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Ban on Fake YouTube Channels That Mislead Users

Press Information Bureau’s (PIB) Fact Check Unit has busted a series of YouTube channels for spreading fake news. They have been using sensational thumbnails, images of news anchors and logos of television channels to mislead viewers.

PIB said that the channels spread false claims about the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of India and various government schemes. They also alleged that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are banned in elections. Here we will discuss about rajkotupdates.news:a-ban-on-fake-youtube-channels-that-mislead-users-the-ministry-said.

1. News Headlines

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) has cracked down on channels that peddle false and sensational news. They were using logos of TV news channels, images of TV anchors and fake thumbnails to mislead users. These channels were also found to be promoting disinformation over social media.

In a recent move, the I&B Ministry banned 18 Indian and four Pakistan-based YouTube news channels that were spreading “fake news” on issues related to national security, public order and India’s relations with foreign nations. These channels had a cumulative viewership of over 260 crore and coordinated disinformation campaigns on subjects that were sensitive from the perspective of national security, I&B said in a statement.

According to the government, some of these channels were promoting anti-India content and spread disinformation about the Indian Armed Forces and Jammu and Kashmir. They used fake and sensational thumbnails and were monetising their content on social media.

The PIB Fact Check Unit also found that some of these channels were peddling false and sensational claims about various public welfare schemes, the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of India and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). They claimed that the government was providing money to people who had opened bank accounts or Aadhaar cards.

Moreover, one of these channels – ‘News Headlines’ – was propagating fake and sensational news about the Prime Minister, the Judiciary and the Election Commission of India. It made a number of false and misleading claims including that the Chief Justice of India has declared PM Modi guilty of sedition. It also alleged that Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari had resigned from his post.

Another YouTube channel, ‘Swarnim Bharat’, was spreading fake news about the Election Commission of India. It was also using false thumbnails and had been misleading users to believe that it is affiliated with India Today Group, the PIB said.

The ban on these channels is an important step towards ensuring that people can access reliable and authentic information on YouTube. However, there are still concerns about how this ban will be implemented and enforced. While the I&B Ministry is working to address these concerns, it’s a positive move in the fight against false information and deception on YouTube.

2. Sarkari Update

The Indian government has taken a bold step to ban fake YouTube channels that mislead users by spreading false information. The ministry urged YouTube to take action against these channels and also make changes to its policies in the face of growing organized disinformation campaigns on the platform.

According to a statement by the PIB Fact Check Unit, these channels had spread fake news on various topics such as the Supreme Court, Parliament proceedings, and Union government, farm loan waivers, ‘ban on EVMs’ and ‘false statements’ attributed to the Chief Justice of India and President of India. It also found the videos to be part of a coordinated disinformation network with almost 20 lakh subscribers and more than 51 crore views.

These channels were observed to be using fake and sensational thumbnails, images of news anchors, logos of certain TV channels, and other visuals to mislead viewers into believing that their videos are authentic. They also displayed advertisements on their videos and monetised the content.

On December 2022, the I&B ministry banned 104 YouTube channels, 45 videos, four Facebook accounts, three Instagram accounts, five Twitter handles and six websites for threatening national security and spreading fake news. It added that these channels “used fake, clickbait and sensational thumbnails and images of television news anchors of TV Channels to mislead viewers into believing their news was authentic.”

PIB’s Fact Check Unit said it busted these YouTube channels for peddling “false and sensational claims” about the Supreme Court and Parliament, the Union government, farm loan waivers and ‘ban on EVMs’ among other things. ‘Samvaad TV’, which had 10 lakh subscribers, was found to be propagating the ‘false news’.

In a letter addressed to Google’s YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki, the PIB warned that “current measures are failing to deter these actors from weaponising the platform.” The ministry asked YouTube to implement several changes including funding independent research into disinformation campaigns, providing links to rebuttals in videos, stopping its algorithms from promoting repeat offenders and doing more to tackle falsehoods in non-English language videos.

The PIB’s move comes just a day after Google CEO Sundar Pichai vowed to stop “the spreading of falsehoods” on its platform and to take action against channels that use violence or threats to harm others. The company has previously banned “violent” narratives, but critics say its policy is insufficient and that it should remove more inflammatory content.

3. aaj tk LIVE

The Ministry of information and Broadcasting has banned YouTube from listing the channels of three news media – Aaj Tak LIVE, News Headlines & Sarkari Updates. The ministry was prompted to do so after they were slapped with a hefty fine by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) whose Fact Check unit found that these channels were a tad misleading to the Indian public and a bit too fancy for their britches. Aaj Tak LIVE is one of India’s most watched news channels on television. It is also one of the few that has a mobile version to complement its online presence. It has also thrown its hat into the connected TV ring with a curated LIVE aaj tak show that works on Alexa and FireStick.

4. Samvaad TV

India TV Organizes Mega Conclave

The Modi government is celebrating its 8th year in office and India TV has announced its first full day mega conclave – Samvaad on Monday to take stock of the hits, misses, opportunities and challenges that defined this time period. The event will be led by Chairman & Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma and other premier journalists. Among the speakers will be Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Maulana Madani, narrator Devkinandan and Kalimul Hafeez to name a few.

India’s Information & Broadcasting Ministry on Thursday cracked down on six YouTube channels that monetised “fake news” and had garnered over 50 crore views. The PIB fact check unit said that Nation TV, Samvaad TV, Sarokar Bharat, Nation 24, Swarnim Bharat and Samvaad Samachar were “working in a coordinated manner” and spreading false information in the country. These videos were allegedly spread using clickbait thumbnails and images of television news anchors to mislead users. They also claimed to ban electronic voting machines (EVMs) and made false statements attributed to senior constitutional functionaries including the President and Chief Justice of India, it added.

The PIB fact check unit has busted these channels for the second time in the past month and written to YouTube to take them down. The six channels had combined subscribers of over 20 lakh and had been using clickbait thumbnails to peddle fake news on politics, the functioning of the government and the proceedings in the Supreme Court and Parliament, it said. Earlier, the unit busted three channels peddling fake news and asked YouTube to remove them. These six channels, it said, are part of the fake news economy that uses clickbait and sensational thumbnails to drive traffic to their websites and monetise them. To know more about rajkotupdates.news:a-ban-on-fake-youtube-channels-that-mislead-users-the-ministry-said juts click in the below link:

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