Warning: Youtube is becoming a cesspool of fake channels.

[Joinfortmill]

BEWARE. And double check what your watching. I just got caught in one.

[CousinIT]

1. I noticed that too! SHITLOADS of AI slop and snake-oil sales adverts

The AI slop is preceded by weirdos selling snake-oil “cures” for dementia, diabetes, etc. AS IF any of it would help or are actual treatments.

It’s A SHITHOLE.

[IbogaProject]

24. Yep saw it when looking for music

I wanted piano jazz and there is a ton of ai slop with subtle variations.

[EdmondDantes_]

2. It long ago had lots of garbage

Pick what you watch carefully, don't just go for what outrages you or confirms your biases.

[Intractable]

11. AIs are only the most recent producers of slop.

Humans have been making it for eons.

[AStern]

3. Clear your viewing history and click "don't recommend channel" often.

eom

[fujiyamasan]

4. It was bad even before AI

I stopped using it for the most part, when I would get fed recommendations for conspiracy theory channels just because I watched some documentaries of the Apollo landings.

I’m not sure why anyone expects anything better. YouTube is supposed to generate revenue. It does that by selling ad space. For that it needs eyeballs.

[Joinfortmill]

8. Some great stuff like Professor Heather Cox Richardson...

But, lots of junk, too.

[Fiendish Thingy]

14. There are channels showing AI fakes of HCR out there

Verify that you are watching her official channel before clicking.

[fujiyamasan]

18. It's always best to go to the official channel for a major figure

Last edited Tue Dec 30, 2025, 04:02 AM - Edit history (1)

Nowadays if I’m on YouTube it’s through an official university or professor channel if it’s for something educational.

[Snarkoleptic]

9. ProTip- Firefox with the (free) AdblockPlus extension will stop the Youtube ads immediately.

n/t

[Alice Kramden]

27. Valuable advice

Many thanks

[Renew Deal]

16. It's much worse now

In the past, there were many completely made up stories, like close military encounters, religious "miracles" that only existed on Youtube, and other fiction. Now there are straight up high-quality clones (deepfakes) of real people.

[fujiyamasan]

20. Good to know

I tend to avoid any linked videos for this reason unless I’m certain of the source. I tend to find articles (especially long form) much more informative. Unfortunately, I see a trend away from that even here.

[Faux pas]

5. I don't do youtube except

for things that know is real ie exercise and cooking stuff.

[Raven123]

6. No kidding. It's a mess.

[mr715]

7. Know the signs!

https://democraticunderground.com/100220895848

[FarPoint]

25. I just bookmarked your post.

Good information.

[mr715]

28. I appreciate you!

You have given me a net positive day.

[flvegan]

10. Becoming? n/t

[PufPuf23]

12. The various platforms I regularly visit are newly loaded with fake AI and clickbait;

specifically, YouTube, Facebook, and MSN newsfeed.

News and politics and corrupted but so are sports and the arts.

One needs to wade through junk for what one is accustomed to partake.

Looks deliberate in recent days.

Well over 1/2 the suggested links for the SF Giants and 49ers are varying degrees of wasting time. Joe Montana's wife was seriously injured in an auto accident and two beloved (or so told) 49er cheerleaders were killed.

Venezuela sank an American aircraft carrier.

Democrats are arrested or being arrested.

Have been told this and similar in recent days in multiples.

There is a musician I follow on YouTube and Facebook. There were several fake interviews and fake photos, enough that on the "official" FB group there was a warning and request by the musician to report fakes and AI to moderators and to be careful about what posts.

World has gone creepy.

[Disaffected]

13. It is indeed but,

it is also a source of great viewing if one choses the cream over the crap. Most of the advertising can also be eliminated for about $10/month and any "embedded" ads can be easily skipped over.

[Oneironaut]

15. It's mostly AI now tbh, and, it's only going to get worse.

Slop is consuming everything online. You basically have to look for diamonds among a bunch of crap.

[mahina]

17. I'm noticing a lot of ads talking about glucose meters with pictures of oxygen meters

[pecosbob]

19. Not a great place for browsing...stick with channels you know and enjoy...take all recommendations with a grain of salt.

Multiple grains of salt...think of them like barkers trying to lure you into a seedy clip joint.

[Initech]

21. Treat the recommendation garbage the same way you treat spam calls and emails.

Block it at every single opportunity you get. Do not let it get into your feeds. Do not support AI slop content.

[FarPoint]

22. I have seen this on the rise for say past 4 months now...

I have been fooled a few time too...maybe more that I didn't even know as fake. I report them as soon as I learn of the fraud.

Yet...I don't have skills/tools to pick up on them timely... I look forward to see what others are doing to weed thru the scammers.

[Bev54]

23. I have been reporting as many as I can, especially if I know for sure they are deep fakes

particularly using names and faces of those who I know have their own podcast or youtube, and some of them are very poorly done. They just change one word in the name and are back the next day. I will continue to report them but it is hard to keep up.

[William Seger]

26. We need to find a way to pressure YouTube to at least disallow unlabeled AI ...

... and provide a way to filter ALL of it out.

[JI7]

29. We need to pass laws and regulations. If something is using AI there needs to be huge label pointing it out

I also think this is a bipartisan issue.

The difficult part will be dealing with international accounts. But this is where we can try to get the tech companies themselves to do something by holding them accountable.

[The Bopper]

30. Got tired of the commercials

Same ones over and over.

[LudwigPastorius]

31. AI slop and brainrot content now make up 1 in 2 YouTube Shorts recommendations

https://mashable.com/article/study-ai-slop-youtube

...according to new research from video-editing company Kapwing (as reported by the Guardian), which found that more than one in every five videos that the YouTube Shorts algorithm shows new users is low-quality, AI-generated content, also known as AI slop.

One of the most interesting parts of the Kapwing study is that of the first 500 YouTube Shorts videos in a brand-new, untouched YouTube Shorts algorithm, 104 were AI-generated, and 165 were "brainrot" — a whopping 21 percent and 33 percent, respectfully. (Combined, that's 54% of content in total.) Per Kapwing, brainrot content refers to "nonsensical, low-quality video content that creates the effect of corroding the viewer’s mental or intellectual state." Brainrot content is often AI-generated, too.

-snip-

YouTube isn't the only social media beast whose content is falling to the depths of AI slop despair, but the Kapwing study makes it clear that AI slop isn't going anywhere. As Mashable's Tim Marcin reported earlier this month, AI slop is taking over our feeds, from fake animals on surveillance tapes to heavy machinery cleaning barnacles off whales.

...and these short-form videos are where young people are getting their news from?

This makes my head hurt.