Jennifer Marie VO

My latest @YouTube video, with fewer than 600 total views, suddenly jumped from about 30 likes to over 1,800 likes in a single day. This is mathematically impossible. I strongly suspect this is unsolicited fake engagement. My concern is that there’s currently no clear way for @YouTubeCreators to proactively report such activity as not being creator-initiated. (Video: youtube.com/watch?v=zRLKrF…) Creator Support advised me to “report the user” sending fake likes, but in cases like mine, there is no identifiable user — anyone, even without a YouTube account, could purchase bot likes or views through a third-party service. Another suggestion was to anonymously report my own channel or videos, which would mean falsely accusing my content of violating policies and could cause an entirely different set of problems. This kind of sabotage puts creators at serious risk — not only for invalid traffic penalties that can impact ad revenue (something I personally experienced last year), but also for having accounts terminated entirely if YouTube believes we are using methods to artificially inflate views, subscribers, or likes. Without a way to flag these attacks as external, creators are essentially defenseless against bad actors. I understand that YouTube’s systems actively monitor for #invalidtraffic, but a direct way to flag suspicious engagement as external and unsolicited would help protect honest creators from accidental penalties or account suspension — and give creators peace of mind that they’re doing everything possible to protect their channels. Please watch this video to see how frustrating it is to get support from #YouTube. @TeamYouTube @YouTubeInsider

I have been dealing with invalid traffic issues/penalties for over a year and Creator Support has been terrible. I haven't had my channel removed luckily, but I know first-hand just how frustrating it is. I have had AI flag/remove a few videos for no reason as well and no chance of appeal. Something has to change. I am so sorry you have been dealing with this. Keep fighting the fight! 💪💪

@JenMarieVO I hope this never happens to you 🙏 it’s truly terrifying to see your passion project terminated by mistake and to realize you have zero chance of getting it back

3,000,000 channels was terminated by YouTube's AI moderation in 3 months. Assuming the AI is 97% accurate (which I doubt), that's 100,000 creators removed by mistake... 100 THOUSANDS!! Appeal and review process are fully automated, so these creators lost their channels forever. Gone. For no reason. With no explanation. YouTube must reform its review system, bring back real human oversight, and rebuild trust with creators. @TeamYouTube @YouTube @YouTubeCreators @UpdatesFromYT @YouTubeInsider @Google

Thank you for your response. I’ve used the form to report the suspicious activity; however, it doesn’t seem fully applicable to my situation. The form is designed primarily for website owners reporting suspicious ad clicks, whereas my concern is related to suspicious bot activity on a YouTube video (e.g., excessive likes). It would be helpful if Google could offer more reporting options specifically tailored for YouTube Creators, as most available forms are geared toward website-related issues.

Sorry for the confusion. To clarify, any activity on your channel that doesn't come from a real user is considered invalid traffic. Our systems review traffic on your vids to determine whether it's valid or invalid, regardless of where or how the traffic originated. More on this here: goo.gle/3JcgYuj If you think there's an invalid activity in your account, you can use this form to report it to our traffic quality team: goo.gle/46U40eI

My latest @YouTube video, with fewer than 600 total views, suddenly jumped from about 30 likes to over 1,800 likes in a single day. This is mathematically impossible. I strongly suspect this is unsolicited fake engagement. My concern is that there’s currently no clear way for @YouTubeCreators to proactively report such activity as not being creator-initiated. (Video: youtube.com/watch?v=zRLKrF…) Creator Support advised me to “report the user” sending fake likes, but in cases like mine, there is no identifiable user — anyone, even without a YouTube account, could purchase bot likes or views through a third-party service. Another suggestion was to anonymously report my own channel or videos, which would mean falsely accusing my content of violating policies and could cause an entirely different set of problems. This kind of sabotage puts creators at serious risk — not only for invalid traffic penalties that can impact ad revenue (something I personally experienced last year), but also for having accounts terminated entirely if YouTube believes we are using methods to artificially inflate views, subscribers, or likes. Without a way to flag these attacks as external, creators are essentially defenseless against bad actors. I understand that YouTube’s systems actively monitor for #invalidtraffic, but a direct way to flag suspicious engagement as external and unsolicited would help protect honest creators from accidental penalties or account suspension — and give creators peace of mind that they’re doing everything possible to protect their channels. Please watch this video to see how frustrating it is to get support from #YouTube. @TeamYouTube @YouTubeInsider

@TeamYouTube This fails to answer any of my concerns. The system YouTube has in place will flag/penalize a YouTube creator for invalid traffic that they did not encourage, generate, or initiate. It is flawed. The resources you share to deflect from the issue do not answer any of my concerns.

Totally hear your concern. If you're worried about fake/bot subscribers, we have a system in place that constantly validates their accuracy. We make sure that your metrics are high quality and come from actual humans users and not computer programs. More info in the resource we previously shared

@TeamYouTube And how do we prevent these types of fake/bot likes from impacting our channels and giving us the infamous "invalid traffic" ad revenue penalty?

@JenMarieVO This is actually part of how our system works! It helps to ensure we're counting views accurately. View counts *can* slow down or freeze as we verify they're real (from humans, not computer programs). More on this here! goo.gle/45tLJCv

🚨 Creators🚨 I had #invalidtraffic issues last year, likely from malicious bot activity I did NOT initiate. Now it’s happening again. My new video has 1,878 likes but only 545 views — clearly impossible. How are we meant to protect ourselves? @TeamYouTube @YouTubeInsider

It really feels like it's an issue that YouTube wants to sweep under the rug and not address. I had no idea it was even a "thing" until it happened to me the first time and doing some research afterwards.. The sheer amount of Creators who are continuously affected is just astonishing. They have said: - Allowing embedding doesn't cause it. - Subscribers using Adblockers doesn't cause it. - Creating playlists doesn't cause it. - Shorts don't cause it. - Remixing doesn't cause it. - Other people using our videos for YouTube Advertising doesn't cause it. But they have yet to tell us what DOES cause it so that we may stop it! The links to the articles to not pertain to the majority of us. The suggestions given to avoid it are things we are not doing in the first place! It's beyond frustrating. It's crippling.

@JenMarieVO @JonnyPease @NickNimmin @YouTubeCreators @YouTubeLiaison Yea I might have just gotten hit by it again :/ this is getting ridiculous

Happy 'Invalid Traffic Day', I'm curious @NickNimmin @JenMarieVO did either of you receive a notification today? On the 6th of each month I seem to get a nice reminder/kick in the teeth. Today was no different. @YouTubeCreators @YouTubeLiaison

@creatorimpact @jamiewhiffen I've also followed the same steps as you (disabling embedding across all videos and shorts remixing) after being hit twice, but I've still been hit three more times since then. 🥴

@jamiewhiffen Just to weigh in. I had this option, turned off all embedding and 'do not allow remixing' on all videos for 6 months. I've been hit with Invalid traffic 4 times total, 3 times since setting these. I'm currently down a tonne of ad revenue also. I've accepted it at this stage

If you've been struck with the 'invalid traffic' bug on YouTube, I may have a solution. I turned on this option and it fixed the bug within a few days. No idea if that specifically fixed it or not, but the channel went from $4k per month back to $30k per month and is now trending higher than before the drop. Revenue had been stuck low like that for weeks until I turned that on, so give it a go and see if it fixes it.

@302views Agreed! 😂

@JenMarieVO Even Captain Hindsight would be better for support. He doesn't fix anything, but at least he clearly explains the problem.

Here's another fun example of what it's like to be penalized by YouTube due to alleged #invalidtraffic that we are NOT generating. Some of us Creators get our revenue slashed by 80-90% overnight for weeks, months, or even longer without any assistance whatsoever from YouTube. Other Creators have revenue deducted at the end of the month due to invalid traffic and taken off their monthly earnings. We have no protection. We have no help. We are given no assistance whatsoever. We are simply given links on the definition of invalid traffic and told "not to partner with third parties, watch our own videos or click on our own ads". Most of us ARE NOT doing any of these things and have had stable consistent earnings for YEARS until all of this invalid traffic nonsense. YouTube does not care. They have been ignoring this issue for months, years even, and stripping us of our ad revenue. I have been hit 5 times since August 2023, and it's a never-ending battle full of gaslighting, stonewalling, and blaming. But sure, have the audacity to call us "Partners" and say that we're all in this together. While on a frustrating chat with @TeamYouTube with no assistance, as per usual, I created this video to once again expose how ludicrous it is. Essentially, they will take from us because we have invalid traffic, but they won't tell us where it's coming from or what videos have it. They say it is OUR responsibility. No, YouTube. It is YOUR responsibility. It's YOUR platform. You fix it. Secure your platform.

Thank you very much for your suggestions and kind words! I disabled the box that said "only let linked accounts use this channel's video as ads" and also turned off embedding across all my videos. I do think that someone using my video as an ad last year triggered all of my invalid traffic, because I had 3,500 views from an ad that someone else generated using my videos.. Shortly after that, I began to receive invalid traffic.

@JenMarieVO Hope they will fix it soon. 🙏 Most probably you read and tried much more than me but have you tried - Checking the box that says " Only let linked accounts use this channel's videos as ads" and - Turning off embedding for all videos? x.com/302views/statu…

I saw Jennifer's tweets about Invalid Traffic too many times. Many creators have second thoughts about YouTube just because of the Invalid Traffic issue. I cannot imagine what she has been going through for weeks. Could you please hear the creators who spent years on their content? @YouTubeLiaison @TeamYouTube More example 👇 youtube.com/watch?v=YINi3b… youtube.com/watch?v=4q8bIE…

I saw another Creator that has had the same as you. It's really brutal. I have never received any notifications as of yet. I'm sorry you are still going through this. I thought it was interesting that my nosedive down again happened right after I had the highest day I've had in MONTHS.

@JenMarieVO @TeamYouTube That’s interesting. Mine never went away through May. A short respite in late April for about a week and then it nosedived again. It’s been brutal. Also, only received one notification.

It's BACK (I mean, does it ever really go away?) @TeamYouTube , if you have missed my daily tweets, you could have just said so! No need to keep slashing my ad revenue to get my attention. April 2024 was the lowest earning month I have ever had on YouTube since I was first monetized due to #invalidtraffic I have been hit three times in 90 days, with revenue plummeting for longer than it remains normal. This is my 5th time being hit since August 2023. No, I do not watch my own videos. No, I do not click on my own ads. No, I do not encourage friends or family to watch my own videos or click on my own ads. No, I do not work with any third parties to help promote my videos or promote my channel. Yes, all of my traffic is organic. No, I cannot control who decides to watch my videos or if someone decides to send bad traffic my way. YES, it is YOUR responsibility, YouTube, to stop invalid traffic. You hold the keys to the kingdom. It's your job to protect it and secure it. Stop disrespecting and devaluing Creators by slashing our ad revenue and our livelihood, gaslighting and blaming us without offering any viable solution or telling us where the traffic is coming from so that we may remove said video. This should be your number one and only priority at the moment. Get it together, you are ruining lives. Embarrassing and disgraceful as a company.

@JonnyPease @NickNimmin It's true. Invalid traffic has hit so many different niches.

@JenMarieVO @NickNimmin I'm within the financial services niche Jen, and I'm not alone, other channels within my industry have been hit by invalid traffic.

I wonder if it’s this sort of thing that’s causing the invalid traffic issue. YouTube has been doing all kinds of things to combat ad blockers, which I support. But according to users on Reddit, the way around some of those things is people refreshing the page over and over or clicking an ad and then refreshing along with other methods. The reason I bring this up is because in 9 years I hadn’t ever received an invalid traffic notification but as this fight between ad block users and YouTube has intensified recently I started getting them regularly. I know it might be completely unrelated but I wanted to share since it popped up in my brain. It also wouldn’t explain channels who have dealt with this prior. Maybe something to look into @TeamYouTube @YouTubeLiaison @AdSense ? androidpolice.com/youtube-videos…

@NickNimmin Thank you for sharing and posting about this issue. It means a lot when a YouTuber with a huge following like you is talking about it. It's very disheartening and pretty shocking that it has been on-going for such a long time without any assistance whatsoever.

Got another one! This is frustrating because YouTube removed the public dislike count, against the will of the general public, because it stressed out creators. They make the 1/10 collapsable because it stressed out creators. And then...there's invalid traffic which has been an issue through both of those decisions. They might as well take the notification away at this point since we don't get any helpful information from it and we can't do anything about it anyway.