YouTube adds new tools to fight spam, bots and abuse

YouTube has recently announced that it is taking steps to tackle the ongoing issue of spam, bots and abusive language on its platform.

In a community post, the company revealed that it has improved its automated detection systems in order to identify and remove spam. In the first half of 2022, it removed over a billion spam comments and its bot detection in live chats has also been improved.

“We’ve been working on improving our automated detection systems and machine learning models to identify and remove spam,” the company wrote on the post. “In fact, we’ve removed over 1.1 billion spammy comments in the first six months of 2022. As spammers change their tactics, our machine learning models are continuously improving to better detect the new types of spam.”

manifesting only the best comments for you <3 read below for updates on how we’re working to keep you safe from meanies –> https://t.co/xbEopsutgw https://t.co/pr4Svf7OYU

— YouTube Creators (@YouTubeCreators) December 13, 2022

To address the issue of offensive comments made by human users, YouTube is introducing a new system of removal warnings and temporary suspensions. The platform will warn users when their comments violate the community guidelines, removing the offending comments. If the same user continues to leave abusive comments, they will receive a 24-hour ban. This measure is intended to help reduce the number of repeat offenders on the platform.

This feature is currently only available for English comments, but the company says it is planning to expand it for other major languages as well.

These measures are a response to the ongoing problem of spam on YouTube, which has been a concern for both creators and audience members. The platform has previously attempted to tackle the issue, but spam remains a significant issue. The improvements to automated detection systems and the introduction of temporary suspensions for those who continue to break the community guidelines are welcome steps in addressing this problem.

more info, less guessing⏳

⌚starting today, you’ll see time estimates for how long it’ll take to finish processing your uploads across different video quality levels (SD, HD, & 4k), so you can decide the right time to hit publish! 📹

more here: https://t.co/XyfjKzjqSu pic.twitter.com/YFq4jzLNTO

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) December 13, 2022

Additionally, the platform took to Twitter to announce that it is introducing time estimates for videos that are processed on the site. This will be a welcome change for creators, who will have a better idea of when their videos will be ready to watch.

Overall, the changes introduced by YouTube are aimed at improving the experience of both creators and audience members on the platform.