YouTube just had one of those days. After facing backlash from users for its never-ending UI changes, the streaming giant is now catching flack for recommending a video with a NSFW thumbnail to thousands, and potentially even millions, of users.
The development, which made its way to platforms like Reddit via several different users (1,2,3,4,5,6), was brought to our attention by the folks over at PiunikaWeb.
From the looks of it, YouTube’s algorithm started pushing one very specific video out to several users on the platform. “AFRICAN GIAT MAASAI,” is the name of the video, and it started showing up in video recommendations where it doesn’t make any sense at all. That, however, wasn’t the main concern. The video’s extremely NSFW thumbnail was the main concern.
The example above clearly shows a YouTube search for “old man playing gta for the first time.” The video in question has no right showing up in those search results because it is completely unrelated, especially for users of all ages. The 16-second video itself was harmless, but its thumbnail, which displayed six topless women, wasn’t.
“I literally just saw this while looking for breaking bad clips,” wrote one Reddit user, while a different one said “I have restricted mode on and I can see that.”
NSFW thumbnail, SFW video
Afro Zulu, the channel responsible for the video, has a history of using similarly NSFW or highly suggestive thumbnails for other videos. In all cases, the videos themselves are benign. This might suggest that the channel has found a way to game YouTube’s recommendation algorithm, potentially by leveraging explicit clickbait thumbnails. However, just the sheer randomness of the video appearing in users’ search results could also suggest a potential lapse in YouTube’s content filtration and recommendation safeguards.
As of typing, YouTube has taken measures to prevent the video from randomly appearing in search recommendations. Additionally, Afro Zulu has also changed the video’s thumbnail to a still from the video’s content. The fiasco did help the video rack up over 3.9 million views, but still, it’s not even the channel’s most-watched video.
YouTube must now acknowledge the lapse and share the steps it would take to ensure similar videos can’t slip through its recommendations’ algorithm.
