Govt Blocks 6 YouTube-Based News Channels For Spreading Fake News

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on Thursday busted six YouTube channels, which were working in a coordinated manner and spreading fake news in India.

The six YouTube channels were found to be operating as part of a coordinated disinformation network, had nearly 20 lakh subscribers. ( Representative inage: Getty )

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting on Thursday busted six YouTube channels, which were working in a coordinated manner and spreading fake news in India. The government has busted YouTube channels for fake news peddling and these channels are part of the fake news economy. The channels use fake, clickbait and sensational thumbnails as well as images of anchors of television news channels to mislead, said a statement by the Press Information Bureau.

The six YouTube channels were found to be operating as part of a coordinated disinformation network, had nearly 20 lakh subscribers and their videos have been watched over 51 crore times.

The YouTube channels on which the PIB fact check unit has cracked down were spreading fake news about the elections, proceedings in the Supreme Court and parliament of India and the functioning of the government. Examples include false claims regarding a ban on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and false statements attributed to senior constitutional functionaries including the President of India and the Chief Justice of India.

These channels are part of a fake news economy that thrives on monetisation of fake news. They use fake, clickbait and sensational thumbnails and images of news anchors of TV channels to mislead the viewers to believe that the news is authentic and drive traffic to their channels in order to monetise the videos published by them.

This is the second such incident in the past month. Earlier on December 20, 2022, the PIB fact check unit had exposed three channels peddling fake news.