YouTube Announces Crackdown on Videos With Egregious Clickbait Thumbnails and Titles in India

YouTube will take punitive measures against videos which have clickbait thumbnails or titles, the Google-owned company announced on Wednesday. This crackdown is claimed to be beginning in India and will especially exercise vigilance on YouTube videos which are based on topics such as breaking news or current events. The company says it is enforcing this measure to ensure that viewers are not misled about the content they consume on the video-streaming platform in India.

Crackdown on Egregious Clickbait

YouTube detailed its crackdown on clickbait thumbnails and titles in India in a blog post. As per the video-streaming platform, it aims to tackle an issue known as egregious clickbait. It occurs when a YouTube video has a title or thumbnail which does not match the content of the video itself.

The platform also gives some examples of egregious clickbait. This might happen when a video which is titled “the president resigned!” does not address the issue. In another instance, a video thumbnail saying "top political news" does not include any coverage of the news.

YouTube notes that such practices may leave viewers deceived or frustrated, especially at times when they turn to the platform to watch content for important or time-sensitive information. To mitigate this issue, the video-streaming platform will start removing content which violates this policy but will not issue a strike at this point in time. It wants to ensure that creators have time to adjust to the new enforcement updates. However, it will prioritise its enforcement efforts on new video uploads soon.

These measures will be rolled out in India over the coming months, the company adds.

This development builds upon the educational efforts against Community Guidelines warnings undertaken by YouTube in recent months. While it claims that 80 percent of the users who receive community strikes never violate its policies again, it aims to roll out more resources like educational training courses to ensure creators understand its policy lines.