An Islamabad court ordered the blocking of 27 YouTube channels for allegedly airing anti-state content and spreading “false, misleading and fake” information, it emerged on Tuesday.

The federal government established the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to probe illegal activities on social med­ia. The NCCIA, operating under the Interior Divi­sion, has a key role in combatting cybercrime in Pakistan.

Sub-Inspector (SI) Waseem Khan of the NCCIA’s Cyber Crime Circle informed the Islamabad judicial magistrate on June 24 that under Section 37 (unlawful online content) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, the department was conducting an inquiry regarding 27 “Youtube channels who are involved in disseminating and propagating fake and misleading information against the state Institutions which is likely to cause fear, panic, disorder or unrest in the general public or society along with defamatory and fake remarks/information, which violates the privacy and harms the dignity of the officials of state institutions”.

Among the 27 channels are those of the PTI, journalists Matiuallah Jan, Wajahat Khan, Ahmad Noorani and Asad Ali Toor; former anchors Imran Riaz, Orya Maqbool, Sabir Shakir, and Moeed Pirzada .

He further said that the YouTube channels were “found involved in sharing highly intimidating, provocative and derogatory contents against state institutions and officials of state of Pakistan” and were a “source of publicly disseminating/propagating false, misleading and fake information against the state institutions/officials”.

He said that through their channels, the suspects had “attempted to provoke the general public and armed forces personnel by trying to create a feeling of ill-will among pillars of the state”.

SI Khan had requested the court to issue a warrant/subpoena to Google to remove/block the 27 YouTube channels.

Judicial Magistrate Muhammad Abbas Shah’s June 24 order, available with Dawn.com, said he had heard the inquiry officer (IO) and examined the record on file.

“In the light of facts explained and evidence presented by the IO, this court is convinced that the subject matter constitutes offences punishable under the Peca and penal laws of Pakistan.”

He ordered the “head officer in charge of the security department/custodian of records” to Google block/remove the 27 YouTube channels.

Earlier today, Toor said he had received a notice from YouTube, informing him about the legal request received to remove his channel. “You may choose to act on the said content in terms of the aforesaid court order. If you fail to do so, as per our local law obligations, we may comply with the request without further notice to you,” the notice said.

Farhan Mallick, the founder of media agency Raftar and a former news director at Samaa TV, was arrested on March 20 in Karachi and booked under Peca as well as the Pakistan Penal Code in a case related to alleged anti-state content on his YouTube channel.

The arrest was met with widespread criticism from media bodies as well as rights activists.

He was granted bail in April in the many cases against him pertaining to allegedly “anti-state” content and data theft through a call centre.