YouTube's new tools to combat comment spam, account imitators

To cut down on comment spam and channel impersonation, YouTube Creators now have access to a new setting for comments in YouTube Studio. The creators will be able to select an "increase strictness" option. And the company said this builds on the "hold potentially inappropriate comments for review" setting and will reduce the number of spam and identity abuse comments, reports Engadget.

It is a less strict option than requiring manual review for all comments or switching them off completely, the report said. As of July 29, channels will not be able to hide their subscriber counts.

The Google-owned video platform said that is a tactic commonly used by those pretending to be behind larger and more established channels. Impersonators often leave comments on other videos to bring people over to their fake page.

YouTube acknowledged that some creators prefer to hide their subscriber count while they are building up an audience. However, it said this move will make things safer for everyone.

Speaking of phony channels that use special characters to imitate more prominent creators, that strategy will soon be a little less effective, the report said. YouTube mentioned that it is reducing the character set that people can use when updating a channel name.