YouTube Tests Spam Comment Moderation System That Often Annoys Content Creators

JAKARTA - Recently, content creators on YouTube have experienced an increase in comment spam on their channel, and now the company says it is working on this.

It is known that this issue is crucial for content creators who often see more and more malicious commenters impersonating them in an attempt to deceive their subscribers.

YouTube comment spam can take many forms. Typically, content creators with high subscribers are often concerned about spam impersonating them, promising subscribers something nice to message them, and then directing individuals off YouTube in some way to deceive them.

This “Increase strictness” content moderation tool is a new experiment from YouTube that's been in the works for a bit. Hoping it can make a dent in this comment spam we've been seeing so much lately pic.twitter.com/KVkjVCOUKZ

— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) April 8, 2022

Other spam comments may be less harmful, but still annoying or potentially harmful. Content creators caught in comment spam include Linus Tech Tips, Jacksepticeye, and MKBHD.

"YouTube has a problem. Spam. From crypto scams to health supplements to free Robux, it keeps getting worse every day," said Linus Sebastian on February 1 on his YouTube channel Linus Tech Tips.

YouTube does have a lot of tools to combat spam comments, and it deletes a lot of comments automatically. The company uses machine learning and human review.

"We have removed more than 950 million comments for violating our policies around spam, misleading and fraud. Most of these deletions were first detected by the automated tagging system in Q4 2021," said YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi, quoted from The Verge, Saturday, April 9th.

Unfortunately, that system is clearly not enough, and YouTube is aware of it. Therefore, YouTube is experimenting with a new moderation feature, which was revealed by Marques Brownlee, the owner of the MKBHD channel through his Twitter.

It's claimed the feature can increase the rigor of potentially inappropriate comments, then they will automatically be withheld for review.

"Given the evolving nature and tactics of shifting spam content, we will continue to adapt our system to keep it up to date," said Choi.

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