Youtube – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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YouTube launched in 2005 as a video sharing platform, and was acquired by Google (now Alphabet) in 2006. It has built an entire community of creators that run channels dedicated to topics like gaming, tech reviews, and beauty. It also houses news videos and entertainment such as music videos, movie trailers, and clips from late-night TV shows.

YouTube’s rapid growth has not been without problems. YouTubers typically make money from ads that run in front of their videos, but if they break the platform’s rules, their channels and videos can be demonetized. Executives and moderators have worked to combat harassment, misinformation, terrorist propaganda, hate content, and other abuse.

The Verge runs two YouTube channels, The Verge and Verge Science.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Hank Green says his YouTube channel “may need to pause” after admitting to relying on AI for research.

As Dexerto reports, Green says he wasn’t reading an AI prompt in a clip from a recent Ask Hank Anything video, but confessed that he’s been using AI “to locate papers and other resources for learning about topics.” In a Reddit post, he said he needs to “readjust” now.

I need to come to terms with the fact that the level of dopamine I’ve been getting from interacting with LLMs...with doing more and more and more and more...is not healthy for me or good for the world. It is careless, and has disconnected me from where people are on this.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
YouTube is banning some popular ASMR creators.

According to 404 Media, impacted creators have received a notice from YouTube saying that the platform found “severe or repeated violations of our sex and nudity policy.” 404 notes that “Erotic ASMR exists, but that’s not what these artists were doing on YouTube.”

“We terminated these channels for linking to content that violates our nudity and sexual content policy,” YouTube spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle tells The Verge. “Our external link policies apply equally to all creators across YouTube, and this action was taken in accordance with our long-standing policies, not as a change in policy or targeting of ASMR content.”

Update: Added YouTube statement.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
Comedian Josh Johnson has some thoughts about Elon Musk.

In the process of getting through his thoughts, he does a pretty good riff about the people who say they “make” stuff with AI. As for Musk’s version of The Odyssey, Johnson says, “I’m excited for the Cyclops to have two eyes.”

The vertical video takeover is here

How TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube copied their way to victory.

David Pierce
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
YouTube’s AI chatbot can make your next video thumbnail.

Aside from labeling and filtering AI slop, YouTube says you can directly chat with its Ask Studio bot to build thumbnails that are “tailored to your video’s specific themes and to your specific style.” It’s also added custom thumbnail uploads for Shorts if you’re in the YouTube Partner Program, and suggested thumbnail frames for Shorts.

Screenshot of the YouTube Ask Studio UI
Image: YouTube
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Good Mythical Morning will release new episodes on Netflix and YouTube simultaneously.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the partnership also includes new episodes of Mythical Kitchen and Last Meals, and follows similar deals to bring other YouTube shows to Netflix, like content from digital media brands. Mythical Entertainment’s shows will begin premiering on the same day on both platforms starting September 7th.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
YouTube is rolling out its AI Mode-like search tool more widely.

Google started testing Ask YouTube earlier this year, and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan says it’s now rolling out on the web for users in the US starting this week.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
YouTube’s TV turn continues.

As YouTube starts to look more and more like TV, the company now lets Partner Program creators make playlists that function as “shows,” which offer a “polished TV experience for your series.” YouTube has been working on them for a while.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
DuckDuckGo says its browser can now block YouTube ads.

It will also block “most video ads” outside YouTube, according to a blog post. DuckDuckGo’s browser will switch on the feature by default across Windows, Mac, and iOS devices, while users on Android will have to enable it manually from the Settings menu.

Image: DuckDuckGo
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
You wanna pop bottles on the PJ? Read this.

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering how course-peddling hustlebros manage to convince their followers that they’re selling enough subscriptions to galavant around the world in private jets, you need to check out this excellent 404 piece that highlights one of the trade’s shadiest tricks: fake dashboards.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
A custom Game Boy cartridge is one of the worst ways to watch YouTube.

If you’re trying to cut down the amount of time you spend on YouTube, there’s at least one more video you should watch. Modder Throaty Mumbo has built a custom cartridge that can search and stream YouTube on a Game Boy Color. The quality and experience look awful, but it works.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
YouTube settles ahead of the next bellwether trial over alleged harms from social media.

The terms of the settlement are confidential, Courthouse News Service reports. Meta, Snap, and ByteDance are still set to be defendants in the trial, which is being brought by a 15-year old plaintiff known as “R.K.C.” and is scheduled to start on July 27th.

In the first bellwether case, Meta and YouTube were found negligent.

Musician and YouTuber Hainbach on ‘Breath of the Wild’ and Swiss Army Knives

The experimental composer has a new album, a new plugin, and strong feelings about mattresses.

Terrence O'Brien
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
“I shouldn’t have half a billion subscribers.”

Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson said that today during a special event livestream for his YouTube channel becoming the first one to hit 500 million subscribers.

Who agrees with him?

David Pierce
David Pierce
Today’s Vergecast: YouTube is taking over Hollywood.

Movies directed by YouTubers are suddenly blowing up at the box office. Backrooms and Obsession are both smash hits, and The Amazing Digital Circus had a big debut last week. Is this the moment YouTube truly takes over Hollywood? Julia Alexander, media correspondent at Puck, walks us through the much longer history of YouTube on the big screen, and helps us figure out where this all goes next. Is the future just really, really big YouTube videos?

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
NYT report reveals how Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube grabbed kids’ attention in school.

Internal documents, which were disclosed as part of a wave of child safety lawsuits filed by school districts across the US, showed:

Snapchat sent phone alerts to adolescents during school hours, urging them to share what was going on in their classrooms.

Meta paid “teen ambassadors” to promote Instagram and hand out swag to their friends at school.

TikTok gave the National PTA millions of dollars, in part to throw school events about online safety and provide favorable comments to journalists.

Backrooms is at the forefront of horror’s YouTube wave

Filmmakers like Kane Parsons are getting their start on YouTube, before moving to bigger productions.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
CBS pulls back on Only in Monroe takedown notices.

Variety reports on why early uploads of Stephen Colbert’s post-The Late Show endeavor were pulled, citing copyright complaints from Paramount/CBS. A statement from the company says it was because it financed and produced the episode with Colbert, which was eventually published on his YouTube channel, but it has now “decided to waive further enforcement of this standard industry practice until additional review.”

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Charles Pulliam-Moore
Iron Lung is coming home to YouTube.

Following its surprisingly successful theatrical run, Markiplier’s Iron Lung adaptation is set to make its YouTube streaming debut on May 31st.

Joanna Stern is not a robot, but she lived with them
Play

The journalist and author of I Am Not a Robot on her year living with AI and starting a new media company.

Nilay Patel
Christian content creators are outsourcing AI slop to gig workers on Fiverr

Demand for AI-generated Bible content is high.

Charles Pulliam-Moore
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
YouTube’s picture-in-picture mode is rolling out to all users globally.

Users in the US have been able to shrink YouTube videos while they access other apps for some time now, but now Google is expanding the feature to more regions in the coming months. It’s only available for long-form, non-music content on Android and iOS.