A YouTube channel that previously shared only nonpolitical foreign content posted more than two dozen videos over a nine-day span spreading obvious disinformation about American politics, and most of them appeared to carry ads, meaning YouTube was benefiting financially. Some of these videos, which were posted between February 10 and 19, were publicly accessible for more than a week before they were taken down for violating YouTube’s Terms of Service. By then, the false content had collectively received more than 4.4 million views.

The episode shows how disinformation can be monetized, incentivized by a platform’s advertising policies, and quickly gain traction on one of the biggest social media platforms.

The channel, called “Congress Times,” was created in 2018 and describes itself as a “news network.” Through early February, the channel posted exclusively nonpolitical content in a language that appears to be Indonesian, particularly about fish. The account also may be based in Indonesia: Its contact email address uses the same username (“ifish.motion”) as an Instagram channel that appears to be based in Indonesia and that also links to the “Congress Times” YouTube channel. A Google search of that Instagram account’s name shows that the “Congress Times” channel used to have a different name unrelated to politics.

Between February 10 and 19, the channel posted only about American politics, featuring more than two dozen right-wing videos with false headlines about American political figures. The headlines usually included fake quotes and events, and the corresponding videos showed something else entirely. Most of the videos carried ads and thus made money for the creator and YouTube. And while the videos have since been taken down, the views of them seem to have remained in the channel’s total view count. Among the false videos were: