MIB Directs YouTube to Take Down 3 Channels for Spreading Fake News

New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has directed YouTube to take down three channels for spreading fake news in the country. The channels include Aaj Tak Live, News Headlines, and Sarkari Updates.

The move comes in the wake of these channels being declared peddlers of fake news by the Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau yesterday, December 20.

In a statement, the PIB Fact Check Unit said that these YouTube channels were spreading false and sensational claims about the Prime Minister of India, the Election Commission of India, the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India, and other Government schemes.

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. It said, the channels were 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, were observed.

These channels were also found to be displaying advertisements on their videos, and monetizing misinformation on YouTube.

One last year, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting banned over one hundred YouTube channels for spreading fake news.