AltNews co-founder Mohammad Zubair insinuates that YouTuber took cash to criticise Congress, YouTuber calls out ‘baseless allegation’

On June 26, influencer and YouTuber Akshat Shrivastava fact-checked Alt News’ co-founder and “fact-checker” Mohammed Zubair on a deceptive tweet. Shrivastava referred to as out Zubair for doing “half-baked research” and hurling “baseless accusations”. His response got here after Zubair insinuated that Shrivastava criticised free bus service in Karnataka two days after assembly Union Minister Piyush Goyal throughout an initiative by the Government of India to utilise influencers’ attain to tell the general public about Government applications.

Zubair made a declare that the Union Government was utilizing taxpayers’ cash to pay YouTubers to advertise their initiatives. However, there isn’t any proof that any of the influencers or YouTubers invited by the Ministry have been certainly paid. Despite the shortage of proof of cost, Zubair insinuated that the movies have been printed by them because of cost to create an issue round their authenticity.

In the tweet, Shrivastava wrote, “Doing half-baked analysis. And hurling baseless accusations has turn into a vogue. I had already launched a video on May 16 on my YouTube channel, the place I talked in regards to the Freebie tradition within the context of the Karnataka elections. The video continues to be there- you’ll be able to go & test.

Doing half baked analysis. And, hurling baseless accusations has turn into a vogue.

I had already launched a video on sixteenth May on my YouTube channel, the place I had talked in regards to the Freebie tradition in context of Karnataka elections. The video continues to be there- you’ll be able to go & test.… pic.twitter.com/ZiaKDrtaxe

— Akshat Shrivastava (@Akshat_World) June 26, 2023

This had nothing to do with the occasion invite from Piyush Goyal ji. This occasion was held on June 24. Almost 40 days after, I did a video criticising the freebie mannequin. Meanwhile, I’ve made sufficient Tweets/Videos the place I’ve analysed the Indian financial insurance policies–starting from freebies, taxes, inflation and so forth.

Also, test my Tweets (like actually in the present day’s tweets: I’ve spoken about two completely different events; you merely picked one to hawk your narrative). Unlike you, I give a balanced commentary with out siding with any political occasion.“

OpIndia confirmed that there’s a video on Akshat’s channel from May 16, 2023, that talks about freebie tradition in India. In the video, he talked about freebies provided by the Karnataka authorities and named Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Union Governments to take part within the freebie tradition.

Zubair focused YouTubers for becoming a member of arms with Union Government

In a collection of tweets, Zubair focused YouTubers for becoming a member of arms with the Union Government to advertise Government Schemes. In a tweet, quoting The Hindu report, he stated, “50 YouTubers were invited by Piyush Goyal to popularise several incentives of Indian Govt. According to top Sources, Opindia CEO & @ANI chief’s name was mentioned in the list of 50 YouTube influencers who were invited”.

50 YouTubers have been invited by Piyush Goyal to popularise a number of incentives of Indian Govt. According to prime Sources, Opindia CEO & @ANI chief’s title was talked about within the listing of fifty YouTube influencers who have been invited. 🙃 pic.twitter.com/fEs7Nj4YSs

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) June 26, 2023

In a follow-up tweet, he particularly focused Akshay and wrote, “So Influencer who was recently invited by Piyush Goyal has a problem with Free bus travel and other freebies because ‘we as taxpayers will pay the price’. But have no problem if tax money is being handed over to influencers? Nice, no?”

So Influencer who was not too long ago invited by Piyush Goyal has downside with Free bus journey and different freebies as a result of ‘we as tax payers can pay the value’. But don’t have any downside if tax cash is being handed over to influencers? Nice no? 🙃 https://t.co/b4pPgbycMt pic.twitter.com/phrR3ErCKn

— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) June 26, 2023

Essentially, a Union Minister referred to as a bunch of YouTubers to apprise them of Government Schemes that assist the individuals and discover how they may collaborate for higher dissemination of data. This observe will not be unusual and occurs throughout governments and political spectrums. Over the years, even the Congress authorities or the political occasion itself whereas in opposition has met a number of journalists, YouTubers and different professionals to discover how their message will be disseminated higher.

Zubair insinuated that simply because there was such a gathering, it might mechanically quantity to these people being paid by the federal government utilizing taxpayers’ cash and due to this fact, their opinions could be a product of that cost. That insinuation is simply meant to discredit opinions that disagree with Congress schemes in any method and insinuate that these people maintain these opinions solely as a result of they accepted cash for it. Interestingly, if Zubair’s understanding was true, then it might additionally imply that any opinion that’s given by him in opposition to BJP and in favour of Congress can also be a paid one, nevertheless, sans proof, one can’t make that insinuation or allegation.