is an abomination, but I'd prefer that in the interim, "platform" corporations stay the hell out of the 4D-chess.

salawat 4y ago
...Platform companies are the basis of power in the modern world. Essentially an unstoppable superweapon. What makes you think those in power won't abuse them as early and often as possible?

sorokod 4y ago

Available on Peertube: https://peertube.tv/search?search=The+Modi+Question+&searchTarget=local https://peertube.tv/search?search=The+Modi+Question+&searchT...

IlliOnato 4y ago
You can also watch it on BBC site, although it requires a VPN if you are watching from outside of UK.

lenkite 4y ago

We learned how to do this from the Americans and the Chinese.

hulitu 4y ago
Chinese i underestand. But the Americans ? The land of the free ? The hearth of democracy ? /s

nhchris 4y ago

> I was astonished a foreign entity can stop the world watching something While I'm just as displeased with India censoring stuff for the rest of us, keep in mind that for most of the world, Google/YouTube is that censorious foreign entity.

daemoens 4y ago
Is this because of DMCA/copyright takedowns or something else?
- nhchris 4y ago
  DMCA and copyright are by far not the only reasons Youtube bans accounts and videos.

pmarreck 4y ago

S01E01: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:3C378A82CF67A1107523CA6C647077403A1EF74D&dn=India%20The%20Modi%20Question%20S01E01%201080p%20HDTV%20H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2710%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.me%3A2780%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2730%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=http%3A%2F%2Fp4p.arenabg.com%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.torrent.eu.org%3A451%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.tiny-vps.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.stealth.si%3A80%2Fannounce S01E02: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:F55992F922B9A0E49C09E198835F0F06EE07635B&dn=India%20The%20Modi%20Question%20S01E02%201080p%20HDTV%20H264-DARKFLiX&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openbittorrent.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2710%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.me%3A2780%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2F9.rarbg.to%3A2730%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=http%3A%2F%2Fp4p.arenabg.com%3A1337%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.torrent.eu.org%3A451%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.tiny-vps.com%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.stealth.si%3A80%2Fannounce Still seems pretty available here. =) Everyone's anti-bittorrenting until some asshole with more power but even more insecurity comes along and refuses to be legitimately criticized or questioned.

hulitu 4y ago
Torrenting copyrighted material is illegal in some (democratic) countries.

windows_kernel 4y ago

That documentary is based on fake news and intended to destabilize India's social harmony. The arguments it makes have been rejected by the supreme court of India.

Idk__Throwaway 4y ago
We have investigated ourselves and found that we did nothing wrong.
- throwawayxx123 4y ago
  Are you saying Supreme court of India is in bed with Modi? That is a very strong accusation. Modi didn't investigate himself and give himself a clean chit. He was been scrutinised by Supreme Court of India multiple times. And we have much better functioning courts. Many BJP party members who has been found guilty of various things have been punished by Courts. This BBC propaganda piece has been made now only because Modi didn't do as per the wishes of war mongering western governments.
  - lostmsu 4y ago
    > war mongering western governments What do you mean?
    - viewtransform 4y ago
      ref is to India's stance on Ukraine war.
      - lostmsu 4y ago
        I am unaware of the official stance. Would add to the pile I guess.
  - random314 4y ago
    > Are you saying Supreme court of India is in bed with Modi? Ummm.... Yes

throwawayxx123 4y ago

Well, as an Indian let me tell you this. We don't want a propaganda piece. I am not even a huge Modi fan, but he has been investigated by various courts including the Supreme Court of India and has not been found guilty. Will BBC make a documentary about the many crimes the British did in India? With the current geo political situation, the western nations sure want to taint his image, and even destabilize India if they can.

unmole 4y ago
> Well, as an Indian let me tell you this. We don't want a propaganda piece. Speak for yourself. As an Indian, I don't want the government telling me what I can't watch. > investigated by various courts including the Supreme Court of India The same Supreme Court also ruled that the 2G Scam did not happen. Would you like to acquire an ownership interest in the Bandra-Whorli Sea Link? > Will BBC make a documentary about the many crimes the British did in India? They did even in the face of backlash from British Nationalists: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/historians-accuse-bbc-news-at-ten-of-tarnishing-winston-churchill-3b6srt9vb https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/historians-accuse-bbc-new... > taint his image, and even destabilize India So, Modi is India and India is Modi?
- throwawayxx123 4y ago
  You can say whatever you want to. I haven't said Modi is India and India is Modi. It is far from that. I have faith that India's democracy will work. It has seen darker days during times of Indira Gandhi, but we didn't turn into a dictatorship. BJP started as an answer to bad ruling by the congress party. If in the future BJP becomes the new congress, a new political party or many of the thousands of existing political party will come into power. If you want to watch the documentary it is available in the internet. Just because it is removed from youtube doesn't mean its illegal to watch it. In fact, just because Modi banned it, in many states there has been public viewing of the documentary.

SanjayMehta 4y ago

Until Twitter was acquired by Musk, that was the state of that website.