YouTube is deactivating links in short videos to combat spam

In an effort to combat the spam problem in shorts videos, YouTube is deactivating links in Shorts descriptions, comments and the vertical live feed. The platform will also remove the ability to click on social media icons on desktop channel banners.

YouTube says the changes will begin being rolled out on August 31, and that "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."

Simultaneously, YouTube is adding new links on creators' channels, with a big clickable link appearing by the Subscribe button from August 23. The links will direct users to different sites including merchandise sites or social media accounts. The video-posting platform, recently also launched new creator tools for Shorts including voiceovers.

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YouTube has been working on reducing impersonation accounts and improving the strategies it uses to find these accounts and remove them. The company has said that over 35 percent more accounts were removed because of impersonation in Q1 of 2023 compared to Q1 of 2022.