YouTube Updates: Sensitive Searches now with blurred Thumbnails

Transcript

Quick YouTube updates this week. YouTube has changed the way thumbnails are displayed for sensitive search results. It’s a subtle change: thumbnails for these results will now be blurred by default, unless the user chooses to unblur them. This setting is designed to stay global and won’t reset if you change it, which is a welcome feature for other settings as well.

You might find that your video thumbnail appears blurred for one search phrase but unblurred for another, depending on whether it triggers the sensitive search term. In other words, it’s context-dependent.

Importantly, thumbnails will not be blurred in your home feed, subscription feed, or notifications. This measure only affects search terms. And given that many channels rely more on recommendations than search traffic, it may only impact a select few, such as sex education channels.

If you have any questions about this update, feel free to ask them below. We’ll pass them along to YouTube and get back to you. Unfortunately, there won’t be a list of sensitive words or phrases to avoid. In my opinion, that’s for the best, as we don’t want to encourage pushing boundaries.

That’s all for today. Thank you for tuning in to learn about YouTube updates. See you next week! Take care and goodbye.