Stolen TikTok content and Internet scams are rampant on Shorts, the short-form video platform launched by YouTube last year to compete with the Chinese portal, according to research by cybersecurity firm Tenable.
With more than 2,000 million monthly subscribers thanks to the strong momentum that being part of YouTube gives it, Shorts has emerged in less than a year -it was launched in March 2021- in a serious competitor of TikTok, but precisely its great reach united the lack of content makes it fertile ground for illicit activities.
"Shorts has become a haven for adult dating scammers, dubious product endorsements, and stolen TikTok videos.", explained Satnam Narang, Tenable’s expert in online scams and who has led the investigation.
3.2 billion views
As an example, an analysis of 50 fraudulent channels (with stolen or illicit content) from YouTube Shorts found that the scammers achieved at least 3.2 billion views on around 40,000 videos.
The victims in the case of stolen content are the creators of the videos, who stop charging for advertising every time their creations are viewed in Shorts, while a third party pockets that money without their permission.
In addition, the popularity of this content stolen from TikTok (short videos of viral challenges, for example, or of dances or tips) triggers the number of subscriptions of fraudulent accounts, which in turn increases their listing on the portal and makes them more attractive to advertisers.
Narang highlighted the specific case of a YouTube Shorts user who has received over 78 million views on his channel, but if you look at a breakdown of his actual content, most of those views are from stolen creations on TikTok.
Videos without the watermark
"Many of the videos I found did not have the TikTok watermarks that are often seen on downloaded videos, meaning they were downloaded using specialized software.", pointed out the researcher.
Some of the stolen videos, especially those of a more suggestive or sexual nature, link to adult dating websites, and scammers pocket between two and four dollars each time a user signs up to them, even with a fake email address.
Another use that scammers in Shorts make of stolen TikTok videos is to use them to promote the sale of products of dubious quality or effectiveness, which sometimes do not even correspond to what the buyer ends up receiving and which are usually priced above the market ones.
Gymnastics tights and shakes
Among others, Tenable’s investigation found the case of a stolen video of women doing gymnastics that was used in YouTube Shorts to promote the sale of sports tights, and another of a sports challenge that was used by scammers to sell an alleged fitness program. weight loss with smoothies.
Aware of the problem of the lack of content, in May of last year, YouTube (owned by Google) announced the creation of a fund endowed with 100 million dollars to pay creators of influential content in Shorts.
Shorts allows you to record and edit videos of up to 60 seconds with background music, and before its launch in the United States it was running for several months in test mode in India.
For the music background, YouTube has agreements for the use of music from major US record labels, such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Warner Chappell Music, Believe, Merlin, 300 Entertainment, Kobalt, Beggars, CD Baby, Empire, Peer, Reservoir and OneRPM.
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