The Internet can be a nasty place.
Social media platforms are far from immune of the trolls who prowl the web with the goal of irritating platform users and, at the very worst, bully or insult others within public forums.
While the comments section of YouTube has always been a huge help to content creators and the overall community (after all, constructive criticism can be very valuable feedback for newbie creators) the sad reality is it can become a toxic place for both a vlogger and the average Netizen.
In the past few years comments have been used to commend unsuitable behavior, incite hateful speech and, in some unfortunate cases, target and harass minors.
YouTube is now stepping up its game and experimenting with a new method to tackling these issues.
On the video-sharing platform’s mobile app, comments are not the first thing a viewer comes across when watching a makeup tutorial or an audio-visual podcast.
Directly under the video are all the engagement buttons, such as ‘Like/Dislike’, ‘Share’ and ‘Save’, followed by a list of ‘Up Next’ recommendations.
It is only by scrolling to the end of all these videos that you can see the comments section.
YouTube is now developing a trial version of the app where the comments open in an entirely new window, similar to when you open a link on Facebook.
The ‘Comments’ button would be next to the ‘Like’ and ‘Dislike’ features, meaning the other buttons are available when you expand the video’s description.
Earlier this year, YouTube disabled comments on all minors’ videos; this update acts as a continuation of their efforts to reduce harmful comments and to keep the platform a space place for all users.
Although this is a step in the right direction, it is questionable as to whether simply making the comments harder to access will prevent the dispersion of unsuitable content.
YouTube might want to consider in the future a filtration system, to remove the comments altogether from the platform instead of just concealing them.
What do you think of this potential update? Let us know in the comments below.
Written by Anushé Samee. Photo credit: TechCrunch and XDA Developers.