YouTube is cracking down on misleading clickbait by introducing a new policy to remove videos with titles or thumbnails that fail to deliver on their promises.
According to TechCrunch, the platform has announced the update will roll out gradually, starting in India, before expanding to other countries in the coming months. YouTube spokesperson Jack Malon confirmed this in a statement to The Verge.
The updated policy specifically targets “egregious” clickbait designed to mislead viewers, especially in videos about breaking news or current events. Examples include a video titled “The President Resigned!” that doesn’t address any resignation or a thumbnail promoting “top political news” for a video that contains no news content.
During the rollout phase in India, YouTube will remove content that violates the new rules without issuing strikes to creators. The platform says this grace period will help educate creators about the policy. Moving forward, enforcement efforts will focus on new video uploads.
