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.
After watching popular children’s channels like CoComelon, Bluey, or Ms. Rachel, The New York Times found that more than 40 percent of Shorts recommended by the platform “appeared to contain AI-generated visuals.” YouTube doesn’t require animated AI videos for children to be labeled, placing all moderation burdens on parents instead.
[The New York Times]
The former Complexly owner lets loose on YouTube, AI, and why he turned his educational company into a nonprofit.
YouTube is starting to test its conversational AI tool with a “small group of users” on smart TVs, gaming consoles, and streaming devices. The tool, first introduced in 2023, lets you ask questions about the videos you’re watching.
A partial YouTube outage knocked out access to Google’s video service on Tuesday night.
The outage appears to have started just before 8PM ET, but at least on the homepage, it appears to be resolved now. A note on YouTube’s support page says it went down due to problems with the recommendations system. “The issue with our recommendations system has been resolved and all of our platforms (YouTube.com, the YouTube app, YouTube Music, Kids, and TV) are back to normal!
Update: The service is back online.
Just after we entered the courtroom, we learned that a juror has been hospitalized. The parties decided to postpone today’s testimony from former Meta employees to see if the juror can return. Regardless, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to testify tomorrow — either before the original juror, or an alternate.
Similar to the Prompted Playlists that Spotify launched in December, YouTube Music premium subscribers on iOS and Android can now use voice or text descriptions to turn ideas, genres, or vibes into personalized playlists.
That’s how much Disney says ESPN and its sports business lost in income during the 15-day YouTube TV blackout late last year, totalling $110 million. That’s almost double the daily hit analysts had estimated at the time, and it’s just for sports, not counting any hit to ABC or Disney’s entertainment channels.
It follows Snap in reaching an agreement to resolve the first of several cases slated to go to trial this year about social media’s alleged harm to users, an attorney for the 19-year-old plaintiff confirmed. That leaves Meta and YouTube as defendants in the case going to jury selection today.
Last week, it was reported that on videos uploaded with the SRV3 (aka YTT) format, which allows for styling captions with things like bolding and custom colors, the captions wouldn’t appear.
But YouTube says it has “temporarily limited” uploading SRV/YTT captions “as they may cause video playback to fail for some viewers.”
Rather than science and the modern world, the new channel looks back and tells stories from our past. The first episode is the fascinating tale of Zheng Yi Sao, the Pirate Queen of China. The art style is also quite different, more painterly. You can watch the first episode below.
Videos that include topics like reproductive rights, self-harm, suicide, and abuse will be able to earn more revenue now as long as they don’t include graphic scenes or descriptions, as spotted by Tubefilter.
Previously, videos that even mentioned potentially controversial topics would often be demonetized.
A content deal has reportedly been struck that will see the BBC producing original shows for YouTube, giving the UK broadcaster access to younger audiences and advertising revenue overseas — something it desperately needs to bolster ad-free funding at home. The deal could be announced next week.
[Financial Times]
We’ve got something special for you today. It’s my friend Hank Green, longtime internet creator, science educator, and viral TikTok star, interviewing Dropout CEO Sam Reich, now in full video on our Decoder YouTube channel.
Hank did this episode as a guest host last summer while I was out with our new baby, and it’s a fan favorite, bringing together two internet personalities that’ve known each other for a very long time and who have a lot of inside knowledge about how the internet, Hollywood, and entertainment all intertwine. We think it’s one of the best episodes of Decoder we put out last year, and it’s honestly just a really fun conversation. Here’s the full transcript in case you want to read, rather than watch, the interview.
On Thursday night, the White House Live News section featured YouTuber @RealMattMoney, for reasons that remain unclear. According to Bloomberg, “The White House is aware of the incident and looking into the matter, a White House official said on the condition of anonymity.”
The Screen Culture and KH Studio YouTube pages have suddenly disappeared, taking their fake clips with them, reports Deadline. An earlier Deadline investigation showed how they operated, mixing official movie footage with AI-generated images, which some movie studios were profiting from by claiming the ad revenue they brought in.
YouTube spokesperson Jack Malon provided this statement to The Verge:
After their initial suspension, these channels made the necessary corrections in order to be readmitted into the YouTube Partner Program. However, once monetizing again, they reverted to clear violations of our spam and misleading metadata policies, and as a result, they have been terminated from the platform.
US-based car reviewers are going gaga over Chinese EVs. Their audiences wonder why they can’t buy them.
The show, Outside Tonight, will be hosted by Recess Therapy host Julian Shapiro-Barnum. “Set in public parks and on street corners, Outside Tonight with Julian Shapiro-Barnum revitalizes a classic format with weekly, live shows packed with star studded interviews, audience driven games, live music, and nonstop comedy,” YouTube says.
During an earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company isn’t “trying to break any new ground” on a deal that would end the ESPN blackout:
The deal that we have proposed is equal to or better than what other large distributors have already agreed to... While we’ve been working tirelessly to close this deal and restore our channels to the platform, it’s also imperative that we make sure that we agree to a deal that reflects the value that we deliver.
