Government BANS 8 big YouTube channels for spreading fake news; Check the list

The Indian government has banned 8 YouTube channels for spreading fake news. Each of the channels had more than 1 million subscribers. Know the names of the channels.

The government has banned 8 YouTube channels for spreading misinformation. The channels had a cumulative subscriber count of 23 million. (Pixabay)

The growing epidemic of misinformation and fake news on YouTube has become a big problem. Recently, during the Nuh violence, the state government had to shut down the internet in the district in order to keep the misinformation and provocative messages away from the region. Now, in a shocker, India has banned a total of eight YouTube channels. The total subscriber count of these channels reached a massive 23 million, and as per the government, all of them were involved in spreading fake news.

According to a report by PTI, the channels were ‘busted' for spreading fake news such as the declaration of early Lok Sabha polls and banning electronic voting machines. Concerningly, the videos from these channels were regularly watched by a large number of people, which could have led to the mass spread of misinformation.

Government bans 8 YouTube channels

As per the report, the officials said videos on these YouTube channels were fact-checked by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) for spreading false news. The following is the list of the channels that were banned. 

• Yahan Sach Dekho
• Capital TV
• KPS News
• Sarkari Vlog
• Earn Tech India
• SPN9 News
• Educational Dost
• World Best 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.

They 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 ₹20 and petrol at ₹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 the 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.