#youtube

#youtube

But I realized that rather than avoiding YouTube altogether, I could reshape how I use it. So I did just that: I put certain rules around it, stopped clicking around, and, while still using the same videos, it quickly stopped feeling like a temptation. YouTube is now part of my workspace, and I don't have to juggle several productivity apps.

Google is once again part of Movies Anywhere, meaning that movies you've purchased from Google Play and YouTube will now show up as part of your Movies Anywhere collection. Films from Google Play and YouTube became unavailable on Movies Anywhere on October 31st, but now they should sync to your account again. "Support for Google as a digital retailer has been re-enabled," Movies Anywhere says in a support page.

Since launching Shorts, we've been listening closely to your feedback on how to improve the viewing experience. We've heard that you often use 'Dislike' and 'Not interested' interchangeably on Shorts, or aren't sure what the differences are. To address this, and to better match with how people typically interact with short-form video feeds today, we're experimenting with options where 'Dislike' and 'Not Interested' are merged into one 'thumbs down' icon behind the three dot menu.

We've also had a lot of great questions and comments this year from you, our audience. It's now an annual tradition for us to turn the tables on Nilay for our final episode of the year, so we pulled together all the feedback we've received on topics like CarPlay, Monday episode guest suggestions, and - of course - AI. We also received a lot of great questions over the last few weeks asking about how Decoder is put together,

Songs streamed on YouTube will no longer count towards the Billboard charts, the platform announced in a blog yesterday (December 17). The change will take effect on January 16, 2026, according to Lyor Cohen, YouTube's global head of music. Cohen blamed a long-running dispute over Billboard 's decision to weight subscriber streams more favorably than ad-supported streams in its chart tallies.

Alphabet is best known for Google, which is the most dominant search engine on the planet. Google commands an approximate 90% market share in search, in large part due to the distribution advantages it has. The company owns both the world's leading web browser in Chrome and the No. 1 smartphone operating system in Android. Alphabet also has a search revenue-sharing deal with Apple to be the default search on all its devices.

The most telling point (so far) of Netflix's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, HBO and streaming businesses came from the company itself. In pushing back on claims that the deal would be anti-competitive, Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters pointed to YouTube as a bona fide rival that it would still trail with Warner Bros stack - a point that would've sounded far-fetched not that long ago.

Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported. This doesn't reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don't have a subscription,

YouTube creators are able to tag their videos as sponsored content within the upload flow, which will add a "Paid promotion" label to the relevant video clip/s.

the company removed dozens of videos featuring Deadpool, Moana, Mickey Mouse, Star Wars characters and other Disney IP as of Friday, just days after Disney accused it of "infringing Disney's copyrights on a massive scale." The letter, seen by both publications earlier this week, called out Google not just for hosting these videos on YouTube, but also for using copyrighted works to train models including Veo and Nano Banana.

While not every Open Cul­ture read­er dreams of mov­ing to Japan and becom­ing a wood­block print­mak­er, it's a safe bet that at least a few of you enter­tain just such a fan­ta­sy from time to time. David Bull, a British-Born Cana­di­an who got his first expo­sure to the art of ukiyo‑e in his late twen­ties, actu­al­ly did it. Though he's been liv­ing in Japan and steadi­ly pur­su­ing his art there since 1986, only in recent years has he become known around the world.

YouTube's expanding access to some of its experimental generative AI features, while it's also got some new updates for Communities, as per this week's update. First off, on AI tools. YouTube says that it's expanding to various AI editing features, including standalone clips, green screen backgrounds, its "AI playground," and more. That could be an interesting addition, providing all new ways to create with YouTube's evolving AI tools, though YouTube has presumably also enacted restrictions on the use of such with copyright-protected characters and scenes.

We know how much effort you put into your content, and that sometimes, Community Guidelines violations are unintentional. To help you avoid the frustration of a removal or strike, we've been testing a new feature that checks for some Community Guidelines violations in the video upload flow, similar to Copyright and Advertiser-friendly Guidelines checks.

Morris Cornbread is the charismatic force behind one of New York City's most recognizable TikTok shows, Subway Oracle. Born and raised in Queens, Cornbread began his creative journey with pranks, subway stunts, and fortune teller bits, all recorded with friends on YouTube. He later moved to Instagram and TikTok before returning to YouTube with the Cornbread Show, a late-night-style talk show on the train.

After YouTube discontinued its private messaging feature in 2019, the platform is now reintroducing this functionality for a select group of users. Users with access to the test are able to share videos directly on the mobile app, including long-form videos, Shorts, and even live streams. They'll be able to tap the Share button to open a full-screen chat within the app, allowing them to start a private one-on-one conversation or a group chat. Friends can reply with a video of their own, or simply type a response or use emojis.