YouTube thought my Steam Deck video was 'harmful and dangerous'

I'll bet you a pancake it had something to do with MASSIVE and Deck. Because some people attribute divine abilities to AI, it is often hard to underestimate it in practice. And the team is probably not really a team.

I still don't understand how they hooked a machine learning algorithm into an automated system that could ruin some creator's livelihood and called it a day...

Next up, our taxes are going to be decided by some black box deep neural model based on how good of a citizen we are...

I still don't understand how they hooked a machine learning algorithm into an automated system that could ruin some creator's livelihood and called it a day...

Next up, our taxes are going to be decided by some black box deep neural model based on how good of a citizen we are...

Isn't that what China is calling "Social Credit"?

It depends. The next video recommendations have a tendency to point towards conspiracy theories, dangerous crafts hacks and other weird stuff.

The recommendations on my page personally aren't filled with conspiracy theory stuff so much as content I'm just not interested in.

I get what Klaas describes, and the weird "Up Next/Related" content that gets chucked at me has zero to do with what I actually watch - that mainly being video game playthroughs either to seek out what I might like or to watch someone else's views on stuff that I wouldn't enjoy playing myself, food-science videos, and generally-humourous scambaiting streams and documentaries, plus listening to video game music and 1970s/1980s/1990s tunes.

I have personalised recommendations turned off, but until recently the non-personalised "Up Next/Related" stuff was still fairly relevant (i.e., other scambaiting content, different people's playthroughs of similar games/genres, funny reviews and taste-tests of expired food) - then a few months ago it suddenly started suggesting weird conspiracy-theories, dangerous "crafts", random people's/organisations' rants/vlogs/streams on subjects of no interest and relation to what I watch, and other stuff that generally appears to be trying to funnel me towards clickbait. If I want to look through it, I have to scroll down to see more relevant stuff at the side of a playing video, and the weird things get higher billing than the relevant ones.


Last edited by Pengling on 19 August 2022 at 8:07 pm UTC

Cue the post obligatory post on Odysee comment with all the other Open Source / FOSS people. ;p

Youtube really does suck though ... case in point: look up "Totally Not Mark" on Youtube

i dont get it, whats up with this channel? its a plagiarism or something?

It depends. The next video recommendations have a tendency to point towards conspiracy theories, dangerous crafts hacks and other weird stuff.

The recommendations on my page personally aren't filled with conspiracy theory stuff so much as content I'm just not interested in.

I get what Klaas describes, and the weird "Up Next/Related" content that gets chucked at me has zero to do with what I actually watch - that mainly being video game playthroughs either to seek out what I might like or to watch someone else's views on stuff that I wouldn't enjoy playing myself, food-science videos, and generally-humourous scambaiting streams and documentaries, plus listening to video game music and 1970s/1980s/1990s tunes.

I have personalised recommendations turned off, but until recently the non-personalised "Up Next/Related" stuff was still fairly relevant (i.e., other scambaiting content, different people's playthroughs of similar games/genres, funny reviews and taste-tests of expired food) - then a few months ago it suddenly started suggesting weird conspiracy-theories, dangerous "crafts", random people's/organisations' rants/vlogs/streams on subjects of no interest and relation to what I watch, and other stuff that generally appears to be trying to funnel me towards clickbait. If I want to look through it, I have to scroll down to see more relevant stuff at the side of a playing video, and the weird things get higher billing than the relevant ones.

I've seen a bit of stuff from the content creator end of this. Saw a couple of youtube videos from people involved in stuff around medieval weaponry and culture, saying that the policy changed recently-ish and seems less interested in users' personal preferences and more in more global ideas of popularity, to the point where even their subscribers are often not notified of their stuff, and their views are plummeting because people interested in their kind of content are no longer being shown their videos as viewing options.
It doesn't help that Google owns some content creation now, and of course has relationships with big advertisers who are also big content creators . . . there's no reason to trust Youtube to be a level playing field.

Saw a couple of youtube videos from people involved in stuff around medieval weaponry and culture, saying that the policy changed recently-ish and seems less interested in users' personal preferences and more in more global ideas of popularity, to the point where even their subscribers are often not notified of their stuff, and their views are plummeting because people interested in their kind of content are no longer being shown their videos as viewing options.

I'm not at all surprised - I suspected that it'd be something like that, as it's fair to say that the stuff I consider weird (keeping in mind that I definitely don't fall into "average" viewing-habits) is also stuff that I know generates a lot of profits out in the wider world.

i dont get it, whats up with this channel? its a plagiarism or something?

it's a long story -- cliffnotes: Youtube fail-whaled hard on their communication and incompetence in navigating a simple problem involving international differences in copyright and fair use


Last edited by Pendragon on 19 August 2022 at 9:04 pm UTC

thanks to The Algorithm. (I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but I admit that this one made me raise an eyebrow considering how profitable "craft hacks" videos are known to be. )

"The Algorithm" is only as good and as biased the person who wrote it.....

Maybe an Odysee mirror? I'm not sure if they've implemented a 'st0opitr0n' bot yet.

If Liam hasn't done it already, he can create a GOL channel on Odysee and sync it to the YouTube channel. Whenever he uploads a video on YouTube, the same video automatically uploads on Odysee. So even if YouTube takes his video down, the same one is still up on Odysee and Liam will not need to do any additional work for preservation.

Does anyone know if the bot, while being wrong, still left a data point of the channel being bad?

I have a vague idea that sometimes, even when someone reverts the bot bad decision the creator still suffers. One of those cases is when a video is wrongly demonetized. You can't re-upload so it's treat as a new video and shown to people because the bot penalizes re-uploads.

Still, the bot is probably doing an average good job on flagging videos but it's very scary when a wrong bot decision can destroy a content creator investment.

Sorry guys, but the only real good alternative out there is Peertube.

Dangerous and Harmful to Windows... can't have that!

I use odysee.com myself on occasion. It seems fine but you will find allot more right wing nuts on the platform, but such is life..

Peertube looks to be a library of content that has no categories unless you build it yourself. Easy to miss 90% of the content you may like on it.


Last edited by TheRiddick on 20 August 2022 at 12:05 am UTC

Dangerous to my wallet perhaps. I know I won't use a Steam Deck enough to justify a purchase, but the constant coverage from a plethora of places makes it tantalizing regardless.

Reminds me of when a chess video on Youtube was flagged as racist, because the algorithm picked up on: "White is much better than black in this position"

SUGGESTION: Make a LBRY / Odysee account, even if it is only for backup, and censored videos.
They let you link your youtube account, and perhaps you receive some more money from them.

Sorry guys, but the only real good alternative out there is Peertube.

Biggest downside is that there is not really a PeerTube Player for Desktop not to mention one which bundles YT and PeerTube. Thats why I mostly watch YT with FreeTube on Desktop maybe I should try setting up NewPipe for Linux.
PS: There is TubeFeeder but it doesnt really work and is mainly designed for Linux Phones.

Welcome to the modern world and future

If this bill passes:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/08/uks-online-safety-bill-attacks-free-speech-and-encryption

Well, you best keep your opinions to yourself if they differ from others

Edit: I am probably biased though seeing as for many years I have been a supporter and financial contributor to the EFF and FSF


Last edited by BlackBloodRum on 20 August 2022 at 10:52 am UTC

Odysee, Peertube, Bitchute, and so on should become more widespread at the very least. We must all do our part and give them more users. The stronger Youtube's competitors become, the more respect it has to give to creators to stay on its platform. There is no reason Liam's content should ever be censored. If viewers don't like it, they can simply not watch it. Google is wielding near monopolistic corporate power at this point.

odysee FTW