Recently the Uttar Pradesh government has introduced a new scheme in its Social Media Policy 2024. This newly introduced scheme has provoked a heated argument between famous Youtuber Dhruv Rathee and Gaurav Taneja. According to the new scheme launched by the UP government, selected influencers will be paid nearly Rs. 8 lakhs per month for promoting the government schemes on their social media platforms.
On Wednesday 28th August, Youtuber Dhruv Rathee posted a tweet on X slamming the UP government. The post said, “This is Legalized Bribery. From Tax Payer’s Money. Any influencer who does this should be publicly shamed.” This post of Rathee has gained over 2.6 million views till now. Dhruv had posted the content on X at 8:20 pm.
After this, on the same day, at 10:04 pm, Youtuber Gaurav Taneja challenged Rathee’s criticism and defended the new scheme on X. He wrote, “Should all Newspapers and TV Channels, be also shamed, who show paid ads to promote any govt in power?”
This clash between Youtuber Dhruv Rathee and Gaurav Taneja has divided the online community into two parts. Netizens have flooded the comment section below these posts with their opinions. One of the users commented, “A party can pay with Electoral Bond Money to promote their propaganda, but using hardworking taxpayers’ money for influencers under the name of promoting government schemes is not acceptable.” While the other user supported Taneja by commenting, “I think he is right.”
This is not the first clash between Youtuber Dhruv Rathee and Gaurav Taneja. In June, 2024, they had got engaged in a heated argument on ‘India vs Bharat’ debate as well.
According to the new scheme launched by Uttar Pradesh Government, influencers will be selected for promoting the government schemes on their social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and X.
The payment amount of the influencers will depend upon the content they create and the platform they use to post the content. YouTube content creators can earn up to Rs. 8 lakhs on videos and Rs 4 lakhs on shorts and podcasts whereas influencers on X, Facebook, and Instagram can earn up Rs 5 lakhs. The aim of this policy is to use digital media for spreading information about the government schemes.