The speaker discusses the issue of comment spam on YouTube, citing Eric Schmidt's quote that "every problem we have is a problem at scale" and how it applies to YouTube's massive user base. The speaker shares their personal experience with comment spam, where scammers impersonate them and try to get viewers to send money or personal info. They mention that despite YouTube's efforts to combat spam, it's still a significant issue, and creators are spending a lot of time trying to keep up with it.
The speaker suggests two solutions: community-built solutions, such as an open-source tool that can scan for spam comments, and YouTube-built solutions, such as a comment moderation tool that can nuke spam comments. They propose that YouTube allow creators to ban words from usernames, which would help prevent impersonation-type spam.
The speaker also warns viewers to be cautious of suspicious comments and reminds them that creators will never ask for money or personal info through unverified accounts. They conclude by urging YouTube to take action against comment spam and to provide better tools for creators to manage their comments.
Here are the key facts extracted from the text:
1. The speaker attended a meeting with Google and YouTube where Eric Schmidt said, "Every problem that we have is a problem at scale."
2. YouTube had 2.6 billion monthly active users in 2022.
3. A small problem affecting 0.1% of YouTube users would still affect 2.6 million people.
4. The speaker has experienced a significant amount of comment spam on their YouTube channel.
5. Comment spammers often use duplicate names and profile pictures to impersonate the channel owner.
6. The goal of comment spammers is to get users to click on a link or message them on Telegram or WhatsApp.
7. The speaker has received numerous emails and tweets from people who have been scammed by these spammers.
8. YouTube has an automatic spam filter, but it is not effective in catching all spam comments.
9. A community-built tool created by Theo Joe can scan for spam comments and is more effective than YouTube's filter.
10. The tool found nearly 2,000 spam comments on the speaker's last video out of around 6,000 comments.
11. The speaker believes that YouTube needs to take action to address the comment spam issue.
12. One possible solution is for YouTube to allow channel owners to ban certain words from usernames.
13. This would help prevent impersonation-type spam and make it easier to block spammers.