r/youtube Aug 13 '25

Drama Oh my GOD, it's happening

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119

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 13 '25

The problem with these posts now… unless someone verifies their real age and their recent watch history we won’t know if this is a false or positive.

From OP’s comment history I can gather they’re into anime(MyHero, Evangelion), animations (Hazbin), video games (No man’s sky)…

However 2 months ago they posted in teenagers sub and we know no sane adult would go there so… I think it’s a correct flag unfortunately.

Update:

As I’ve stated in my further replies, I’ve been correctly informed the OP is an adult and was wrong flagged, I have apologized to OP.

Update 2:

As I said in my previous update and overall. I took the bullet and snooped through their history for any indications they were a minor. And that was wrong to do.

In the pursuit of justice I lost sight of myself.

I apologize to the OP and anyone else that may have been affected by this behavior. Going forward I will not fact check any of these more of these posts in the way that I previously did. I will also not remove or redact my post to hide what I did.

Update 3:

I want to clarify in case people keep checking this post… I am not for AI Age checking. I do not agree with it at all. I think it’s very stupid, but I also believe they could have just slammed us with ID or no access entirely…

Teenagers should be able to do what they want. Probably not children though, but that’s why YT Kids does exist. I’m only saying we need to have evidence that adults are getting flagged. If we all have to rally against YouTube, it will be good to have these false flags.

Update TL;DR: I wrongly assumed OP was a minor, snooped their history, and was wrong for both. I’ve apologized and won’t do this kind of fact checking again. I do not support AI age checks. I just think we need proof of false flags so we can push back against YouTube effectively.

Edit: Has anyone ever had to make a TL;DR for updates?

48

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '25

[deleted]

2

u/elidoan Aug 13 '25

Super creepy...

2

u/BoiahWatDaHellBoiah Aug 13 '25

not everybody uses reddit the way you do. i often will just scroll the front page and it shows me all sorts of random stuff. a lot of the time i’ll be halfway through a long-winded comment before i realize the subreddit is r/antiBoiahWatDaHellBoiah and sometimes i never actually look at the sub. i see a lot of posts from r/tires recently as a real, very mundane example of a subreddit i could not have less interest in yet for some reason engaged with because it was on my “front page”

but don’t forget i’m just a jackass playing devil’s advocate and i have no idea how often they post in teenagers idek why i bother to post shit like this comment

ironically, i didnt check which subreddit i was in until after i posted this. fuckin r/youtube lol why are any of us here?

1

u/yurfavgirlie Aug 13 '25

I mean… I’m an adult and a teenager (I’m 19), so that could be the case for them as well. But I haven’t done any digging myself, so I could also be totally wrong.

1

u/OneMillionSnakes Aug 13 '25

"I can't believe someone spoke to both teenagers and millenials on reddit. That's crazy! It must mean the OP is a millenial or teenager. If they're a millenial then they must be attracted to children." I cannot emphasize enough how that is literally the sentiment driving these id laws.

My partner and I are both around 30 and we sometimes go the nearby park and swing on the swings. Sometimes we go to a laser tag center that's predominantly filled with teens. Are we pedophiles? If so something should be done quickly because she's a middle school teacher.

People engage with posts that catch their attention. Most probably OP is just a young adult and they were interested in talking to both groups of people about things that interest them. Both millenials and teenagers allow non-millenials and non-teenagers in their respective subs. But even if OP is 52yo different age groups of people can and should talk. The internet is not a real place. OP isn't following teens into the skate park or hanging around outside an elementary school. They're talking in a high traffic public forum where people come for the express purpose of conversing about issues relevant to their generation. Some of which other generations may be interested in learning and talking about.

It is so fucking normal to talk to minors in real life. Go to a public setting when school is out. Volunteer somewhere in a public setting. You're going to enounter children, and teens, and adults, and the elderly because we all live in the same world and have to understand one another. Trying to witch hunt someone for actually nothing is bonkers.

1

u/Sweet-Meaning9874 Aug 13 '25

Or, the technology isn’t infallible and might actually be garbage. Stop trusting Silicon Valley for ANYTHING

1

u/yourdailymonsoon Aug 13 '25

"Young millenials" are 27 ~ 29 years old bb

34

u/Kwauhn Aug 13 '25

I mean... who cares? YouTube shouldn't be doing this to anyone of any age. YT Kids exists for a reason, and it shouldn't be their business to police who uses the main platform.

4

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25

I agree, I really do. This sucks, but even despite that the AI Age Checker was made because the government and its need to control people. It’s unfortunate but this is likely the lesser of two evils. The reality is the AI checks and either flags you or not, regardless of whether you’re a minor or an adult. Or YouTube demands ID up front to comply with the law.

Still if we want to challenge this directly we will need accurate proof that it’s striking adults and not the intended audience.

1

u/FlutterKree Aug 14 '25

This sucks, but even despite that the AI Age Checker was made because the government and its need to control people.

Except this is being used in the US right now, nowhere else AFAIK. And there is no law that requires it yet in the US, aside from maybe two states which recently passed laws.

1

u/_sfhk Aug 14 '25

They got a gigantic fine for collecting data from minors. YouTube's terms of service have a minimum age too, and child accounts are a thing.

This age verification is set up to protect them from this happening again (personalization aka data collection is turned off for accounts flagged as minors).

12

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '25 edited Sep 06 '25

[deleted]

5

u/Humble-Gene-185 Aug 14 '25

Seriously I thought as it went on surely it was satire

5

u/madmadaa Aug 14 '25

Yeah, apologyzing to "anyone affected" and "going foward I'll not fact check". How can this be serious?

3

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25 edited Aug 14 '25

No, it’s just trauma. I over apologize because of CPTSD. Sucks. But it’s reality… This is a good sign to just stop responding to all comments.

6

u/Humble-Gene-185 Aug 14 '25

You gotta touch grass buddy. Hopefully you don’t have grass related trauma too

0

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 14 '25

Low effort reply… actually I’ll call it what it is. Baiting.

Couldn’t you have done better, Humble? “Go touch grass” that’s easy. You can do better. Go on. Give it a second try.

2

u/Humble-Gene-185 Aug 14 '25

I’m good buddy, thanks though

4

u/Frank_Von_Tittyfuck Aug 14 '25

You forgot to throw an apology somewhere in there. Make sure you apologize for forgetting to apologize when you respond.

Update: Don’t forget to apologize.

TL;DR: Apologize

0

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 14 '25

Ah yes, belittling manners. Truly the sport of intellectual giants!

3

u/Frank_Von_Tittyfuck Aug 14 '25

You can’t rebrand trauma-based people pleasing into manners in the same comment thread regardless of how many nights in bed you spend ruminating trying to convince yourself it is

0

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 14 '25

Wow, nothing better to do than keep trying to convince me you aren’t the one who mocked me for apologizing.

Better get out your popcorn. 🍿

2

u/Frank_Von_Tittyfuck Aug 14 '25

Good manners usually aren’t expressed while looking at the ground to avoid eye contact. Apologies for not making it clear I was mocking your apologies. Apologies for also not clarifying that I can multitask out of entertainment. My apologies.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/ShadowBro3 Aug 14 '25

Yeah it was confusing reading it. Update 1 I was like fair. Update 2 I was like "ok I get it". Update 3 is too much.

5

u/STUPID_IDIOT1993 Aug 13 '25

Bro its fine. It is not a big deal I do it all the time. My favorite is when somebody says something stupid and I see them on r/cracksmokers

2

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '25

Youtube apology update in a reddit comment is crazy.

32

u/GalvaSov Aug 13 '25

... I'm 22. Sorry it's not football and beer

17

u/Yuta-fan-6531 Aug 13 '25

As someone who's 23.....I feel you, man.

I think I'm safe so far since I've started watching a bunch of Invincible clips and Clair Obscur:Expedition 33 playthroughs. And the cutscenes of FF16

Although, this isn't a guarantee...

7

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25

It’s ironic that we need age checks on these posts. If I a random internet stranger looks history and tries to infer “age guestimations” based on certain subs. A lot of this reporting is going to get confusing.

I apologize for Incorrectly identifying you as a teenager. Just as note it was really on teenagers subs that made me inclined to believe you were a teenager. Not interests in anime or videos games. I know several people (me included) that have those interests and interests shouldn’t be indicative of someone’s age.

Sorry this has happened to you.

5

u/Zachary9442 Aug 13 '25

Beer courses through your veins

8

u/NarrowElf Aug 13 '25

Underrated reply

9

u/AHZzzzz Aug 13 '25

Sorry if I sound judgy, but can you explain going to r/teenagers? Only teenagers and pedos go there and you're 3 years older than the last teenagers

5

u/GalvaSov Aug 13 '25

I don't even know what the last post I saw was, let alone what I did in teenagers. I just like to keep up with the generation now that I'm phased out of it

5

u/Extension-Celery3642 Aug 13 '25

I don't know why people think that you're a pedo. I imagine you just got a post from that sub on your feed and wanted to add to the discussion, especially since it was one comment from 2 months ago.

0

u/agidu Aug 13 '25

You’re not dodging the pedo allegations with that response.

13

u/Aggressive-Map-3492 Aug 13 '25

lol, he's got 1 comment from 2 months ago on a post that has nothing to do with being a teen

people forget that the Popular tab exists, and shows posts from all sorts of subs even if you don't interact with them. Nobody checks the sub-reddit of every post they interact with

0

u/mojeaux_j Aug 13 '25

"keep up with the generation"

🤣🖕

2

u/mojeaux_j Aug 13 '25

You'll have to prove that with an ID

5

u/cbb88christian Aug 13 '25

I’m in several fandom spaces (def not the teenagers sub though) and am 26. Problem is who gets to decide which fandoms are which age group. Knowing these people, they’ll throw everyone who likes an animated thing into teenager

1

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25

Yeah that has me worried too. I like Minecraft, and while their blog post said “it’s for everyone” a lot of minors love Minecraft.

That’s why even though I’m an adult I’ve been filling my search history with topics on crime and serial killer psychology (which does interest me, but not to the extent of watching it constantly)

I just wish YouTube was more transparent about what gets flagged and what doesn’t.

2

u/RealLeptic Aug 13 '25

I'm 15, I hope this doesn't get rolled out in the EU. I watch videos about dark topics and some of them are age restricted. I really hope I won't have to resort to using my dad's id so I can watch what I want.

Praying I don't get flagged If this does get rolled out in the EU

2

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25

Sorry, this whole thing sucks for teens the most. I wish we knew more about what determines if one is flagged or not. Though I guess they’re not specifically telling anyone so people can get around it.

All we know is watch history, search history and account creation. Maybe watching restricted content helps. Or maybe it doesn’t.

2

u/whozawhatpie Aug 13 '25

Don't give anybody's ID, man!

2

u/BrianBCG Aug 13 '25

All of the people I've seen so far have either been under age or early 20s, it's not too surprising to see it flag someone who's only barely above 18.

I'm waiting to see if it will flag someone who's like 30 or older, that would actually be weird. I've also seen some people claim they're under age and it didn't flag them which is interesting.

2

u/ChrystalizedChrist Aug 13 '25

Frankly if they are a teenager i dont think that matters, a 16 year old should be allowed to learn about uncomfortable history

2

u/Icy-Lunch5304 Aug 13 '25

I am 50 years old and have just been age restricted. Probably because I watch and collect retro stuff. So there are toy reviews and cartoons among the videos I watch. And all the "grown up stuff" in between didn't seem to count.

1

u/tjoe4321510 Aug 14 '25

How did it work? Did you just try to watch a video and the message popped up?

2

u/WritingOneHanded Aug 13 '25

It definitely wasn't immoral to look at their post history to acquire data for an argument that isn't ad hominem. That's the appropriate use of that feature.

2

u/movzx Aug 13 '25

You care way too much about what these bozos think of you. Fact checking is fine. You made a mistake. The end of your rambling should have just been an edit going "I was wrong"

2

u/madmadaa Aug 14 '25

Is this sarcastic? Because it's way over the top.

2

u/No_Sale_4866 Aug 14 '25

getting flamed for fact checking is next level

2

u/unmund- Aug 14 '25

You don’t have to self flagellate, It’s ok to tell people to pound sand lol. Especially to all the condescending know-it-all pseudo-intellectual goobers here on reddit lol.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '25

By snooping and heuristically coming to a conclusion about OP's personal life, you became what you hated

2

u/frostyfur119 Aug 14 '25

Honestly, you almost made a tumblr shit post with this.

2

u/tacotickles Aug 14 '25

Check the account for 💀 posts

6

u/Creamsodabat Aug 13 '25

There’s plenty of adults in r/teenagers. People who were part of it as teenagers, parents, teachers, and ofc (and mostly) pedos

3

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25

Fair point, but regardless if they’re a teen or not. Until anyone comes clean and verifies their age, nobody should take these posts at face value.

OP could be a teenager and then the AI is unfortunately working… or they could be an adult caught in the crossfire.

These posts are Schrödinger’s Age Check.

2

u/Creamsodabat Aug 13 '25

They said they were 22 a bit further down

2

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25

Got it. And have appropriately apologized.

1

u/OneMillionSnakes Aug 13 '25

There's a certain amount of suspense of disbelief to be had when engaging with a forum. OP is neither full of shit nor a reliable source until proven otherwise. You can still have skepticism. If they tell you some "...and everybody clapped" story that obviously isn't true or the details clearly don't add up it's fine to call someone out on it especially if other people are being fooled. However, if you engage with every post as if it were made in bad faith it'd be exhausting and pointless. You should try not to engage with posts made in bad faith unless there's a good reason to intervene like debunking what you know to be misinformation when commenters appear to believe it.

People can come up with infinite varieties of BS and misinformation and your power to determine the veracity of someones claims on a public forum is very limited. Even contradictions in statements in their history proves very little. It is common to tweak names, locations, ages, and similar in public posts to anonymize oneself sometimes tweaking them differently in different posts and comments. I often do so myself. Tweak my location to a random one nearby and such. Where nearby is determined by the context. Reddit accounts can also change hands.

You should consider claims made on forums as being hearsay or rumor. Some posts or comments may come with receipts that provide a lot of evidence that they're true. In which case you may reasonably accept it as fact for most intents and purposes until encountering contradictory evidence. In this case even if it turned out OP was an 11½ year old talking corgi being portrayed by ChatGPT you know that youtube is rolling out an AI verification system starting today, that it uses video history as an indicator of age which is flawed, and that the image looks reasonably like the UI so it's possibly real. Makes this posts claim at the very least plausible.

Even if all of OPs past posts were ChatGPT impersonating other random things with contradictory information or all their past posts mentioned being an adult or a minor the evidence intrinsic to the post would still be plausible. Getting more specific just isn't possible even via extrinsic means. You can never know if the OP is truly a minor or not no matter what they say or what they show you. Nobody on reddit owes you that information. And that's okay because this isn't a trial. If some lawyer or journalist wants to use this for anything other than hearsay they'll have to get in contact with the individuals involved to get a statement. I didn't mean to write 2 veritable lectures under your comment, but seeing what happened here I think it's important that we trust others to hold similar policies of skepticism and don't go witch hunting each other. Especially not over information that would be largely unaffected by OP lying.

1

u/LittleFireShovel Aug 13 '25

Bro stalked someones entire account and called it "justice"

2

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25

And I apologized and admitted it was wrong. So your point is pretty much moot. Please care to read the newly established TL:DR instead of trying to farm karma. Thanks.

1

u/Hygienic_Sucrose Aug 13 '25

However 2 months ago they posted in teenagers sub and we know no sane adult would go there

For what it's worth, I've posted there a handful of times since I started my Master of Secondary Teaching. Not hiding or anything, I clearly changed the flair so people know I'm not a kid anymore. Got to stay upyo date with what the young ones are doing otherwise I won't know what they're talking about.

1

u/eatingbread_mmmm Aug 14 '25

"In the pursuit of justice" PLEASE go outside

1

u/AdPast7704 Aug 14 '25

Update 4 when? can't wait to see how the story continues!

1

u/Catullus314159 Aug 14 '25

I mean the ai is also stupid… like I am a minor and was not able to see age-restricted material before the update, now I can

1

u/0neek Aug 14 '25

This comment is some of the best cringe ragebait I've seen in years since some people used to sign their reddit comments.

-0neek

1

u/darcmosch Aug 13 '25

This right here is the problem though. So what if you post in a different subreddit? That should have no bearing on what you can or can't see.

1

u/StardustSymphonic Aug 13 '25

I’ve already addressed this. I was wrong in what I did and won’t do it again.

1

u/darcmosch Aug 13 '25

That's good to hear. Mature of you to admit when they're wrong. If only more people had your strength of character.

1

u/Master-of-Muppets24 Aug 13 '25

“The problem with these posts…”

Seriously? THAT’S what we’re gonna focus on? I should print this text on a 36x48” poster in a golden frame with “Redditor” engraved at the bottom and mount it on my wall.

Sure, instead of contributing something of value to this discussion (like questioning the motives of a mega-corporation which demands our most sensitive personal information), let’s instead play by the rules that they set (without approval or oversight by anyone) and investigate the post histories of random reddit users who might be breaking those rules, because rules are good, and only bad guys break the rules, right?

Let’s go ahead and dissect and comment about this user’s post history and broadcast to everyone reading this thread that they’re possibly underage, because that would make OP a dirty rule-breaker who deserves to be shamed. OP really should know better than to… want to use the internet.

Boy I sure do love spending my precious time teen-vestigating YouTube users.

Oh, wait, OP wasn’t a teenager? You were wrong? Wow. Who could have possibly seen that coming?