Platforms Crack Down on Fully AI-Generated Content
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- Snapchat said Friday it will stop recommending "wholly AI-generated videos" in its Spotlight feed, though Snap acknowledged AI-enhanced or edited content will still surface in recommendations because the platform sells its own AI tools.
- YouTube, LinkedIn and Substack each unveiled similar strategies over the prior two weeks, all drawing the same line between fully AI-generated content and AI-assisted material.
- LinkedIn added a button letting any user flag a post or comment as AI-generated, and CPO Hari Srinivasan said the platform has "blocked billions" of AI-comment attempts and now catches "hundreds of thousands" of automated attempts daily; it is also removing its own "enhance with AI" prompt for post writers.
- YouTube updated its monetization policy earlier this month to block revenue on videos it categorizes as generic, repetitive or template-based — styles the platform says are easiest to mass-produce with generative AI; the site previously had channels built entirely on AI content with millions of subscribers and millions in revenue.
- Substack co-founder Chris Best, launching a tool to detect AI-generated writing, cited research finding up to 40% of writing on social media is now fake or AI-generated and warned that "platforms that reward fakeness will create a race to the bottom."
- Surveys cited in the article show that people rate fully AI-generated content as "low-quality" and "repetitive," and that the more fake AI content users see, the less likely they are to trust any of the content shown to them online.
Why it matters: Four major platforms moved within weeks to demote or de-monetize fully AI-generated content, but each stopped short of banning AI tools outright, because they also sell their own AI features. The operative line across the industry is now between "AI slop" (wholly generated) and "AI-assisted" (human-led, AI-edited) — a distinction that defines what gets recommended, monetized or moderated.
