In a country like India where most of the educated young acknowledge that their lives run on technology and that technology helps them gain experience and get ahead in life, there are those willing to go to any length to leverage these opportunities at any cost.
Yet, people were startled by the news that a celebrity Indian rapper had paid an image marketing company around Rs75 lakh (A$137,040) to get 75 million ‘views’ in a day for one of his music videos, in order to set a world record for most YouTube views in the first 24 hours. Elated by his achievement, the 34-year-old rapper, Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia, better known by his stage name Badshah (Hindi for Emperor), claimed that the music video for his song, Paagal (Hindi for Crazy), had been watched 75 million times in the first day of its release, beating previous records set by the Korean boys’ band BTS and Taylor Swift. The claim was nevertheless rejected by Google.
The matter came to light when Bollywood singer Bhumi Trivedi lodged a police complaint, saying a fake profile of hers had been created on social media. Two persons have so far been arrested in connection with the scam. During the probe, the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the city police unearthed the racket which creates fake social media profiles and sells fake followers and likes to celebrities and `influencers’. The CIU has recorded statements of nearly 20 people in the case and have described it as a serious issue as fake profiles are also used to spread fake news or misinformation.
The police mentioned that apart from Paagal, they were also looking into the rapper’s other songs posted on social media, and were probing the racket that sells fake followers and views to social media influencers. Badshah, however, denied any wrongdoing, specifying that he had never been involved in such practices, nor did he condone them. Pointing out that the police investigation was being executed in accordance with law, he said he was cooperating in the inquiry and “carrying out due diligence on my part”. Badshah, who started his career in 2006, is known for his songs rendered in the Indian languages of Hindi, Haryanvi and Punjabi.
The Mumbai police said more arrests were likely. They have recovered an invoice from Badshah, showing that the payment was made to Qyuki Digital Media Private Limited, a city-based digital media and artist management company. As the invoice revealed that the services rendered to the rapper were for “advertising”, the police are inquiring into the advertising Qyuki did for the album. They suspect this to be a case of inflation of views and not advertising. Badshah has been summoned again on 17 August. He had earlier been caught in a plagiarism row on another of his songs. It was mentioned that the rapper had to admit to buying YouTube advertisements to inflate views in an attempt to refute growing rumours about ‘bots’ and ‘server farms’.
Qyuki calls itself an “artist-focused network” jointly founded by film director, actor and producer Shekhar Kapur, composer, singer and music producer A.R. Rahman, and Qyuki managing director Samir Bangara, a former venture capitalist, investment banker, C-Suite executive and startup founder who unfortunately died on 15 June in a motorcyle accident. The company says its vision is to become the largest online broadcast network for youth in India by empowering creators and conducting business with a soul.
While Badshah’s legions of fans have been distressed by the charges against him, India’s Twitterati have been having a field day by posting disparaging memes on the singer.
The Mumbai police have, however, disclosed that the music industry in general is notorious for the widespread practice of buying millions of fake views, likes and subscribers on streaming services and social media platforms. With competition becoming intense in the industry, buying views and followers is becoming an accepted practice and has, in fact, reportedly spawned an entire global industry dedicated to manipulating the algorithm and inflating social media metrics using bots and manual ‘click farms’, where multitudes of low-paid workers are hired to click on paid advertising links for the click fraudster.
Thus, even if the allegations against Badshah are eventually confirmed, he may feel justified in wondering why he is being singled out.
