YouTube | The Verge

If Meta’s going down, it’s taking TikTok and YouTube with it

2026-08-27T10:24:29-04:00

Meta might be on the hook for $17.1 billion and a host of app changes under a new kids safety settlement, but it's already spinning the deal to its advantage.

After years of being the national punching bag for social media harms, Meta has reached a settlement with 47 US states and several districts and territories that gives it a rare opportunity: A chance to flex on its rivals. "We want to ensure teens benefit from this new industry standard, but we cannot do it alone," Meta says in an "Open Letter" that is also running as a full-page ad in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post. "These protections will only be truly ef …

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Major YouTube creators are facing backlash for accepting AI money

2026-08-21T15:16:43-04:00

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A still from Sam Kolder’s video “AI is replacing me.” | Screenshot: The Verge, YouTube

Over the past few days, a number of prominent filmmaking content creators including Matti Haapoja and Sam "Kold" Kolder have posted videos of themselves demonstrating what's possible with AI platform Higgsfield. The videos highlight Higgsfield's recently added Seedance 2.5 functionality and pitch these technologies as the future of video production.

In response to these videos, other creators started sharing what appear to be screenshots of partnership offers they'd received from PR firms working on Higgsfield's behalf. All of this led fans to the conclusion that Higgsfield has been trying to use creators to boost its profile and garner goo …

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Oops! My cat is an iPad kid

2026-08-18T04:18:00-04:00

Pets, like children, come with the responsibility to keep them happy, healthy, and mentally stimulated - obligations I readily committed to before getting my cat, Trevor. I work from home, so he's never lonely, and play with him using a mountain of toys at every opportunity outside of my working hours. But younger cats can be incredibly demanding of your attention. I simply don't have the capacity to physically entertain Trevor every time he yowls at me (constantly) or distract him from chewing every cable he can get his paws on (also constantly).

Unlike children, one of the perks of having a blissfully simple animal is that there are far f …

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YouTube is changing how it counts views to give the numbers a boost

2026-08-17T14:38:34-04:00

YouTube will soon count a view as soon as a video starts to play, lining up with the system used by Instagram, TikTok, and its Shorts videos. The update will go into effect on August 24th, "which means creators will likely see their total view counts increase faster moving forward," the platform says.

Instagram and TikTok similarly add a view to a video when it starts to play or replay, while X counts a view when a user watches a video for at least two seconds. YouTube applied Instagram and TikTok's view-counting method to Shorts last year.

YouTube says it's going to keep its original view-counting method under an "engaged views" metric in …

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YouTube is making it harder to earn money on YouTube

2026-08-11T05:19:51-04:00

Starting February 1st, 2027, creators who want to monetize their channel through YouTube's Partner Program (YPP) will need at least 1,000 subscribers and either 8,000 qualified watch hours over the past year, or 20 million qualified Shorts views in the last 90 days. That's a sizeable jump from YouTube's current requirement of 1,000 subscribers with 4,000 watch hours in the past year, or 1,000 subscribers with 10 million Shorts views in the last 90 days. Creators will also need to maintain 10 million Shorts views over 90 days to earn money from the Shorts Creators Pool, though falling below this threshold won't result in removal from YPP.

Ad …

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YouTube Premium will include Peacock starting next year

2026-07-27T12:24:38-04:00

YouTube's ad-free Premium subscription is getting another perk: access to Peacock. In an announcement on Monday, NBCUniversal says the multi-year agreement will allow Premium subscribers to stream Peacock's ad-supported shows, movies, and live sports directly through the YouTube app in 2027.

YouTube will bundle Peacock in its standard subscription, which increased to $15.99 / month in April, YouTube spokesperson Jessica Gibby confirmed to The Verge. That makes it cheaper than subscribing to both services individually, as Peacock currently starts at $10.99 / month for its ad-supported plan.

The news of the deal comes at a pivotal time for P …

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The vertical video takeover is here

2026-07-24T13:29:13-04:00

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on all things vertical video, follow David Pierce. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.

How it started

For a while, every social and media platform had its own identity. YouTube was for clips of TV shows and movies, and the home of so many members of a burgeoning creator community. Instagram was mostly pictures. Netflix was trying to be the on-demand HBO. Facebook was about friends. Twitter was about news. Snapchat was a messaging app.

All these apps did have one important …

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YouTube updates Shorts to make it even more like TikTok

2026-06-25T18:09:21-04:00

YouTube is adding even more TikTok-like features to Shorts, including a new "clear screen" mode that removes the icons and text from the video you're watching. In a blog post on Thursday, YouTube says it's also replacing the "thumbs-up" button with a "heart" icon, and is introducing a new option that lets you watch Shorts at 2x speed.

You can now speed up a short by swiping down on your screen. | GIF: Google" data-portal-copyright="GIF: Google">

As noted by YouTube, you can speed up a video by holding down the edge of your screen and lifting your finger when you want it to return to normal speed. You can lock the speed at 2x by pressing the player and swiping down. Another change allows you to mute watching by tapping the video and selecting the "mute …

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Disney agrees to pay $50 million to YouTube TV and DirecTV subscribers

2026-06-25T06:54:21-04:00

The final settlement hearing will take place on January 14th, 2027. | Image: The Verge

YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream customers may be eligible for a cash payout, after Disney agreed to pay $50 million to settle claims that it forced the services to increase their subscription prices. Anyone who was subscribed to YouTube TV or DirecTV Stream between April 1st, 2019, and March 31st, 2026 is eligible to claim under the proposed settlement agreement.

All claims must be submitted to the online settlement portal by September 8th, 2026, and you can find more information regarding claim eligibility in this court authorized notice. There's no mention of how big the payout could be per user, but payments are expected to be distributed …

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Musician and YouTuber Hainbach on ‘Breath of the Wild’ and Swiss Army Knives

2026-06-20T12:32:37-04:00

Indulging in the “Dark Souls of synthesis.” | Image: Aleksander Stojanov / Hainbach

Stefan Paul Goetsch, better known as Hainbach, is a German experimental composer, artist, and YouTuber who is perhaps most famous for making music with laboratory equipment and scientific instruments. He describes it as being like the "Dark Souls of synthesis." Despite using "hard mode" production techniques that often rely on telephone line testing equipment and gear salvaged from nuclear testing facilities, Hainbach is also incredibly prolific, releasing six albums in 2025 alone, along with a handful of singles and EPs. His latest, Gentle Hum, is a collaboration with Ah! Kosmos (Turkish composer, Başak Günak). The album is a melancholic co …

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