YouTube: Difference between revisions

==Incidents<!-- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI -->==

Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue,<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/ How YouTube Works]</ref> but because the platform is run by a publicly shared parent company, it is forced to grow its revenue by any means necessary. This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Jordan |date=20 Jan 2024 |title=Why YouTube Has So Many Ads (and Why There Will Probably Be More) |url=https://www.33rdsquare.com/software-app/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=33rd Square}}</ref> such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads,<!-- No article specifically states this, but whenever I use a device without an adblock, I have been seeing more static ads on the home page and video sidebar. I think it is reasonable to assume they don't mention it because they are distracted by the more annoying video ads - JamesTDG --> longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |first=Aamir |date=27 Jan 2025 |title=Frustrated YouTube viewers seek explanation for hour-long unskippable ads (Updated: Clarification) |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=Android Authority}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dirscherl |first=Hans-Christian Dirscherl |last2=Lee |first2=Joel |date=28 Jan 2025 |title=Hours-long unskippable ads spotted on YouTube. What’s going on? |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=PCWorld}}</ref>), increased ad frequency in videos,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Arol |date=26 Apr 2024 |title=YouTube is Adding Even More Ads |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=How-To-Geek}}</ref> and poorer quality ads.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=@T3rr0r |date=17 Oct 2021 |title=BAD Mobile Game Ads |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Knoblauch |first=Max |date=14 Jun 2024 |title=Why are mobile game ads so weird and bad? |url=https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=Sherwood News}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=@Saberspark |date=18 Sep 2021 |title=The DISGUSTING State of Mobile Game Ads (and why YouTube LOVES IT) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref> Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEB YouTube Premium]</ref>  

Furthermore, even if a user pays for YouTube premium, they do not necessarily receive an ad-free experience<ref>{{Cite web |title=I have YouTube premium, why am I getting adds. |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=[[Reddit]]}}</ref> - they may still see ads within the video they watch, such as sponsored segments.<!-- I need a source for this. Very obvious statement but it's not like the YT marketing materials are going to outright say this. --> YouTube has added a "skip" feature, but it has been reported that this does not work consistently.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Anurag |date=22 Aug 2024 |title=YouTube now lets you skip sponsored segments — but you’ll have to pay for it |url=https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=Dexerto}}</ref>

A common phenomenon on YouTube's advertisements is content that is mature and/or malicious in nature.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beyond The Internet |date=22 Feb 2025 |title=YouTube Ads are a Disgrace… |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |date=27 Jan 2025 |title=Explicit ads are plaguing YouTube, and it’s only getting worse |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=Android Authority}}</ref> The content of these advertisements include pornography,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Saberspark |date=Mar 31, 2025 |title=YouTube's Ads Have Hit A New Low...(it's literally p*rn) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |access-date=Apr 6, 2025 |work=YouTube}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> false advertising,<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> scams,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jakob_G |date=Dec 12, 2023 |title=YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |access-date=Apr 7, 2025 |website=Reddit - r/YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=JerryRigEverything |date=Mar 9, 2023 |title=I CAUGHT THE YOUTUBE SCAMMER - $1000 dollars EVERY DAY?! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |access-date=Apr 7, 2025 |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=LoganAH |date=Dec 22, 2023 |title=Why does YouTube run blatant scams as advertisements? |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |access-date=Apr 7, 2025 |website=Reddit - r/YouTube}}</ref> and far more. Rather than working towards clearing these ads, or acknowledging this advertising content that has been harming consumers on the platform, YouTube moderation has only cut the revenue for these videos that attempt to call out these ads,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Deep Humor |date=24 Feb 2025 |title=Watch This Before YouTube Deletes It. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref> which has been known to make said videos be less-showcased.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=@Sealow |date=29 Nov 2017 |title=Extensive evidence of algorithm censorship of demonetised videos |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=[[YouTube]]}}</ref><ref name=":1">[https://docs.google.com/document/d/155yNpfR7dGKuN-4rbrvbJLcJkhGa_HqvVuyPK7UEfPo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.jou9rc5d49jl Relation between a YouTube video’s monetisation status and their algorithm promotion]</ref>

Another feature like this is the inclusion of irrelevant videos in search results. If the user searches for something and scrolls down the list too far, the likelihood of them finding what they were looking for decreases since results are generally sorted by what the platform deems relevant to the search query. Hence, if the user scrolls down too far, it is likely that they give up and leave the site. Therefore YouTube stared to add random videos out of its recommendation list for the user into the search results, increasing the probability that they see something they will click and watch. This makes it much harder and more inconvenient to find relevant search results since the user has to scroll past all the noise that is designed to distract them. It also means that a video that is actually relevant is less likely to be discovered, especially if it still has low view counts, since unrelated videos are promoted in search in its place.

 

For the first few moments of a video being published on the platform, the comments section of the video is swarmed by a legion of bots that aim to scam or garner attention from viewers. Most of these bots employ similar tactics to achieve their goals such as using popular public figures and/or scantly dressed women as their profile pictures and copy-pasting the most liked comments on the video. These bots also spam comments that are often irrelevant to the YouTube channel or the subject matter of the video. Despite repeated requests from creators and communities alike, YouTube still has yet to implement any measures against these bots. Hence YouTubers and their teams have to manually moderate the comments on each individual video.