Starting October 1, YouTube changed its recommendation algorithms in Shorts. The update primarily affects aggregator channels and public pages that reupload other people's videos without changes.
The rules have not become stricter for creators who produce their own content. On the contrary, the platform plans to give their videos priority in the general recommendation feed.
What changed in the Shorts feed
YouTube updated its recommendations as part of its anti-spam rules. The platform has started reducing impressions for channels whose content is mainly based on copying other people's videos.
At the same time, using other people's materials has not been completely prohibited. You can still use fragments from other videos if the creator adds their own voice-over, meaningful commentary or makes a full edit.
In other words, if you upload someone else's video without significant changes, the algorithm will consider it spam and stop promoting it in the feed.
Experience of other platforms
Instagram introduced similar restrictions in spring 2026. The social network stopped recommending aggregator pages in recommendation feeds to encourage bloggers to publish original videos.
According to Instagram's management, after aggregator pages were removed from recommendations, the reach of original content creators increased noticeably. YouTube is now introducing a similar approach.
Who the update will affect
The update primarily affects channel networks that generated traffic through mass reuploads of other people's videos from TikTok, Instagram and YouTube itself. Getting millions of views on other people's videos without original reworking will now be much more difficult.
For creators of unique videos, the situation is changing for the better. There will be fewer identical copies of the same videos in the Shorts feed, so original content will be able to get more impressions.
