YouTube Starts New Program Where Users Can Volunteer To Moderate The Site

YouTube has announced a new initiative that would let users volunteer to moderate comments and videos on the site. The new program is called YouTube Heroes and those who take part in it will be given rewards in exchange for their contributions.

YouTube’s comment section has always been plagued by abusive or hateful rhetorics. Channel owners were given some tools allowing them to monitor comments on their videos or turn off the comment section entirely. YouTube would only step in to take over when necessary.

The problem with this is that some channel owners already have hundreds of videos and it becomes such a daunting task to police all of the comments. With the YouTube Heroes program, the company is now seeking help from everyone to take care of this problem.

Volunteers in the program will be able to flag inappropriate videos, add subtitles or captions to videos or sharing information on YouTube’s Help Forum. Those abilities are just for the first level of the program. Users must earn points to level up and gain access to other perks.

To earn points, users must be able to accurately flag negative videos, add subtitles and/or share their knowledge. When a user reaches level two, they will be able to have access to exclusive workshops and video chat with fellow heroes. Level three will allow volunteers to mass flag videos and start moderating the comments section, while level four will give volunteers sneak peeks at new products and have direct contact with YouTube team members.

Those who reach level five, the highest level in the program, will be able to test upcoming products and apply for the Heroes Summit, according to 9To5Google. However, Google and YouTube haven’t released details on what the Heroes Summit exactly is, but it looks like a special invitation-only event.

The Heroes program is open anywhere YouTube is available. Those interested in joining will be able to sign up on Google’s support page where users will be asked to provide their email address that’s linked to their YouTube account.

The announcement of the new program also comes right after YouTube debuted its Community feature on the platform earlier this month. The company is planning to make the platform function more like a social networking site, and it seems like the company is finding ways to make content moderation easier for everyone.