YouTube Takes On Spammers Impersonating Creators

Image: TechCrunch

YouTube announced how they plan to stop spammers who pretend to be creators in response to creators’ complaints. There have been complaints from different creators such as MKBHD and Jacksepticeye. They reported that certain individuals kept spamming their channels with fake giveaways and other scams.

They announced three new policies, and these include:

Channels Subscriber Count Now Public:

From now on, creators will not be able to hide their subscriber count anymore. YouTube observed that spammers usually camouflage themselves as real creators. Since the subscriber count will be opened, users can check the channel for the subscriber count to quickly verify that they are not who they say they are. Hence, by their subscriber count, you shall know them.

Special Character Limiting:

YouTube has decided to limit the type and frequency of special characters that users can use in their channel names. Spammers usually use special characters in their names to disguise who they are impersonating. Since the names they are impersonating have been taken, YouTube will not allow that name to be used again. The next step is to use special characters to make their channel name look like the real one. For example, a channel can call its channel “¥ouⓉube” to make it look like the official YouTube account. Limiting the frequency of special characters lowers the options available to them.

Enhanced Comment Moderation Setting:

YouTube started earlier this year to test an enhanced comment moderation setting for creators on their channels. According to YouTube, all creators can now slide the “increase strictness” setting in the “held for review” tab in YouTube’s moderation tools. The moderation setting will to a large extent content minimize the number of spam/scam comments. The reverse side of the stricter filters is the high risk of amassing false positive comments.

The changes mentioned are relatively small, but they should not be overlooked; it’s a step in the right direction for YouTube. This means that the company did not relent on the issue.

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#YouTube

#Creators

#Spammers