YouTube is a great source of entertainment. Whether you use YouTube to unwind after a long day or find tons of information on a topic, it provides endless options for binge-worthy content.That's because creators take content production very seriously, dedicating hours of their time to record, edit, and engage with their community. But sometimes, spam accounts can dampen the YouTube experience for creators and viewers. YouTube knows this, and it's starting to clamp down on spam accounts and activity on its platform.

Spam Activity Remains a Problem on YouTube

YouTube users have complained about annoying spam accounts impersonating their favorite YouTubers for years. Of course, creators and viewers can report comments on YouTube, but that's not enough.

They can also block problematic channels and delete abusive comments, but that can be a lot to keep up with, especially in the case of YouTube spambots, which can create new channels quickly.

And for channels with large followings, it isn't practical to go through tons of comments to weed out imposters, leaving its fans at risk. YouTube recognizes this problem and is doing something about it by limiting spam activity on creators' channels and in their comments.

How YouTube Is Fighting Spam Activity on Its Platform

YouTube is tackling spam activity in three ways:

Disabling Hidden Subscriber Counts

Starting on July 29, 2022, YouTube is no longer letting creators hide their subscriber count. In the past, creators starting on YouTube preferred to hide their subscribers as they didn't want people to see a low subscriber count.

However, spam accounts use this feature to impersonate larger, more established channels to grow their accounts. These "bad actors" (as YouTube's parent company Google calls them in its community blog post) comment on videos to lure followers and viewers to their fake pages.

YouTube believes hiding subscriber counts will limit imposters' ability to fool others. If you see a shady comment that looks like a popular YouTuber, you can check their subscriber count to help you determine if they're real or not.​​​​​​​

Restricting the Use of Special Characters in Channel Names

The platform is also reducing the character options available when making a channel name, which should help with impersonations.

This will prevent people with bad intentions from updating or creating a channel name similar to an existing one using symbols, which can also be misleading to others. If you're a regular user, don't worry; you can still change your YouTube channel name, just ensure that it is not too similar to someone else's.

Improving Comment Moderation

YouTube is adding another layer of protection to your comments. Content creators now have the option to increase the "strictness" of comment moderation in their YouTube Studio settings. Doing this allows content creators to hold more channels under review for inappropriate behavior, reducing spam comments.

This means you won't see as many annoying comments from potential spammers when watching your favorite YouTubers. However, this also means you need to be careful with what you comment or else​​​​​​​ YouTube might keep deleting your comments.

YouTube Keeps Building a Safer Platform for All

These new changes aren't everything YouTube needs to do to protect both creators and regular users, but they should help you see fewer spam comments under your favorite content creators' videos. The less spam activity there is on your favorite channels, the more pleasant the YouTube experience will be for the communities you are a part of.