A total of six YouTube channels were banned by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) on Thursday for allegedly spreading fake news and misinformation.
The ministry said in a press release, “The six YouTube channels were found to be operating as part of a coordinated disinformation network, had nearly 20 lakh subscribers and their videos have been watched over 51 crore times.”
The names of these channels are revealed to be Nation TV, Sarokar Bharat, Nation 24, Samvad Samachar, Swarnim Bharat and Sambad TV. The PIB listed out the names of channels in a series of tweets .
“I&B ministry cracks down on fake news peddling YouTube Channels. Busted channels are part of the fake news economy. The channels use fake, clickbait and sensational thumbnails and images of television news anchors of TV Channels to mislead,” PIB said in a statement.
The six youtube channels exposed by the PIB Fact Check unit spread fake news regarding elections, proceedings in the Supreme Court and Parliament of India, the functioning of the Government of India, etc. such as false claims regarding a ban on Electronic Voting Machines, and false statements attributed to senior Constitutional functionaries including the Hon’ble President of India and Chief Justice of India.
Check out the list of channels here:
Channels | Subscribers |
Nation TV | 5.57 lakh |
Samvaad TV | 10.9 lakh |
Sarokar Bharat | 21.1 thousand |
Nation 24 | 25.4 thousand |
Swarnim Bharat | 6.07 thousand |
Samvaad Samachar | 3.48 lakh |
A #YouTube channel ‘Nation Tv’ with over 550K subscribers & over 21 crore views has been found to be propagating #FakeNews about the President, Union Ministers & the Election Commission of India.
#PIBFactCheck found almost all of its content to be fake.Here’s a thread… pic.twitter.com/GjyJo9xHme
— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck) January 12, 2023
Earlier in December 2022, the unit had exposed three channels peddling fake news.