You Won’t Believe What YouTube Is Doing Now

The definition of clickbait varies, but it usually means a title that is far from the article or video’s topic, or even not related to it at all. Now, YouTube plans to take a stronger stance against clickbait in YouTube video titles.

In a move aimed at improving the quality of its platform, YouTube is taking a firm stance against what it calls “egregious clickbait,” particularly videos related to breaking news and current events. It has announced plans to strengthen its enforcement efforts against misleading titles and thumbnails that leave viewers feeling “tricked, frustrated, or even misled.” Hopefully, you didn’t feel that way with the title on this article.

YouTube recognizes that while clickbait has always been a nuisance, it can be especially harmful when it involves important topics like political developments or ongoing crises. The platform defines egregious clickbait as content where the title or thumbnail promises something that the video fails to deliver to exploit viewers’ curiosity and get them to watch the whole video. A prime example of this cited by YouTube is a video claiming “the president resigned!” without actually addressing the resignation in the content itself. The goal is to protect vulnerable users who may not be able to easily distinguish between legitimate content and deceptive clickbait.

YouTube’s crackdown will initially focus on India, a region where this kind of practice is expecially common, but it does have plans to expand the measures to other regions in the future and eventually crack down on these types of videos worldwide. The platform will begin by deleting videos that violate the new policy without issuing strikes to the channels responsible. After addressing existing content, YouTube will prioritize newly uploaded videos to prevent misleading clickbait from reaching a wider audience.

YouTube believes this initiative will help improve user experience and ensure that individuals can rely on the platform for accurate and trustworthy information, especially during crucial moments where all you need is a video reporting accurately on facts. It will rely on a lot of manual moderator action, though, so we’ll have to wait and see how it progresses.

Source: Google India, Engadget