YouTube comment (in)visibility

January 24, 2022 5:41 PM

Why do the YouTube comments and replies I make from one account always appear but replies made from a second account never appear?

I use two accounts to comment on YouTube. One is in my name and is associated with my primary gmail account. The second is an alternative account associated with a different gmail address and is not connected with my real name. I comment on YT using latter much more often than with the former.

When I leave a comment, or reply to someone's comment, using the account in my name the comment/reply always appears. When I leave a comment using the alternative account the comment always appears. However, when I reply to a comment using the alternative account the reply only appears to the logged in alternative account. The reply is invisible when I am completely logged out or logged in with my primary account. The reply is apparently invisible to everyone else as it never gets any likes or replies. (I realized the comments were invisible when I made a silly dad joke that received no likes/replies but someone later made the same joke and got tons of them.)

This happens whether I'm subscribed to the channel or not, on all sorts of unrelated channels, and when replying to various accounts. The replies are innocuous (I'm not trolling, spamming, etc.) and in line with everyone else's comments. It doesn't matter what browser I'm using. It is vanishingly unlikely that my alternative account is being blocked by random people on YT.

As problems go this is pretty trivial but does anyone know why this would happen? I didn't have much luck looking finding answers on YT's help section or elsewhere. Thanks!

posted by plastic_animals to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

Best answer: Sounds like your second account has been shadow-banned. Unfortunately, since it's Youtube, good luck talking to a human to find out why. One potential theory is that if your second account gmail is obviously a second account / fake name, youtube's anti-spam software/procedures may have flagged it because creating extra fake accounts is something bad actors often do.
posted by Alterscape at 5:55 PM on January 24, 2022 [6 favorites]

But OP says that the regular comments from both accounts appear - it is the replies that don't. Would they really only ban replies on a problem account?
posted by soelo at 9:45 PM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: This link on Google's help forums says it is happening to many others.
posted by soelo at 9:47 PM on January 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

You're right, soelo. I mis-read the question. Apologies, OP, I think soelo is onto something and I was incorrect.
posted by Alterscape at 10:46 PM on January 24, 2022

Response by poster: Much appreciated! I think you're both on to something. This link on the page soelo linked to describes the exact same problem I've seen where a secondary account's replies are not visible to anyone else. Nobody seems to know, and Google hasn't weighed in, whether that behavior is a bug or intentional.
posted by plastic_animals at 12:29 PM on January 25, 2022