TGIF! If you’re planning to whip up something new for dinner tonight, you might want to keep things simple—especially since certain AI assistants seem to have a penchant for poison-themed recipes.

BROKEN LINKS 🔗

Sorry, spammers: YouTube is removing the option to add clickable links to Shorts

YouTube is cracking down on Shorts-related spam. According to the platform, Shorts’ rapid expansion has “made it easier for spammers and scammers to share links in Shorts comments and Shorts descriptions that harm the community.”

YouTube’s solution?

Starting August 31, links in Shorts descriptions and comment sections will no longer be clickable—even if they were posted by the video’s original creator. All clickable social media icons on creators’ channels will be removed, too.

Those changes will (hopefully) slow down spammers who attempt to spread malware and scams on YouTube. But by removing an opportunity for legit Shorts users to promote their long-form content, merch, and other offerings, the platform’s latest update is a blow to the creator community, too.

But don’t worry: YouTube is aware of the problem and working on a quick fix.

On August 23 (eight days before Shorts description/comment links and clickable icons get the boot), the video giant will add “prominent clickable links” on creators’ channels near the Subscribe button. Creators can use those new links—which are “protected by existing systems and policies that detect and remove abusive links”—to direct viewers to social media channels, merch sites, and other destinations that comply with YouTube’s community guidelines.

Multiformat creators won’t have to wait long to begin promoting their long-form videos again, either. Sometime in September, YouTube says it will roll out a “safer” way for creators to link Shorts to long-form content. And in the meantime, creators can at least rest assured that the platform is actively fighting scammers. Over the last year, its ability to successfully target and remove accounts that impersonate creators, artists, and public figures has gone up by 35%.

HEADLINES IN BRIEF 📰

• Loaded has signed top gaming creator aceu for representation in all areas. (Tubefilter)
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• Self-proclaimed leaker Alessandro Paluzzi says he’s discovered an in-progress “Meta Verified” feed within Instagram’s code. (TechCrunch)
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• X’s decision to confiscate the @music handle from a creator with more than 11 million followers has sparked frustration among some long-time Twitter users. (Wired)
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• Twitch star Kai Cenat addressed his tumultuous Union Square giveaway during a recent stream, noting that he does not “condone any of the things that went on that day.” (The Verge)

DATA • CREATORS ON THE RISE 📈

This famous pup has big feelings. Her 8 million fans can relate.

Sheena Shah had always wanted a Husky. Her husband, Sunit, had always dreamed of adopting a Pomeranian. Their solution: Sapphie.

Sapphie is a Pomsky—aka the perfect mix of her humans’ favorite breeds. If you’ve already read Sheena’s newly-released children’s book, then you might know the famous pup as Sapphie the Dog With Feelings. Or maybe you know Sapphie from social media, where she entertains over 6 million TikTok followers and nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers. 

Either way, there’s a good chance that Sapphie has made you smile at one point or another.

That ability to spread joy, Sheena says, is exactly what made her “want to start pushing out more videos and more content.” She originally began posting as a way to preserve memories of Sapphie’s playful antics. But as more people began tuning in on TikTok (and then on YouTube, where Sapphie’s channel is just under a year old), Sheena and Sunit realized that their pup had become a source of comfort for her online fans.

Nowadays, Sapphie isn’t the only one bringing comfort to troubled viewers. As a physician assistant specializing in psychiatry, Sheena is deeply aware of the importance of prioritizing mental health. She’s posted several videos advocating for emotional self-care on Sapphie’s channels, and aims to spread the same message through her new book. Sapphie the Dog with Feelings, she says, is designed to help kids “share feelings and not keep them bottled inside.”

REAL OR FICTION?

Posting unlabeled AI content on TikTok? Prepare to feel the platform’s wrath.

YouTube isn’t the only platform taking preventive measures to protect its community. According to in-app screenshots found by social media expert Matt Navarra, TikTok has rolled out new labels to keep users from being hoodwinked by AI-generated content.

Deepfakes of people have been banned on TikTok since 2020. The new guidelines posted by Navarro state only that uploaders are now required to disclose when they’ve used AI to generate “realistic scenes.” By adding labels to AI-generated content, TikTok says, creators will “help others know the difference between real and fictional content.” (The toggle for adding those labels is located right below the ad disclosure section in the upload-a-video process.)

TikTok isn’t alone in its mission to label AI-generated content.

Meta appears to be working on similar identifiers that tell viewers when AI was used to create “text, images, and video” in Instagram posts.

WATCH THIS 📺

Tired of recording your own voice-overs? Augie will do it for you.

Aug X’s latest product might seem a little uncanny, but it could be a life saver for busy creators. The tech company’s founder, Jeremy Toeman, has announced the launch of Augie, which The Verge describes as “an AI-powered video creation platform incorporating a voice cloning feature.”

The process is (allegedly) pretty easy: after recording a short voice sample, you simply upload a script, choose a tone, and voilà: your finished voice-over is ready to go.

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Today's newsletter is from: Emily Burton, Sam Gutelle, and Josh Cohen. Drew Baldwin helped edit, too. It's a team effort.