Badshah confesses to buying 7.2 cr views for 72 lakh rupees for his song Pagal Hai in order to set a world record.
Controversy
The Mumbai Crime Branch’s Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) questioned rapper Badshah for the third consecutive day on Saturday in connection with a social media scam involving fake accounts, likes and views. Officials claimed that during questioning, the singer confessed that he had ‘bought’ around 7.2 crore views for Rs 72 lakh for one of his songs, called Pagal Hai, in a bid to set a world record.
The rapper claimed that Pagal Hai received 75 million views on YouTube within 24 hours of its release last year. The claim was rejected by Alphabet, which owns YouTube as well as Google.
Crime Branch officials said they had a list of more than 250 questions for Badshah, whose real name is Aaditya Singh. The singer admitted that he had paid a company Rs 72 lakh, including 18 per cent service tax, to generate ‘views’ on social media, they said.
Nandkumar Thakur, deputy commissioner of police, said: “The singer confessed that he wanted to set a world record for most number of viewers in 24 hours on YouTube. That is why he paid Rs 72 lakh to this company.”
comment:
p_commentcount