Social platforms update AI content rules amid concerns over spam

YouTube's trust and safety team clarified its stance on July 20, stating the company wants to reward creators who use AI for original storytelling rather than those who mass-produce generic content or AI personas. A YouTube spokesperson noted this is a clarification of its existing 'inauthentic content' policy, aimed at reducing ambiguity for creators who have faced demonetization for repetitive, low-effort, or emotionally manipulative videos. The platform has previously removed channels that gained millions of views by publishing AI-generated videos featuring characters like cats and Jesus. A report by video editing platform Kapwing estimated that 21% of YouTube's feed is comprised of AI-generated videos.

TikTok, along with its owner ByteDance, is actively integrating generative AI tools into its ecosystem, offering AI features for content creation and e-commerce. The company requires creators to label AI-generated content and applies invisible watermarks to some videos. TikTok is also testing enhanced detection systems to target accounts posting AI-generated spam that may overshadow original content, and has allowed users to adjust the amount of AI content in their feeds.