YouTubers storm Reddit with #YouTubeKilledTrustedFlagging hashtag after Trusted Flagger program gets pushed aside

YouTube is undoubtedly the largest video-sharing platform on the internet. It is also the second most visited website in the world right after Google.com. In 2019, YouTube was responsible for more than 21% of global streaming traffic.

As of 2021, it has more than 2 billion users in every corner of the globe. Owing to its increasing popularity, thousands of hours of content is uploaded on the platform every single day.

The platform has set up some Community Guidelines that define the scope of what can be shared on YouTube and what is prohibited.

While YouTube is quite efficient at removing most of the objectionable content on the platform, it still needs manual clean-up from time to time. The developers also created a program known as the YouTube Trusted Flagger program that helps users report videos.

It is available for government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and individuals who can make use of it and report videos in bulk so offensive content can be easily removed or dealt with.

These volunteers also help with false cases of copyright infringement and people who lose their channels without any reason.

The YouTube Trusted Flagger program also gives users transparency into what happens to the flagged content, prioritizes flag reviews so action can be taken quickly, and even have a discussion on various areas of YouTube.

While NGOs and Government agencies are also given access to the tools, individual volunteers are the main reason why the program is such a success. YouTube chooses these individuals based on their reporting accuracy.

Having said that, the platform recently made some changes to the program that is causing a huge uproar amongst individual Trusted Flaggers with YouTubers storming Reddit with #YouTubeKilledTrustedFlagging.

YouTube took away the very tools that enabled these individual Trusted Flaggers to report videos in bulk because, according to them, they were the only ones using them.

Volunteers say that they have reported more than 9.5 million videos to date combined, whereas the list of NGOs and GOs YouTube is focusing on reported somewhere around 157,437 and 700 videos.

If that is indeed the case, maybe it’s time YouTube reconsiders their decision and gives individual Trusted Flaggers the set of tools they recently decided to take away from them.

We think that the YouTube Trusted Flagger program is doomed without individual flaggers if the stats shared by the users are correct since they are responsible for most of the work and the overall success of the program.

What is your opinion on the matter? Make sure you share your thoughts in the comment section down below.

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