ANI’s profitable side hustle: Extortion

Written by: Aarthi Ramnath, Raghav Bikhchandani & Yash Budhwar

ANI’s profitable side hustle: Extortion

The newswire most beloved to the government is using YouTube’s copyright claims system to squeeze YouTubers for paisa. Think Rs 15 lakh to 50 lakh for less than 10 seconds of ANI video. Here’s how the shakedown works.

The YouTube copyright system: When the owner of any copyrighted content submits a takedown request under local laws, YouTube automatically issues a strike on the video. Three strikes within 90 days and you’re out. The entire YouTube channel is deleted. It is restored after that period if you don’t get another strike.

Assessing complaints: According to its own stated policies, YouTube assesses each removal request—”to make sure… no signs of abuse.” The platform is also supposed to reach out to the complainant—and make sure ‘free use’ laws have been taken into consideration. But, but, but: That’s not what happens in practice—as became obvious in the case of the Indian YouTubers.

The shakedown: Here’s how it works. ANI submits a flurry of copyright complaints against popular YouTubers—for using super-short clips of its newswire videos. After ‘three strikes’, the YouTuber is given seven days to “resolve” the issue—or lose their channel. That’s when ANI asks for absurd amounts of money to withdraw its complaints—anywhere from Rs 48 lakhs to Rs 15 lakhs—according to stories shared on social media (see one example here).

But is this legal?: The problem is that Indian law recognises ‘fair use’ of copyrighted content—but is extremely vague:

Section 52 [allows]... use of copyrighted material without the copyright owner’s permission for purposes such as criticism, comment, news, reporting and many more. In practice, there is a severe lack of specificity in law and regulations about how fair use doctrine is to be practised. It can boil down to an argument over whether the usage of a four-second clip out of a two minute video for news and analysis constitutes fair-use? In absence of clear guidelines, courts become the arbiter, in each instance.

The bigger problem: is that YouTube is doing a Pontius Pilate—washing its hands of the entire matter. When pressed, this is what the spokesperson said:

We work hard to balance the rights of copyright holders with the creative pursuits of the YouTube community. It’s not up to YouTube to decide who “owns the rights” to content, which is why we give copyright holders tools to make copyright claims and uploaders tools to dispute claims that are made incorrectly.

In other words, y’all can fight it out among yourselves—which leaves all the room ANI needs for a shakedown. Also note: The quote above contradicts YouTube’s stated policy of assessing each claim—according to local laws.

Also important to remember: The law is likely on the side of the YouTubers. When India Today and Aaj Tak went after NewsLaundry for using clips for their news satire videos, the Supreme Court shot them down—saying these vids constituted fair use.

Reading list: The Reporters’ Collective piece is a must-read—and Mohak Mangal’s video lays out the shakedown. MediaNama has more on the NewsLaundry case.

Are we really the world’s 4th largest economy?

What he said: There was great excitement when NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam declared India has toppled Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy: “We are a USD 4 trillion economy as I speak, and this is not my data. This is IMF data. India today is larger than Japan.” He even claimed India would overtake Germany very soon:

It's only the United States, China, and Germany which are larger, and if we stick to, you know, what is being planned, what is being thought through, it's a matter of another 2, 2.5 to 3 years; we would become the third largest economy.

A closer look at the numbers: shows the grand claim may be a tad premature. According to the latest IMF projections, India’s GDP will reach $3.9 trillion by the end of FY2024–25—as in, March 2025. Japan’s GDP touched $4.026 trillion at the end of the previous calendar year—as in, December 31, 2024. So India should sprint past Japan the coming spring hitting $4.187 trillion.

The long term picture: looks very bright. By 2030, India is expected to be at $6.77 trillion (2030-31)—while Japan will grow to just $5 trillion. Fingers crossed etc. But, but, but: experts caution against reading too much into the mota, mota GDP numbers. Our per capita income is still abysmal, as Mint notes:

While aggregate GDP measures the size of an economy, GDP per capita provides a more accurate measure of average income, living standards, and the distribution of prosperity among citizens… According to IMF estimates, India’s GDP per capita in FY25 is projected to be $11,228 on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, while Japan’s stands at $52,712. Even China, with a similarly large population, has a significantly higher GDP per capita of $27,093.

New Indian Express and Mint have the best reporting on this controversy.

A new kind of crypto crime: Kidnapping and torture!

This past weekend, a 37-year-old John Woeltz was arrested for kidnapping, beating and torturing an Italian tourist for weeks inside a luxury townhouse in Manhattan. The reason: He was trying to get the man’s Bitcoin password to steal his cryptocurrency:

When the victim refused, the two men took him captive and subjected him to weeks of torture, which included beating him, shocking him with electric wires, hitting him with a gun and pointing the gun at his head. At one point, Mr. Woeltz and his accomplice carried the man to the top of the stairs in the five-story home, suspended him over the ledge and threatened to kill him if he did not give Mr. Woeltz his password, the complaint says.

Point to note: Woeltz carried out this crime in his eight-bedroom home that he rents for at least $30,000 a month.

Say hello to ‘wrench’ attacks: Crypto-related kidnappings are on the rise around the world. In France, for example, the number of such attacks jumped from six in 2024 to 23 this year. They are called ‘wrench attacks’ because “they rely on simple tools for inflicting pain to coerce victims, rather than sophisticated tools for hacking them”—like a wrench to cut off your fingers.

But why crypto?: You can move millions of dollars in crypto wealth far more easily—and it is impossible to trace. As crypto investors have grown more cautious with their money, hacking no longer works as well:

Hacking has long been the primary risk for the crypto rich. But to thwart hackers, savvy cryptocurrency investors have increasingly taken their digital wallets offline in favor of physical devices, making remote theft more difficult. Real-world crypto crime bypasses those safeguards. “A lot of people are getting to the hide-your-gold-under-the-mattress level of security,” said Jameson Lopp, the co-founder of bitcoin security company Casa.

New York Times and BBC News have more on the recent kidnapping incident. Wall Street Journal (splainer gift link) looks at the broader trend of ‘wrench attacks’.

what caught our eye

business & tech

RedBird Capital is snapping up the Telegraph Media Group for a whopping £500 million—marking the biggest print media deal in the UK in a decade.
New York Magazine has a good read on how Google’s AI Overviews are quietly killing the open web—serving up summary blurbs up top, pushing links down, and turning the internet into something you no longer need to click.
Hot on the heels of Anthropic’s latest AI model displaying problematic behaviour (explained here), OpenAI’s new ChatGPT model just went rogue—ignoring shutdown orders and even sabotaging its own off switch.
AI is guzzling juice—if current trends hold, it could soon eat up half the power used by data centers.
Long-form is back—Indians are ditching Shorts for full-length YouTube videos on their TVs, turning the platform into the country’s biggest living room OTT player.
Nestlé has made its first investment in India by buying a minority stake in pet food company Drools, which will continue to operate independently.

sports & entertainment

Liverpool FC’s Premier League celebrations turned tragic after a car drove into a crowd in the city centre, injuring nearly 50 people—including several children—in a shocking incident.
Eight men have been found guilty in the 2016 armed robbery of Kim Kardashian in Paris—but thanks to their age and health, they won’t serve any extra jail time.
World champ Gukesh is set to face off against world #1 Magnus Carlsen in a high-stakes opening round at the Norway Chess tournament.
Priyansh Arya and Josh Inglis scored a big century partnership to help Punjab Kings beat Mumbai Indians and secure a spot in the top two.

health & environment

India’s public hospitals are running on empty—supply of essential meds and tests have dipped below 40% in the most populous states, prompting an urgent SOS from the Centre.
India’s active COVID-19 cases have jumped from 257 to 1,009 in a week, with Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra driving the spike.
Mumbai set a new record for the highest rainfall in May, with 300mm measured at the Colaba Coastal Observatory—beating the previous record of 279.4mm that stood since 1918.
Tamil Nadu’s coastal watchdog has fined the National Highways Authority of India for dumping construction debris into the protected Odiyur Lagoon.
New research shows Earth’s core is full of gold, which is slowly leaking up through the mantle and into the crust carried by molten rock.
Lesser flamingos have lost one of their only four breeding sites in Africa—South Africa’s Kamfers Dam—after years of sewage pollution drove them away from the toxic water.
Ever wonder why cold drinks make your teeth ache? Turns out, teeth first evolved 500 million years ago—not for chewing, but for something else entirely.

meanwhile, in the world

The Intercept provides us with a sarcastic take on media double standards with its tongue-in-cheek guide, ‘How to Write About Palestine’.
The head of the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has resigned—amid criticism from the UN that the foundation violates “fundamental humanitarian principles” and breaches international law.
The Guardian has a must-read on whether a 1999 Japanese graphic novel’s prediction—that a major disaster would occur this July—is responsible for the decline in holiday bookings to Japan.
A college in Beijing caused public outrage after it made a student take off her trousers to prove she was on her period before giving her sick leave, saying it was the school’s rule.
Ukraine’s intelligence chief says they have proof that China is directly supplying weapons to Russia’s arms industry.
Russia is targeting Ukraine with more drone strikes—the Donald says Putin has gone “absolutely crazy”. The Kremlin fired back at Trump, blaming the outburst on his “emotional overload.”
Venezuela’s ruling coalition has won key parliamentary and regional elections boycotted by the opposition. Al Jazeera has the details on winners, losers and what’s next.
Salman Rushdie is ‘pleased’ that the man who tried to kill him in a knife attack in 2022 has received the maximum possible prison sentence, of 25 years.

meanwhile, in India

The Wire has a must-watch on-grounds report on Gujarat’s mass demolitions—8,000 homes razed, “Bangladeshis” allegedly detained, although 90% were found to be Indian citizens. The video, in Hindi, dives into what families say was a sudden eviction without notice—all under the banner of national security.
In a bold move straight out of the Trump playbook, India airlifted 160 undocumented Bangladeshi migrants—including women and kids—from Ghaziabad to Agartala for quick deportation, with the intention of skipping the usual lengthy process.
Eight containers from the sunken Liberian ship have washed up on Kerala’s Kollam coast, triggering a high alert—fishermen told to stay ashore and residents urged to move. Note: information remains scarce and authorities are not sharing much.
Indian Express has the deets on why some Jaipur sweet shops are rebranding Mysore Pak as ‘Mysore Shree’—and what the word ‘Pak’ really means.
A wanted Maoist with a Rs 5 lakh bounty was gunned down in Jharkhand’s Latehar—another rebel was caught alive in the same op.
The NIA has nabbed a CRPF jawan in Delhi for leaking classified intel to Pakistani spies—allegedly passing secrets since 2023.
Poha, hotels, and a taste of freedom—five Jaipur inmates turned a routine hospital visit into a full-blown jailbreak adventure, complete with romantic reunions.

Four things to see

One: Did Brigitte Macron smack her hubby—French President Emmanuel Macron—on the face? The viral video caught a seemingly awkward moment when the couple landed in Vietnam for an official visit. Macron says otherwise: “We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife.” (France24)

Two: Roland Garros hosted a love fest for Rafael Nadal on the opening day of the French Open, when the 14-time champ—the ‘King of Clay’—stepped onto the red clay of the French Open one last time. Apart from serenades from the crowd—and the presence of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray—Rafa got an extra-special tribute: A cast of his footprint embedded forever into the ground of Court Philippe Chatrier. Now, there will always be a bit of Rafa at the French Open. Kinda funny: The footprint was ‘unveiled’ by a jhadu lol—as you can see below. (Sportstar)

Three: Google is integrating Gemini AI into its smart glasses—Android XR. Unveiled last week, it can do live AI translations and “can identify things in your surroundings and remember things for you”. We stumbled on a fun demo below. Though we hate to say it… the glasses are fugly! (CNET)

Four: This is the trailer for ‘Daniela Forever’—a romantic sci-fi from the Spanish visionary filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo—starring Henry Golding as Nicolás who participates in a groundbreaking sleep therapy for grief. The movie premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year and will be released in theatres on July 11. (Collider)