Hate, harassment, misinfo–BeerBiceps interview of J Sai Deepak has it all, but YouTube refuses to take it down

‘BeerBiceps’ is a YouTube channel with more than 58 lakh subscribers. The founder of this channel is Ranveer Allahabadia, who was in the headlines recently for his video interviews with several ministers and politicians, including Piyush Goyal, S Jaishankar, Rajeev Chandrasekhar and Smriti Irani. The description of these YoutUbe videos says “Collaboration with MyGovIndia”.

Speaking to Newslaundry on the matter, Allahabadia and his partner Viraj Seth stated a representative from the government approached them in May and suggested inviting some key cabinet ministers on their podcast. He revealed that he agreed to the idea after a lot of discussion. The idea for this programme came from MyGov (a citizen engagement platform launched by the Government of India in 2014 to promote the participation of citizens in governance), and hence the phrase “Collaboration with MyGovIndia” was used for these interviews. He also clarified that he did not receive any payment from the government for these interviews.

It is worth noting that the founder of ‘BeerBiceps’ YouTube channel Ranveer Allahabadia has collaborated with a number of Right-Wing influencers. Among them are Rajeev Malhotra, Vikram Sampath, Sanjeev Sanyal, J Sai Deepak, Abhijit Iyer, and Anand Ranganathan. Speaking to Newslaundry, the creator added that he was planning to invite guests from the Left in the future.

Meanwhile, a video of Allahbadia is gathering widespread traction on social media. In it, he asks his podcast guest, the Right-leaning Supreme Court lawyer J Sai Deepak, to name three people who should leave India and never come back. The question itself is problematic, and the answer is fueled by hate, in which Deepak names two prominent intellectuals of India and a senior journalist. Following the release of the episode, all three have been facing harassment and cyberbullying on social media. Not only this, a May 5 episode titled “Advocate J Sai Deepak Opens Up On CAA, Modi, & India’s Democracy | AJIO Presents TRS” is rife with conspiracy theories, false claims, hate speech and religious intolerance towards minorities.

Considering the offensive nature of the video, we sent YouTube a detailed note regarding this video’s violation of their policies. A YouTube spokesperson replied that following a thorough review of the video against the platform’s Community Guidelines, they had come to the decision that it did not violate any of YouTube’s policies.

In this article, we will review clips from the video with timestamps and demonstrate how it violates YouTube’s own guidelines.

Harassment and Cyberbullying: At the 56:30 mark, host Allahbadia asks the advocate to name three people who should leave India and never come back. He replies with the names of three prominent Indian intellectuals including Romila Thapar, Professor Irfan Habib and Barkha Dutt. It is worth noting that Romila Thapar and Irfan Habib are historians of international repute and Barkha Dutt is a senior journalist. All of them are often targeted as active players in a ‘conspiracy’ to break up India.

It is worth noting here that as per the YouTube Community Guidelines, both these questions and answers are condemnable. The host of this podcast asks a question, and the only way to answer it, as the guest did, was by naming prominent individuals and promoting hate against them.

This is a clear violation of YouTube’s policy on Harassment and Cyberbullying. Youtube’s policy on this is as follows:

• Content that targets an individual or group with prolonged or malicious slurs based on their protected group status or intrinsic characteristics, including physical characteristics, is not allowed by YouTube on its platform.
• Content containing hurtful and negative personal comments/videos about another person is not allowed on YouTube.
• Content that incites others to harass or threaten individuals on or off YouTube is not allowed on YouTube.

After the video was uploaded, the three celebrities who were named (Romila Thapar, Professor Irfan Habib and Barkha Dutt) started facing various threats and humiliation on social media. The viewers of the video abused and trolled them, asking him to leave the country. This is not only harmful to their mental health and safety, but also to democracy and public discourse in the country.

Below are a few examples of the cyberbullying these individuals faced after the video had gone live:

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Hate Speech: This podcast incites hatred towards Muslims and other religious groups by making defamatory and misleading claims about their beliefs, practices, history and intentions. Example:

At the 29:05 mark, J Sai Deepak states that India will be safe only when there is a Hindu majority. In other words, according to him, the increase in the population of other religions is a threat to the country.

At the 29:50 mark, he adds that the Muslim population is rising in areas which are actively ‘fighting for Pakistan’. His implied claim that Muslims are plotting to fight for Pakistan on the basis of their population growth is not only a distortion of facts but a baseless and inflammatory allegation. The podcast specifically targets and disparages individuals or groups based on their identity, beliefs or views.

At the 30:56 mark, Deepak claims that Indian Islam is a mythical creature that insults and defames a vast group of people and their faith, and questions the very basis of the religion.

At the 31:52 mark, he states that Indian Islam is an imposed faith, and most Indian Muslims are converts. This is a derogatory comment for those who believe in any religion, which can hurt the sentiments and religious beliefs of many people.

At the 28:16 mark, he talks about a conspiracy theory that claims Hindu and Christian girls are being ‘sexually groomed’ in Kerala. He also talks about ‘rate cards’ mentioning the prices of girls. However, he does not cite any concrete sources for these claims which directly target Muslims. The entire discussion in this part of the video stems from a question on the future of Muslims and Christians in India. The guest begins by stating that Christians in Kerala have realized that their security lies in having a significant Hindu population around them. To say so was, once again, an indirect attempt to demonize the Muslims who have a significant presence in Kerala, the southernmost state of India.

Fake news and misinformation: At the 18:18 mark, he gives misleading information about an incident related to the farmer’s protests of 2021. He claims that on January 26, 2021, during the farmers’ protest, the demonstrators pulled down the Indian national flag. This is a false claim which was debunked by various fact-checking platforms at the time. Several fact-checking organisations which are signatories to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) also fact-checked this claim.

It is also worth noting that in 2022, Google and YouTube partnered with non-profits working against misinformation to fund the formation of the Global Fact Check Fund to support a network of fact-checking organisations operating across 65 countries. They announced a $13.2 million grant to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), part of the for-profit media organisation Poynter.

Here are some links (first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth) and screenshots from various fact-checking organisations that debunk the claim that the Indian flag was pulled down during the farmers’ protests on January 26, 2021.

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In an order dated November 19, 2021, the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) concluded that three videos aired by Zee News which linked the farmers’ protest to the Khalistani movement violated its Code of Ethics. The authority also found that Zee News had falsely reported that the Indian flag was removed from the Red Fort.