YouTube stands in the way of “cheating” viewers: Introduces this important change
YouTube has announced that it will begin cracking down on clickbait titles and thumbnails on videos, starting with the implementation of the policy in India.
The video platform has continued to roll out changes over the past year, including new AI-powered comment suggestions.
They also continued to fight misinformation on the app, as they introduced a feature that allows users to leave a note to correct information in videos, similar to X’s Community Notes feature.
YouTube has revealed plans to begin cracking down on “extreme clickbait” in titles and thumbnails that “promise viewers something the video doesn’t deliver.”
Youtube (Pixabay)
YouTube detailed its plans in a blog post and revealed that the new policy is important for videos that cover topics like news. It is not clear whether it will focus exclusively on news, but that is the main driver of this change.
“This is particularly important when the video covers topics such as breaking news or current events, to ensure that viewers are not misled about the content they are watching on YouTube,” they said.
Viewers will no longer be able to deceive themselves
“Extreme clickbait” occurs when the title or thumbnail of a video includes promises or claims that are not fulfilled in the video itself, especially when the content covers breaking news or current events.
“This can leave viewers confused, frustrated, or even misled—especially at times when they come to YouTube in search of important or time-sensitive information.”
YouTube has also provided examples of what it would consider clickbait, so users have an idea of what to look out for.
“The title of the video that says ‘the president has resigned!’ while the video does not cover the president’s resignation,” is the first example, while a thumbnail that says “breaking political news” would violate the rules if the video does not contain coverage of that news.
Youtube (Unsplash)
The blog post also states that content that violates the rules will be removed without YouTube striking the channel at the start of the new rules.
This comes after YouTube announced a major update to how videos are used for AI training, adding an option that allows creators to choose which companies can access their content.
Source: BIZLife
Photo: Unsplash/Freepik/Pexels
Source: bizlife.rs
