YouTube to remove videos with clickbait titles, thumbnails in India
YouTube has announced a new initiative to fight videos with misleading titles and thumbnails, aka clickbait. The company will be starting this crackdown in India, targeting primarily videos related to breaking news or current events. In the coming months, stricter regulations against such deceptive practices will be enforced. This move is part of YouTube's broader effort to make content on its platform more authentic and improve user experience.
Strategy against misleading content
As part of its enforcement strategy, YouTube will remove videos violating these new guidelines without penalizing the channel's creator at first. This way, the company will give creators time to adjust to the updated enforcement measures. Notably, it has previously offered an educational training course for creators to eliminate warnings against their channels, further demonstrating its commitment to maintaining content integrity on the platform.
YouTube's stance on clickbait
In a blog post, YouTube elaborated the issue where a video title or thumbnail promises viewers something that the video doesn't deliver. For instance, many YouTube videos use flashy, misleading titles and thumbnails, like "BREAKING NEWS" or "The President Resigned!," to lure viewers into watching unrelated content. "This can leave viewers feeling tricked, frustrated, or even misled—particularly in moments when they come to YouTube in search for important or timely information," the blog post added.
Future plans and educational efforts
YouTube plans to roll out anti-clickbait measures in India in the coming months. While the platform claims 80% of users receiving community strikes never violate its policies again, it aims to introduce more resources like educational training courses to ensure creators understand its policy guidelines.
