Centre ‘busts’ 8 YouTube channels for spreading fake news

The Centre on Tuesday said it has “busted” eight YouTube channels, with a cumulative subscriber count of nearly 23 million, for spreading fake news such as declaration of early Lok Sabha polls and banning electronic voting machines. Government officials said videos on these YouTube channels - Yahan Sach Dekho, Capital TV, KPS News, Sarkari Vlog, Earn Tech India, SPN9 News, Educational Dost and World Best News – were fact-checked by the Press Information Bureau for spreading false news. World Best News, a YouTube channel with over 1.7 million subscribers and more than 18 crore views, was found to be misrepresenting the Indian Army, officials said. They said the channel Educational Dost, with over 3.43 million subscribers and 23 crore views, was spreading false information about government schemes, while SPN9 news with over 4.8 million subscribers and 189 crore views was propagating fake news pertaining to the president, prime minister and several central ministers. The channel Sarkari Vlog with over 4.5 million subscribers and over 9.4 crore views was found to be spreading fake news about government schemes, officials said. Channel ‘KPS News’ which has over one million subscribers and over 13 crore views is spreading fake news regarding schemes, orders and decisions related to the government such as availability of cooking gas cylinders at Rs 20 and petrol at Rs 15 per litre. The channel ‘Capital TV’ with over 3.5 million subscribers and over 160 crore views was also propagating fake news about the prime minister, the government and orders related to promulgation of President’s rule in West Bengal. YouTube channel ‘Yahan Sach Dekho’ with over 3 million subscribers and over 100 million views was peddling fake news about the Election Commission and the Chief Justice of India. ‘Earn India Tech’ with over 31,000 subscribers and 3.6 million views was found to be propagating fake news related to Aadhar card, PAN card and others.