Career Dhruv Rathee

Beginnings on YouTube

Rathee began uploading travel videos in the early 2010s and soon shifted to political and social topics. ThePrint has described him as one of the first Indians to use YouTube as a political platform. In 2018, Scroll.in profiled him as a 23-year-old YouTuber whose fact-checks were "infuriating Modi's admirers". He also ran a satirical segment called Pee News that parodied fake news.

Channels and Growth

• Dhruv Rathee – his main channel for explainers and political commentary, with over 32 million subscribers.
• Dhruv Rathee Vlogs – launched in July 2020 for international travel vlogs.
• Dhruv Rathee Shorts – short fact videos, started in 2022.
• Regional channels – in April 2024 he launched dubbed channels in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada.

Together his channels have more than 40 million subscribers and over 8 billion views. He also has about 18 million followers on Instagram, 3.2 million on X and 6.6 million on Facebook.

Writing, Television and Podcasts

• Opinion columns for ThePrint (2017–2020)
• Host of "Decode with Dhruv" on Netflix India
• Host of the Spotify podcast "Maha Bharat with Dhruv Rathee"
• Work with DW Travel (Deutsche Welle)

Political Videos and Mission Swaraj

Rathee is best known for long-form videos that fact-check claims by politicians and the media. In 2024, his videos asking whether India was becoming a dictatorship drew tens of millions of views. Ahead of the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, he launched Mission Swaraj, an open challenge asking politicians to commit to specific public-service reforms; several parties and leaders said they accepted it.

Cockroach Janta Party Protests (2026)

In October 2026, Rathee took to the streets for the first time, joining the Cockroach Janta Party's protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. He addressed protesters on 8 October. A former Bengaluru police chief then asked the Centre to examine his citizenship and visa status; Rathee responded by showing his Indian passport.

On the morning of 10 October 2026, police detained him at his home in Sector 56, Gurugram, hours before the planned protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. He was released late the same night, and police warned that he could be detained again if he tried to go to Jantar Mantar despite prohibitory orders.

Controversies and Legal Cases

• 2022 – Video blocked: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting blocked one of his videos on Pakistan's political crisis because a map did not match India's official position on Kashmir. The same year, the government removed a batch of YouTube videos, including one of his, over claims about the Agnipath scheme.
• 2023 – Dabur case: Dabur went to court over his video "The dark side of cold drinks", and the Calcutta High Court ordered platforms to take it down.
• 2024 – Defamation case: BJP spokesperson Suresh Nakhua filed a defamation case against him in Delhi, and a court issued summons.
• May 2025 – Pahalgam clips: Pakistani news channels aired clips from his video criticising Indian security failures; he said the clips were misused.
• May 2025 – Sikh history video: A video titled "The Rise of Sikhs" used an AI-generated thumbnail depicting Sikh Gurus. After objections from the Sikh community, including the SGPC, he removed it.
• 2026 – Court and police cases: The Delhi High Court heard pleas over one of his videos, and in August 2026 YouTube told the court the video had been withheld in India. Delhi Police also opened a probe into a video about Hindu deities.