Popular Indian broadcaster WION had its YouTube channel of over five million subscribers temporarily suspended after that platform claimed that it was in violation of its new policy “prohibit[ing] content denying, minimizing, or trivializing well-documented violent events, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.” All that WION did was include a clip of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov sharing his country’s perspective on the conflict alongside his Ukrainian counterpart doing the same in one of their reports, but YouTube selectively applied its latest subjective standard to that broadcaster despite not doing so against others who’ve done precisely that as well.

Despite YouTube lifting its ban ahead of the three-day limit that was initially imposed, Indian society shouldn’t ever forget about this scandal. Their country is under immense pressure from the US-led West in all respects over its policy of principled neutrality towards Russia’s ongoing special military operation in Ukraine. It certainly seems to be the case that YouTube’s selective but ultimately short-lived suspension of WION’s channel was part of this newly launched Hybrid War on India aimed at coercing it into sacrificing its grand strategic interests with Russia solely to please its Western partners. This isn’t a so-called “conspiracy theory” either but a credible observation based on recent events.

YouTube probably lifted its ban ahead of schedule due to its fears that the more than 1.3 billion members of Indian society can completely crush its online video monopoly if they truly wanted to as punishment for that American technology company’s participation in the US-led West’s Hybrid War on their proud civilization-state. Had the legitimate rage that many of them felt in response to this scandal uncontrollably spread throughout their society, then it would only be a matter of time before they decided to topple YouTube’s respective monopoly by abandoning that company in support of a domestic alternative. The Indian authorities might also have banned YouTube for this unfair censorship.

There was no way that YouTube was going to risk the wrath of both Indian society and its government alike and thus potentially lose not only its largest market in the world but perhaps also its global monopoly in this sphere, hence why it quickly cowered in the face of these scenarios by reversing its scandalous decision. Nevertheless, Indian society should remain emboldened by this and continue making strides towards “digital autonomy” to complement their country’s strategic autonomy that’s being practiced with respect to its foreign policy. India is too proud a country to indefinitely live with the Damocles’ sword of Western tech censorship hanging over the heads of its national media outlets.

That’s not to say that every Indian should abandon YouTube, but just that it would be in their country’s grand strategic interests to support domestic alternatives so as to reduce their media’s disproportionate dependence on those same Western platforms that can unexpectedly be instrumentalized as Hybrid War weapons to punish their government for its principled neutrality. Despite India’s free market economy, the state can consider incentivizing its many tech companies to prioritize this goal such as by offering tax cuts to those that make tangible progress in pursuit of digital autonomy. There is no other country in the world whose society has the power to topple YouTube’s monopoly like India’s does.

It’s about time that it learns how to fight back against this unfair Hybrid War that’s being waged against it at the moment by some of their country’s own Western partners. They must recognize their strength, proudly employ it in advance of their civilization-state’s grand strategic interests, and teach these foreign tech companies an anti-censorship lesson that they’ll never forget. WION’s immense influence in Indian society and its victimization during this latest scandal enable it to play a leading role in these efforts if its leadership has the will. It should be among the highest priorities for India to complement its strategic autonomy with digital sovereignty, hence why its society should seriously consider this proposal.