YouTube is cracking down on clickbait videos and false news in India

The new policy will be implemented slowly over the coming months in India [File]
| Photo Credit: AP

YouTube has said it will begin taking action against “egregious clickbait” in India by targeting videos whose titles and thumbnails do not match the video contents.

YouTube gave some examples of videos that would violate its policies, such as those with news like dying presidents, when the video had nothing to do with this, or videos that promised breaking news updates without actually providing such news.

“We’re strengthening our efforts to tackle egregious clickbait on YouTube. This means we’re planning to increase our enforcement against videos where the title or thumbnail promises viewers something that the video doesn’t deliver. This is especially important when the video covers topics like breaking news or current events, ensuring viewers aren’t misled about what they watch on YouTube,” said the company in a blog post on December 18.

The new policy will be implemented slowly over the coming months in India, said YouTube.

As the Google-owned video platform offers creators more ways to monetise their content, others have tried to manipulate the system by misusing SEO trends and hashtags, using shocking misinformation to draw in users, or trying to cheat the algorithm with distorted thumbnail images that are not in any way relevant to the actual video.

Others, such as crypto scammers, also use fake livestreams to draw in potential victims.