The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) on Thursday busted six YouTube channels for “acting in a coordinated manner and spreading misinformation” about the government, elections, Supreme Court and proceedings of Parliament, President and Prime Minister of India.
Last December, the Center flagged three channels for spreading fake news.
The fact checking wing of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) pointed to the six channels in an official statement. youtube – Nation TV, Samvad TV, Sarokar Bharat, Nation 24, Swarnim Bharat and Samvad News – using fake, clickbait and sensationalized thumbnails and images of television news anchors to mislead viewers to believe that the news shared by them was The reported news was authentic.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in an official release that these YouTube channels are part of a fake news economy that thrives on monetization of fake news.
These channels have 2 million subscribers and their videos have been viewed more than 510 million times, the release said.
PIB’s Fact Check Unit issued six different Twitter Over 100 fact-checking sources to counter fake news spread by these channels. This is the second such crackdown by the unit under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting where entire channels have been busted.
For example, handle PIBFactCheck Tweeted About Samvad TV, “Samvad TV, a YouTube channel with over 10 lakh subscribers, is propagating #FakeNews about the Government of India and making false claims about the statements of Union Ministers.”
The fact-checking team of the nodal agency informs the media on behalf of the Government of India. It works to identify fake news circulating on social media and their associated channels so that people can be warned not to believe in them.