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

These YouTube channels had nearly 33 lakh (33,00,000) subscribers and almost all of their videos were found to be false, but were watched over 30 crore (300 million) times, an official government statement said Tuesday.

These YouTube channels spread false and sensational claims about the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of India, government schemes, electronic voting machines and farm loan waivers, among other fake news. Examples include fake news such as the Supreme Court ruling that future elections would be conducted by ballot papers or the government giving money to people who have bank accounts, Aadhar cards and PAN cards.

The YouTube channels were observed to be using fake and sensational thumbnails with logos of real 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 monetizing misinformation on YouTube.

Action taken by FCU of PIB, which is a unit under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, follows blocking of over 100 YouTube channels by the Ministry in the past one year.