Content does not match video thumbnail or cover and title. The information presented is completely false. A market for such fake videos on YouTube has developed in the country. The views or subscribers of these are swelling. In this the channels are getting advertisements and their income is increasing.
According to a recent DismissLab report, the three YouTube channels that spread the most political disinformation under the fact-checking of Bangladesh's fact-checking organizations have been selected. There are three channels - 'Sabai Sikhi', 'Taja News' and 'Media Cell 24'. These channels are making profit by spreading misinformation and lies.
Dismisslab says that the videos of these channels will look fake and cheap. The thumbnail and title of the video do not match the content inside. A market for such cheap-lies has developed on YouTube. Whereas Vue followers are growing rapidly. Such channels are also verified.
Everyone Sikhi, Taja News and Media Cell 24—three channels are making money by spreading political disinformation on YouTube. Analyzing the channels, DismissLab found that since they started posting false or misleading videos, their views and follower count increased. In some cases it doubled or more than tripled. Advertisements aired in videos on all three channels. YouTube has also earned from there.
According to DismissLab, YouTube's guidelines (community guidelines) in the thumbnail policy state that video thumbnails cannot contain any information that is misleading to viewers. But the videos of the three mentioned channels used misleading thumbnails. There are mentions of information, which are not true and no such information is being presented in the video. But the videos are on YouTube and making profit through monetization.
On media cell 24 channel, a video titled 'Mukti Mahi Mirza Fakhrul...cancelled schedule' was released on December 5, 2023. But BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was still in jail and the election schedule was not cancelled. It has added videos of different times. Its views are like 10 lakhs. More than four and a half hundred comments have been made on it. Media Cell 24 channel is also verified.
A video released on December 2 by a channel named Sathi Sikhi is titled, 'President allows caretaker government on emergency basis'. There is also a content created by combining video fragments from different periods, which has no authenticity.
