YouTuber Mohak Mangal Accuses ANI of Extortion Over Copyright Strikes

Yesterday, Mohak Mangal, who is a known YouTuber, had one of his videos break the internet when he exposed ANI and put forth some serious allegations with proof. Let's understand the whole matter.

He has accused the news agency Asian News International (ANI) of misusing YouTube's copyright strike system to extort money from content creators. Mangal alleges that ANI issued multiple copyright strikes on his videos for using brief clips, some as short as 9 to 11 seconds, of their footage, which he claims falls under "fair use."

Following these strikes, an ANI employee allegedly demanded a payment of ₹45 lakh plus GST to remove the strikes and grant a two-year subscription to ANI’s footage; the conversation was benign and done via emails and phone calls, as per Mohak's video. The employee reportedly warned that if they fail to pay, the channel will be deleted as per YouTube's 3-strike policy, which is that after getting three strikes, YouTube removes the channel.

Mohak's comment section was filled with creators coming in support of him, many claiming that ANI did this with them as well. YouTubers like Dhruv Rathee and Nitish Rajput have expressed their support, with Rathee describing ANI’s actions as an “extortion racket.” Mangal also claims that other creators have admitted to paying ANI amounts ranging from ₹15 lakh to ₹50 lakh to have copyright strikes removed.

The controversy centers around the concept of “fair use,” which allows limited use of copyrighted material for purposes like commentary and criticism. Mangal argues that his use of short clips for commentary should fall under fair use and that ANI's actions are a misuse of YouTube's copyright enforcement tools.

Mohank mentions how he has written to Prime Minister Modi, and he has taken the matter to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, urging for an investigation into ANI’s practices.

As of now, ANI has not issued a public statement in response to these allegations.