YouTube is Deactivating Links in Shorts Videos To Combat Spam

YouTube knows that it has a spam problem, particularly when it comes to its two-year-old Shorts feature. In an attempt to do something about it, the streamer has announced it's deactivating links in Shorts descriptions, comments and the vertical live feed. From a report: YouTube is also taking away the ability to click on social media icons on any desktop channel banners. The new changes will start to roll out on August 31st. Though YouTube claims it won't continue its "unclickable" crusade, but it adds, "Because abuse tactics evolve quickly, we have to take preventative measures to make it harder for scammers and spammers to mislead or scam users via links."

At the same time, YouTube is adding new links on creators' channels, with a big clickable link appearing by the Subscribe button starting August 23rd. The link can bring users to anything from merchandise sites to social media accounts. The platform also recently introduced more creator tools for Shorts, like voiceovers. However, it won't be until at least the end of September that the streamer introduces "safer" ways to guide people from their Shorts back to the rest of their content.

kill shorts

[Anonymous Coward]

shorts are the worst attempt to copy cat something ive ever seen. destroy it. destroy it now!

Re:kill shorts

[ack154]

I've always figured I was in the minority here, but I'd be perfectly fine if they deactivated Shorts completely.

I think I recall reading (watching?) that Youtube's algorithm incentivizes creators to make Shorts in order to boost their regular videos. I can't recall the source but it certainly would explain why I see so many stupid Shorts videos in my Subscriptions feed all the time. Literally never watched a single one.

Re:kill shorts

[thegarbz]

I genuinely love how rsilvergun has gotten under your skin.

Re:

[mjwx]

I genuinely love how rsilvergun has gotten under your skin.

Yep, the corollary to the old saying "you can't please all the people all the time" is "but you can choose who you piss off". It's good and hilarious to piss off the people who deserve it.

Re:kill shorts

[DontBeAMoran]

Exactly. I don't know what fucking idiot at YouTube is pushing for Shorts so much, but I wish he'd stop with this insanity. If they want to push Shorts so much, it should be a totally different website! Stop spamming YouTube with useless vertical videos!!1

Re:

[narcc]

Your personal preferences aside, shorts boost engagement. Users tend to mindlessly scroll from one to the next, ultimately watching hours of pointless content chasing those tiny little hits of dopamine. It's designed to be as addictive as possible, and it's clearly working. Youtube has turned into a Regan era cartoon drug dealer.

It doesn't matter how bad it is for their users, it's fantastic for Youtube. Unfortunately, that means we won't see this change without legislation, a massive public backlash, o

Re:

[kamapuaa]

I never see people browsing Youtube shorts, just Tiktok or Instagram Reels. Shorts are going the way of Google+

Re:

[Stonent1]

They also do not allow people to monetize shorts, so the only financial incentive is either spam, or just to promote your main channel.

Re:kill shorts

[crunchy_one]

I've found a relatively simple workaround since YouTube will no longer allow me to remove shorts from my home page. Using uBlock Origin's dropper tool, I've created a custom filter by selecting the frame around the shorts:

www.youtube.com##ytd-rich-section-renderer.ytd-rich-grid-renderer.style-scope

Re:

[mjwx]

I've found a relatively simple workaround since YouTube will no longer allow me to remove shorts from my home page. Using uBlock Origin's dropper tool, I've created a custom filter by selecting the frame around the shorts:

www.youtube.com##ytd-rich-section-renderer.ytd-rich-grid-renderer.style-scope

I rarely even go to the home page any more. I just google the kind of video I want to see (most times, an old 60s/70s/80s/90s song) and just go straight to it.

I had no idea "Shorts" was such an annoyance... or even an inkling that it existed. Of course browsing with Ublock Origin and Privacy Badger is pretty much essential these days.

Re:

[nightflameauto]

Exactly. I don't know what fucking idiot at YouTube is pushing for Shorts so much, but I wish he'd stop with this insanity. If they want to push Shorts so much, it should be a totally different website! Stop spamming YouTube with useless vertical videos!!1

While I don't care for shorts for the most part, I'd be fine with a preference panel that allowed us to specify if we want to see them or not. There are days that you pull up the youtube home page and it's three-quarters shorts. That's not OK at all.

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

what fucking idiot at YouTube is pushing for Shorts so much

The beancounter who saw TikTok.

Re:

[pete6677]

bUT h0W d0 wE c0MPETE w1TH t1K t0K?

Re:kill shorts

[cayenne8]

Yup, I was just about to say if YouTube wanted to really be helpful...it would allow folks to deactivate or opt-out of "shorts".

I had those damned things...and would prefer they not show up on my Subscribed page...or any other page.

I prefer whole, landscape oriented videos that inform or entertain me...not the portrait orientation POS they have on 'Shorts'.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

If they gave us the option to disable Shorts and/or move Shorts to their own website/app, then they would at least have some metrics to show them a lot of their users consider Shorts to be as bad as spam.

Right now, it's like trying to watch action or sci-fi movies and being spammed with dramas and other bullshit.

Re:

[NewtonsLaw]

YouTube refuses to give viewers the options they so often request in regards to shorts.

You can't delete them from your subscribed page and you can't filter them out of search results without also eliminating all the long-form videos under 5 minutes in length.

It seems that YT's perspective is "You will watch shorts and be happy, even if you're not".

This simply rams home the fact that from Google's perspective, viewers are not the customer they are the product, *advertisers* are the customers.

Re:kill shorts

[DontBeAMoran]

If at least we had the option to NEVER have anything to do with this stupidity.

I'm on a desktop/laptop, I DON'T WANT TO EVER WATCH VERTICAL VIDEOS.
Smartphones are killing horizontal videos! Please stop this insanity!

The worst part is, you can easily use a smartphone in landscape mode. People are idiots and we're all paying for it. Both Android and iOS should block people from recording vertical videos!

Re:

[ack154]

Smartphones are killing horizontal videos! Please stop this insanity!

I seem to remember a point when Android (maybe just the camera app?) used to actually alert you to rotate your phone so that you were NOT shooting video vertically. And we've done basically a 180 on that where it's practically encouraged now. And it's infuriating.

Re:

[kamapuaa]

Back then, people used to watch videos mostly on TV or laptop screens. Now, people mostly watch videos on a phone. So who cares?

Re:

[Travelsonic]

Now, people mostly watch videos on a phone. So who cares?

I mean ... people watching it on a phone doesn't mean people exclusively watch it on a phone - so people who want to doboth, and those who understand it's easier to go horizontal->vertical than the other way around (without loss of quality) care? Duh?

Re:

[Travelsonic]

Implying one is a "grandpa" because they recognize things that you choose to ignore. No wonder you went Anon for this inane comment.

Re:

[DarkRookie2]

People who know that vertical videos suck and aren't young enough to be swayed by it being hip and trendy.
You don't see Hollywood switching and those fuckers love money.

Re:

[NewtonsLaw]

Back then, people used to watch videos mostly on TV or laptop screens. Now, people mostly watch videos on a phone. So who cares?

YouTube should care... because the're positioning YT as a TV streaming service and vertical video looks like crap on a TV screen.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

I'm not complaining because "we always did it this way in the past and the new way is wrong" which you seem to think I'm doing.

Our vision did not evolve to see things vertically, that's why our eyes are side-to-side, in an horizontal configuration. Movies, televisions and computer displays went from having an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 5:4, to a wider 16:9 or 16:10 and now even ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratios and higher are gaining in popularity. The only thing we've ever done vertically is books and journals.

So

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

"I don't like this thing so it should be banned"

So are you a MAGA right wing cultist, or a pompous holier-than-thou leftist?

Re:

[mjwx]

If at least we had the option to NEVER have anything to do with this stupidity.

I'm on a desktop/laptop, I DON'T WANT TO EVER WATCH VERTICAL VIDEOS.
Smartphones are killing horizontal videos! Please stop this insanity!

The worst part is, you can easily use a smartphone in landscape mode. People are idiots and we're all paying for it. Both Android and iOS should block people from recording vertical videos!

This is why I capture my video's diagonally, to make sure it pisses everyone off.

Re:

[Baloo Uriza]

And what they were copycatting wasn't even very good in the first place.

Re:

[antdude]

I am OK with shorts, but I hate the loopings and uploaders reusing the old longer videos as shorts.

Does anyone even watch Shorts?

[CrappySnackPlane]

There's no way that 90% of the view counts aren't just from people accidentally hovering over one on their way to hide the entire "Shorts bar" from their results. It's a useless format that looks like absolute shit on computers - no fullscreen? Seriously? - and the content is absolute unequivocal garbage. At least TikTok lets you fullscreen and has the occasional funny fight/blooper video.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

Creators I watch all say it drives subscriptions to their channels but then their long video views go way down, so they have a net loss on revenue from Shorts.

HOWEVER, they also say the way they get guests is to tell them how many subscribers they get and many guests won't even talk to a channel with < 100K subscribers.

As a revealed preference I'll wait to see if they stop uploading shorts. Or not - I think I have the Shorts shelf turned off in Revanced. Revanced keeps me paying for YT Premium, really.

Re: Does anyone even watch Shorts?

[CrappySnackPlane]

The irony is that, at least on the channels I watch, the "special guest" videos usually lag far behind in viewcount.

It makes sense - I want to see Guy. If I was interested in the thoughts of Other Guy, I'd watch his channel. Most of these people are better in front of a camera than in front of another person anyway, it gets pretty awkward.

Re:

[Train0987]

Since last week I can't even hide the Shorts bar. The X is gone.

Re: Does anyone even watch Shorts?

[CrappySnackPlane]

I was able to hide the bar for 30 days as recently as last week, but if they've actually subsequently removed this option, then I guess it's time to resort to MLK's "language of the unheard".

In social media terms, that usually boils down to reporting all the promoted content for random violations (creates more work for the mods and gets the sacred content cows pissy when they eventually get wrongly banned) and then, for good measure, blocking the channels.

Re:

[laxguy]

I was doing this for some time, until they removed the option to report them. I was also hiding every single one on my subscription feed, shortly (ha) after I started doing that, Shorts were moved into their own container that does not have a hide or report option.

Re:

[TheStatsMan]

That's the point. It keeps you in the ecosystem for a few more minutes just by hovering and glancing around.

Re:

[Waccoon]

YouTube is trying to get people used to the idea they can't jog/rewind videos. That's why a lot of shorts aren't less than 30 seconds anymore. "Shorts" are quickly becoming "Longs" and are sometimes longer than 5 minutes... and there's no jogging allowed. This will probably be the norm moving forward.

Get rid of it

[Mcgreag]

How about they deactivate Shorts instead.

Hide YouTube shorts across entire site.

[BenFenner]

YouTube shorts are getting absurdly annoying, and I refuse to click on them. Creators I'm subscribed to are having a second push for them (no doubt due to some incentive Alphagoogatube is dangling like a carrot) and my subscription page is full of them. I've found a set of filters for uBlock Origin that does the trick. I've modified it a bit to not use video length as a metric to avoid false positives (multiple creators I'm subscribed to release legitimate 10-second videos).

Source: https://letsblock.it/filters/youtube-shorts [letsblock.it]

uBlock Origin filters to add:
www.youtube.com##ytd-guide-renderer a.yt-simple-endpoint[title="Shorts"]:upward(ytd-guide-entry-renderer)
www.youtube.com##ytd-mini-guide-renderer a.yt-simple-endpoint[title="Shorts"]:upward(ytd-mini-guide-entry-renderer)
www.youtube.com##ytd-browse #dismissible ytd-rich-grid-slim-media[is-short]:upward(ytd-rich-section-renderer)
www.youtube.com##ytd-browse ytd-grid-video-renderer:has(span.ytd-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[aria-label="Shorts"])
www.youtube.com##ytd-browse ytd-rich-item-renderer:has(span.ytd-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[aria-label="Shorts"])
www.youtube.com##ytd-search ytd-video-renderer:has(span.ytd-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[aria-label="Shorts"])
www.youtube.com##ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer ytd-compact-video-renderer:has(span.ytd-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[aria-label="Shorts"])
www.youtube.com##ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer ytd-shelf-renderer:has(span.ytd-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[aria-label="Shorts"])
www.youtube.com##ytd-browse[page-subtype="subscriptions"] ytd-video-renderer span.ytd-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[aria-label="Shorts"]:upward(ytd-item-section-renderer)
www.youtube.com##ytd-reel-shelf-renderer
m.youtube.com##ytm-reel-shelf-renderer
m.youtube.com##ytm-pivot-bar-renderer div.pivot-shorts:upward(ytm-pivot-bar-item-renderer)
m.youtube.com##ytm-browse ytm-item-section-renderer ytm-video-with-context-renderer:has(ytm-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[data-style="SHORTS"])
m.youtube.com##ytm-browse ytm-item-section-renderer ytm-compact-video-renderer:has(ytm-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[data-style="SHORTS"])
m.youtube.com##ytm-search ytm-compact-video-renderer:has(ytm-thumbnail-overlay-time-status-renderer[data-style="SHORTS"])

Re:

[jordank]

I was just about to post those filters as well. Additionally I use the browser extension "blocktube" to block shorts and hide the explore tab.

Why stop there?

[Opportunist]

Just kill the shorts. It's nothing but pointless spam anyway.

Youtube, please realize, you're not TikTok. And you still exist exactly because you are not.

Re:

[DontBeAMoran]

And the way things are going with Chinese companies and their supposedly links to the CCP, YouTube really should NOT want to be compared with TikTok.

Pure video

[VeryFluffyBunny]

I recently discovered Invidious from a story about it shared here on /. No more ads, no click-bait, no distractions, just the videos. Love it! Github account here: https://github.com/iv-org/invi... [github.com]

Links

[RegistrationIsDumb83]

Blocking links is an obvious ploy to keep viewers from clicking away.

Kill the Shorts dead NOW!

[nospam007]

Ditto for Portrait videos.