The PIB Fact Check Unit (FCU) on Tuesday announced that it has busted three YouTube channels during a series of over 40 fact-checks.
These channels, which were spreading false information in India had nearly 33 lakh subscribers, and their videos, almost all of which were found to be false, were watched over 30 crore times.
This is the first time that PIB has exposed entire YouTube channels instead of individual posts on social media spreading false claims. Details of the YouTube channels fact-checked by PIB are as under:
- News Headlines – 9.67 lakh subscribers with 31,75,32,290 views
- Sarkari Update – 22.6 lakh subscribers with 8,83,594 views
- आज तक LIVE – 65.6 thousand subscribers with 1,25,04,177 views
These YouTube channels spread false and sensational claims about the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, Government schemes, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), farm loan waivers, etc. among other fake news.
Screenshots from the channels ; Image Source: PIB
These 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 were also found to be displaying advertisements on their videos, and monetizing misinformation on YouTube.
Action taken by PIB Fact Check Unit follows the blocking of over one hundred YouTube channels by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in the past year.
