YouTube is proactively addressing the surge in scams and spam on its YouTube Shorts platform, which competes with TikTok.
Starting from August 31st, YouTube will gradually disable the ability to click links within Shorts comments, descriptions, and vertical live feeds. This measure aims to protect users from potential exposure to malicious content like malware, phishing scams, and harmful scam-related materials.
To provide a safer environment, YouTube plans to unveil a more secure method for creators to link their Shorts viewers to other YouTube content by the end of September.
As part of these changes, clickable social media icons on channel banners will be removed on desktop. However, this modification has its drawbacks, as these links are crucial for creators. They enable diversification of content, directing viewers to other platforms, and generating revenue through ads and affiliate content.
YouTube intends to offer creators a dedicated space on channel profiles to prominently display clickable links to websites, social profiles, merchandise sites, and other compliant links in accordance with Community Guidelines. This update will roll out on both mobile and desktop platforms starting August 23rd, near the “subscribe” button.
“We don’t have any plans to make any other links unclickable,” stated YouTube in a press release. The platform recognizes that links play a pivotal role in creators sharing information and endorsing products/brands, and it is actively working on safer link inclusion methods.
YouTube reports that some of the policies and systems it has already implemented to combat scams and spam are yielding positive results. In the first quarter of 2023, the number of channels removed or terminated due to impersonation increased by 35 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. Comments flagged by YouTube’s “increase strictness” feature, designed to detect potential spam and inappropriate content, surged by 200 percent in the first week of June after feature updates, compared to the first week of May before the enhancements were introduced.
Numerous prominent creators have criticized YouTube’s spam issues in recent years. The company introduced new policies in June of the previous year to tackle the problem, following videos from notable creators like Marques Brownlee, Linus Tech Tips, and Jacksepticeye that highlighted the proliferation of spam in their channel comments. These updates included removing the option for creators to hide their subscriber counts and expanding access to a stricter moderation system tested since December 2021.
While it’s positive that the company is addressing the problem, its decision to temporarily disable clickable links before offering a safe and practical alternative may not be well-received by smaller creators who rely on alternative revenue streams beyond YouTube’s direct offerings
