The ministry stressed that these channels have wrongly made derogatory statements against constitutional figures such as the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister, and the Chief Election Commissioner.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Friday announced that the fact-checking wing of the Press Information Bureau has discovered nine YouTube channels in India that are spreading fake news and misinformation.
These channels are 'Bharat Ekta News', 'Bajrang Education', 'Bj News', 'Sansani Live TV', 'GVT News', 'Daily Study', 'Ab Bolega Bharat', 'Sarkari Yojana Official', “Aapke Guruji”.
According to the ministry, PIB's fact-checking division combats false information spread by these channels through multiple fact-checks on nine threads on Twitter, with a subscriber base ranging from 117 million to 34.7 billion people. It has been discovered that it can affect humans.
The ministry stressed that these channels have wrongly made derogatory statements against constitutional figures such as the Chief Justice of India, the Prime Minister, and the Chief Election Commissioner. The fabricated stories include false claims about the President's rule in certain states, a ban on EVMs, resignation/death of ministers, a ban on currency notes, closure of banks, misinformation about government plans, etc.
The ministry pointed out that these media outlets incorrectly attributed derogatory statements to constitutional figures like the Prime Minister, Chief Election Commissioner, and Chief Justice of India. Misleading cases about the President's Standard in specific states, EVM boycotts, ecclesiastical abdications/passings, cash note boycotts, bank terminations, and falsehood on government plans were among the manufactured accounts.
In addition, these channels disseminated false information regarding natural disasters, the deaths of Indian citizens, the deployment of the armed forces, school closures, and other topics.
The ministry expressed serious concerns regarding the monetization of fake news on YouTube, which has a total subscriber base of more than 83 million. It was mentioned that these channels use sensational false thumbnails and clickbait to increase traffic and profit from content.