Amid the rising prospect of finding a sustainable source of livelihood and income, social media professionals or influencers, as they are popularly known, have become more than a sizeable presence in the larger workforce of the world, including India.
'8 Lakh For Influencers '
The Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Aditynath has now made an announcement that seeks to espouse these YouTubers and influencers.
According to some reports, the Yogi government intends to hand out fiscal stimulus to these professionals. The UP government could provide Rs 8 lakh to these influencers. This includes the said Rs 8 lakh for YouTubers and Rs 5 lakh for reels on Instagram. This development is part of a new social media policy.
Propagation Of Government Line
The devil here lies in the details. These influencers would have to propagate the government and its policies in the public domain.
This is part of a larger overhaul to use social media elements in the government's favour.
This strategy aims to share information on public welfare, beneficial plans, and achievements with the public. The policy allows sharing of content, videos, tweets, posts, and reels based on government plans and apparent 'policy success'.
Punishment For Anti-National Posts
Popular platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube will be deployed to spread information.
In addition, this policy also talks about punitive action in the case of 'misinformation'. The offender could be subjected to the punishment of three years to life imprisonment for posting objectionable posts or ostensibly 'Anti-National' posts.
The Uttar Pradesh government led by Yogi Aditynath has now made an announcement that seeks to espouse YouTubers and influencers. | File photo
FB and Instagram Policy
The regulation also specifies payment restrictions for influencers, account holders, and social media platform owners. X, Facebook, and Instagram have maximum monthly payment restrictions of Rs 5 lakh, Rs 4 lakh, and Rs 3 lakh, respectively.
Policy For YouTubers
YouTube has payment limits for videos, shorts, and podcasts of Rs 8 lakh, Rs 7 lakh, Rs 6 lakh, and Rs 4 lakh, respectively.
The Age Of Internet
Some netizens have welcomed this decision.
This is a crucial development, as conventionally most of the advertisement money or resources earmarked for the same would be given to legacy media houses, including the print and broadcast mediums. This particular move from the government in one of the largest states, with significant ad spending, could result in a paradigm shift.
This is also in line with the ruling party's exploits in using social media to their advantage. The BJP in the past has successfully deployed social media for political messaging; now they appear to be tapping into the same for administrative purposes.
In addition, it remains to be seen whether the aforementioned 'paradigm shift' would see an expansion of ad budgets for the governments or result in the decline of legacy media's share in them.
