Mohak shared his family’s struggle following the 1992 Harshad Mehta scam, which caused his father’s stockbroking business to collapse.

YouTuber Mohak Mangal Accuses ANI of Extortion Over Copyright Strike
Mohak Mangal, a popular YouTuber with 4.16 million subscribers, known for his research-driven content, has accused Asian News International (ANI), one of India’s leading news agencies, of “hafta vasuli” (extortion) in his latest video. He has also written to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Information & Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw regarding the issue.
The comes after Mohak used an 11-second and 9 second video clips from ANI in two of his videos, which he claims falls under “fair use.” ANI responded by issuing a copyright strike against his channel.

In a nearly 12-minute-long video, Mohak alleges that ANI demanded rupees 50 lakh, and claimed that if he fails to do that ANI warned that his channel would remain deleted. The channel is not deleted yet as he received only two of the total 8 strikes from the news agency so far, however the unidentified employee as shared in the video made it clear that a total of 8 strikes have been initiated against the channel.

When asked for a breakdown of the demanded amount, the ANI employee allegedly replied (as per a recorded conversation shared by Mohak), “See, if I give you the complete breakdown, then I won’t negotiate. I told you the charges are 4–5 lakh per month for the subscription. Penalty is separate. We’ve struck around 7–8 videos. If you consider that, 8×5 = 40 lakh is the penalty. Subscription is separate. Now you tell me?”

Calling ANI’s approach “illogical,” Mohak accused the agency of operating a business model based on threatening creators with copyright strikes, pressuring them to either buy costly annual subscriptions or pay hefty “settlements.” He also shared emails and phone call recordings between his team and ANI representatives to back his claims.
In one of the recordings, an ANI employee can reportedly be heard saying, “I don’t care whether you used 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 10 seconds of the footage. You used copyrighted content without permission. I filed a copyright claim. YouTube issued the strike… Your channel is going .”

Mohak revealed that he received his first copyright strike from ANI on May 20, on a 18-minute video about the Kolkata rape case — which contained just 11 seconds of ANI footage. He also said that his video on Operation Sindoor received a second strike for using a 9-second clip of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from ANI.
As per YouTube policy, three copyright strikes lead to the permanent deletion of a channel. Mohak said he was one strike away from losing his entire channel. According to him, ANI had filed a total of eight strikes, of which he had received two, suggesting this was a pressure tactic.

He further claimed that other YouTubers had faced similar pressure from ANI, and cited instances where creators were allegedly asked to pay 15–20 lakh rupees to have their strikes removed. Those who paid were able to keep their channels, while others reportedly lost theirs.

In a deeply emotional segment at the start of the video, Mohak shared his family’s struggle following the 1992 Harshad Mehta scam, which caused his father’s stockbroking business to collapse.
“In 1992, my father had a stockbroking business. That same year, the Harshad Mehta scam happened and overnight, the business shut down. My father owed money to some people, and others owed money to him. Those he owed money to kept calling, but those who owed him wouldn’t even answer. It was winter, my sister was an infant, and my father told my mother, ‘Let’s take her to their house — maybe out of mercy they’ll return the money.’ That was our condition. I was born that same year.”
He added that for 30 years, his parents worked hard to ensure that he would “never have to beg before anyone.” Now, he said, a simple copyright strike could wipe away everything he had built.

As of now there is not response from ANI nor from the PMO and I&B.

(For more news apart from YouTuber Mohak Mangal Accuses ANI of Extortion Over Copyright Strike, stay tune to Rozana Spokesman)