In order to combat spam comments, YouTube has decided to remove hidden subscriber counts.
This isn’t a new problem on social media, but it’s becoming worse all the time.
To combat its own spam problem, YouTube has implemented some new features that make it more difficult for fake accounts to imitate legitimate ones.
YouTube channels will no longer be allowed to conceal their subscriber numbers as of July 29th. Spam accounts can easily hide their subscriber numbers in order to impersonate larger, more established channels.
There are some YouTube creators who want to hide their subscribers count as they try to grow, but YouTube has determined that the possibly contentious action is vital to limit the predominance of impersonators. In spite of the fact that YouTube is deleting a choice here rather than adding something, it is making the move anyhow.
A number of changes are being implemented in response to this, aimed at preventing comment spam and making it more difficult to impersonate producers.
The updates include:
- Disabling hidden subscriber counts
- Strengthening auto-moderation capabilities
- Limiting the use of special characters in channel names
The detail of these updates are discussed below:
Hidden Subscriber Counts
Until now, YouTube channels have been able to hide a number of subscriber counts. For individuals who are just starting out and don’t want to be assessed solely on the number of subscribers they have, this tool can be really helpful.
YouTube, on the other hand, says it’s frequently exploited to imitate other channels. People are frequently tricked into visiting a bad actor’s channel page by posing as another creator in comments.
Subscriber counts on YouTube can no longer be hidden as a result of an update that will go live at the end of July. Creators who weren’t misusing the ability to hide their subscribers will no doubt be annoyed by YouTube’s decision.
Stricter Comment Moderation
In addition, all creators will be able to use YouTube’s new “increasing strictness” comment moderation setting. YouTube calls “identity abuse” and other spammy junk that clogs up your section of their site. By turning on this option in the community settings menu, you may filter comments more severely than the default setting.
Limiting Special Characters
Another effort to make it more difficult for impersonators to blend in is being implemented by the platform, which restricts the use of special characters in channel names. Even while some characters will no longer be allowed, it sounds like you can still throw in a unique character if it makes the final cut. However, the existing names with special characters will stay in place.
