YouTube cracks down on ‘ghost creators’
The enforcement action targeted accounts named in Semafor’s report earlier this week.
YouTube has taken action against a network of AI-powered "ghost creators" that produced cheap, sensationalized political videos to exploit the platform's advertising system. The company removed 20 channels, including 13 mentioned in a recent Semafor report, for violating its spam policies. The infrastructure behind this scheme was traced back to Caleb Chan, a former financial YouTuber who now operates as a growth hacker.
These ghost creators, who pose as independent commentators, generated partisan outrage to boost engagement and ad revenue. Most of the videos featured inaccurate attacks on Democratic politicians, including California Governor Gavin Newsom and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. As of Thursday, many of the affected channels were either inaccessible or had been taken down due to YouTube's rule violations.
Written by urgent.news from Semafor's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
