- Fake videos about Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of India, and Prime Minister of India with lakhs of views busted by PIB Fact Check Unit
- Misinformation on Election Commission of India, Electronic Voting Machines
- YouTube channels fact-checked by PIB had nearly 33 lakh subscribers, over 30 crore views
NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DEC 20
The fact-checking wing of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Government of India, has pulled up three YouTube channels having over 30 crore views and 33 lakh subscribers for allegedly propagating misinformation regarding the Supreme Court of India (SC), the Chief Justice of India (CJI), Prime Minister Modi, and the election commission of India (EC).
YouTube channel “आज तक LIVE” is another den of #FakeNews. With over 65,000 subscribers, the YouTube channel spreads false claims about the death of various persons and misinformation about Government decisions. Here’s a thread by @PIBFactCheck busting some of its claims🔽 pic.twitter.com/91fyeToq5h
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) December 20, 2022
The Press Information Bureau found that a YouTube Channel -‘News Headlines’, with almost 10 lakh subscribers and over 32 crore views, was spreading misinformation regarding the PM, SC, CJI, and the EC.
“In a series of over 40 fact-checks, the PIB fact check unit (FCU) busted three YouTube channels for spreading false information in India. These YouTube channels had nearly 33 lakh subscribers, and their videos, almost all of which were found to be false, were watched over 30 crore times,” said a press note by the PIB released on Tuesday.
The move comes as the latest step against misinformation by the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry after it blocked over one hundred YouTube channels in the past year.
These YouTube channels spread false and sensational claims about the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of India, Government schemes, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), farm loan waivers, etc. among other fake news. Examples include fake news such as the Supreme Court to have ruled that future elections would be conducted by ballot papers; Government giving money to people who have bank accounts, Aadhar Cards and PAN cards; ban on EVMs, etc.
The YouTube channels were observed to be using fake and sensational thumbnails with logos of TV channels and images of their news anchors to mislead the viewers to believe that the news was authentic. These channels were also found to be displaying advertisements on their videos, and monetizing misinformation on YouTube.
This is the first time when PIB has exposed entire YouTube channels as against individual posts on social media spreading false claims.
Details of the YouTube channels fact-checked by PIB are
| Sl. No. | Name of YouTube Channel | Subscribers | Views |
|
|
News Headlines | 9.67 lakh | 31,75,32,290 |
|
|
Sarkari Update | 22.6 lakh | 8,83,594 |
|
|
आज तक LIVE | 65.6 thousand | 1,25,04,177 |
