YouTube To Remove Clickbait Videos With Misleading Titles, Thumbnails

YouTube will delete Egregious clickbait content or the videos content that don't justify the title and thumbnail.

New Delhi: Google-owned YouTube has announced that it is going to remove videos being posted with misleading Titles and Thumbnails.

"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. We'll start by slowly rolling this out in India over the coming months," Google said in a blog post.

Google explained Egregious clickbait as ones that don't justify the title and thumbnail with the content of the video.

"Egregious clickbait occurs when the video’s title or thumbnail includes promises or claims that aren't delivered within the video itself, especially when that content focuses on breaking news or current events. This can leave viewers feeling tricked, frustrated, or even misled—particularly in moments when they come to YouTube in search for important or timely information," said the Google blogpost.

The search engine blog cited two examples of Egregious clickbait, "A video title saying “the president resigned!” where the video doesn’t address the president’s resignation. A thumbnail that says "top political news" on a video that doesn't include any news coverage."

"To ensure creators have time to adjust to these enforcement updates, we’ll start by removing content that violates this policy without issuing a strike. And as we continue to educate creators, our enforcement efforts will prioritize new video uploads moving forward," it added.