Government Directs YouTube To Take Down Three Channels 'Aaj Tak LIVE', 'News Headlines', And 'Sarkari Updates' For Propagating Fake News

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has directed YouTube to take down the three channels Aaj Tak LIVE, News Headlines, and Sarkari Updates after PIB's Fact Check Unit declared them as peddlers of fake news.

In a series of over 40 fact-checks, the PIB Fact Check Unit (FCU) busted these three YouTube channels which were spreading false information in India.

These channels have nearly 33 lakh subscribers and their videos, almost all of which were found to be false, were watched over 30 crore times, the MIB said on Tuesday.

These YouTube channels were engaged in spreading 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, the ministry said.

"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," it added.

These 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 monetising misinformation on YouTube, the ministry said.