YouTube channels can no longer hide the number of subscribers they have because spammers have been using the feature to impersonate creators.

There are more changes you should know about as well.

First, why is YouTube making these changes? It turns out that these are aimed at checking the several bad actors on the platform that try to impersonate big-name creators.

For example, the ability to hide subscriber count makes it difficult for users to verify if a channel is fake or not at a glance. Thus, without due diligence, users could take an impersonator’s word as the gospel and fall for a scam or misinformation.

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The second thing that YouTube changed is the frequency of special characters in a channel’s name. This is another tool in an impersonator’s arsenal that can be used to masquerade as the legit creator. A fake channel can use the name “Marqu£$ Brθwnl££” to pass themselves off as the highly-rated Marques Brownlee. Reducing the frequency that a special character can be used in naming makes it harder for it to be abused.

Lastly, the platform allows more users to use the enhanced comment moderation setting, which it began testing in 2021. With this setting placed at “increase strictness” under the “held for review” section, YouTube can reduce spam comments through stricter filters.

Likely, this is not all that the video-sharing service plans to do regarding the menace of spam, and we will likely see more changes in the future. For now, creators will be grateful that the platform is taking the threat seriously.

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