Recently, spam comments on YouTube have gotten worse, therefore the website has decided to take action. YouTube disclosed that it is developing three new tools to fight spam comments and unscrupulous actors that pose as content producers. Currently, the upgrade comprises modifying the rules for special characters in names, removing the possibility to hide subscriber counts, and improving comment moderation.
Subscriber count display
According to YouTube, disabling the option to hide subscriber figures will make it harder for imposters to pose as creators. The prevalence of copycats has led well-known YouTubers like Marques Brownlee to post videos illustrating the seriousness of the issue.
You can see spam comments with Marques’ channel logo directing viewers to message him on Telegram in his video, which is plainly a scam. On July 29, the subscriber count modification went live.
Comment moderation with “increased strictness”
Creators can use “Increase strictness” in their channel settings to move objectionable comments—in up to 100 languages—under a new “Held for review” tab for moderation. Before appearing on the video, comments on this tab need to be manually authorized by the channel. According to a YouTube Help website, channels have up to 60 days to examine comments.
Special characters control
YouTube is capping the number of special characters that can be used in a channel name. It seems that impersonators would substitute a symbol for a letter to get over YouTube protection. For instance, you might find a copycat with “L@ym@n$M@g” instead of “LaymansMag”.
However, subtler spam accounts like those that replace the letter “O” with “Ö” are also possible. A scam link can be clicked by tricking individuals into clicking the little dots above the letter “O”. But, for the moment no official limit on the number of special characters that can be used in a name is disclosed.
Google and the spam fight
Despite the fact that these adjustments are quite minor, it is encouraging to see YouTube taking the spam issue seriously. The platform did mention that it was working to improve its tools and processes to better detect spam, but it didn’t specify what they were. Good luck to YouTube since it’s obvious that every time you stop one scam campaign, a new one starts.
Since 2017, the platform has actively combated comment spam. The platform then introduced a fresh function that stored comments with URLs for inspection. However, they’ve started using URLs as channel names lately. Google also put an end to a sizable hacking campaign that was directed towards YouTubers in 2021.