It’s no secret that to measure success on platforms there are certain numbers and metrics to take into account such as followers, likes, views, comments, saves, shares, among others. When talking about YouTube, this platform excels at allowing creators to express their creativity in long and crafted videos.
Those whose content reaches an audience that feels connected to their videos can quickly gain a massive and loyal following and make a living out of YouTube content creation due to their high engagement rates and strong metrics.However, there has been an increase in individuals who, upon realizing the profitable source of income that YouTube has become, seek to take advantage of this by tricking the platform. Some resort to purchasing fake subscribers, aiming to achieve the same success with little to no effort.
To detect fake subscribers, YouTube has several policies and mechanisms in place, such as engagement analysis, manual reviews, community guidelines enforcement, periodic purges, bot filtering, automated detection algorithms, and account verification, to detect those attempting to manipulate the system for their own gain, eliminating them from the platform daily or even penalizing the channel.
Success and credibility in YouTube are largely determined by metrics, with subscriber count being one of the most significant factors.
Here are some reasons why buying subscribers may seem like an appealing quick fix:
Takeaway:The temptation to purchase fake followers often comes from the desire for instant growth, but genuine, organic growth is key to long-term success. Relying on artificial means is not the way to go if you want real success in the future.
YouTube is capable of detecting fake subscribers. It has special tools and systems in place to detect foul play in accounts. If they consider that a channel has manipulated the system and violated YouTube’s Terms of Service, they will take action against that channel as they see fit.
These systems analyze various signals to identify suspicious activity, ensuring genuine metrics and audience engagement. Some of the methods used by YouTube to detect fake subscribers are:
YouTube identifies fake subscribers by analyzing the method through which they are obtained, the type of accounts used for subscribing, and the IP addresses linked to those accounts.
In other words, the platform examines patterns that indicate artificial growth, such as multiple subscriptions coming from the same source or low-quality. Since these fake subscribers often display repetitive or unnatural behaviors, YouTube’s detection system can efficiently flag and remove them, ensuring that channel growth remains organic and authentic.
YouTube employs advanced algorithms and machine learning models set up to work as the platform’s watchdogs, guarding its integrity by searching to uncover suspicious behaviour and patterns from subscribers and channels. These include sudden spikes in subscriber count, a high percentage of inactive accounts, IP address and device fingerprinting, among others. Also, YouTube detects subscription exchanges and other artificial growth tactics. Once they detect these suspicious activities, YouTube conducts regular purges to remove fake subscribers and spam accounts, ensuring that audience metrics remain as authentic as possible.
Another way YouTube is able to discover fake accounts is by tracking the comments they do, many of these fake accounts are not only used to inflate subscriber counts but also for spamming the comment section of YouTube videos with irrelevant and malicious comments or even posting links to suspicious websites. In some cases these comments may be generated to artificially boost engagement or spread scams by bots, making them a common target for YouTube’s automated moderation systems.
Beyond identifying fake accounts through automation, YouTube also takes into account whether new subscribers are actively engaging with content through likes, comments, watch time or if they show zero interaction. The following engagement metrics play a key role in validation authenticity:
This helps ensure that subscriber counts reflect an engaged and authentic audience rather than just inflated numbers.
YouTube alone allocates a large part of their resources to detect these fraudulent activities. Having said that, YouTube prides itself on being a platform where the sentiment of community prevails, so there is a section where users can report suspicious accounts or spam activity, which YouTube reviews manually and handles accordingly.
Complementing YouTube’s machine learning models are powerful data analytics tools that help in monitoring and interpreting vast amounts of data. These tools help detect:
YouTube has implemented policies in order to maintain these issues at bay for example the Fake Engagement Policy which aims to prevent users from engaging in fraudulent activities. These guidelines serve as the foundation for YouTube's systems and clearly distinguish between acceptable and prohibited behaviors. YouTube strictly prohibits:
Takeaway: YouTube combats fake subscribers to protect platform integrity and support authentic creators. Using advanced systems, establishing policies and community reporting, it removes fraudulent accounts, ensuring metrics reflect real engagement highlighting the importance of organic growth.
There are several reasons why YouTube must remove fake subscribers:
YouTube works tirelessly to remove fake subscribers in order to maintain the platform's integrity and to level the playing field for everyone. For this reason, Youtube stipulated a Fake Engagement Policy which prohibits inflating subscriber count, views or interaction through fraudulent means. Detecting and removing those who are involved in these activities is important to not only prevent artificial growth and manipulation but to ensure that only creators who grow organically and authentically gain visibility and monetization privileges.
YouTube bases its recommendations and rankings on user engagement metrics, which are essential to the platform’s functionality and dynamics. Fake information disrupts its ability to perform these tasks efficiently.
It’s crucial to ensure that advertisers have accurate analytics, allowing them to make informed decisions. If advertisers waste money on the platform due to fake views and subscribers, they may lose trust in YouTube as a whole. By removing fake subscribers YouTube ensures the advertisers reach genuine audiences making the platform sustainable for creators who abide by the rules. YouTube's advertising model relies on real users watching and interacting with ads.
Removing fake subscribers is essential to YouTube in order to enforce its monetization rules which clearly state that to earn revenue, a channel is required to have 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 valid watch hours. If it meets these requirements through fraudulent methods, YouTube will remove them.
Takeaway: YouTube removes fake subscribers to ensure platform trustworthiness, create a fair environment for creators, and provide advertisers with reliable analytics. This reinforces its monetization policies, ensuring that earnings and recommendations are based on genuine engagement.
.png)
Nowadays the biggest challenge Youtube faces is combating bot networks and click farms which aim to arm those who are willing to pay with fake subscribers and engagement in little to no time and with next to no effort necessary. These services:
Takeaway: Bot networks and click farms were invented to challenge YouTube's detection efforts and be a quick and easy fraudulent method to achieve short-term growth in this social media.
Having fake subscribers is not only detrimental to your channel’s growth, but it also comes with serious consequences. Here are some reasons why this is a risky move:
Attempting to manipulate YouTube metrics violates YouTube’s Terms of Service and is a harmful strategy for growing your channel. It can result in your channel being suspended or even terminated permanently.
Buying subscribers alter your metrics not in a beneficial way as you may think. Most purchased subscribers are often bots who fail to engage with or consume content from the channels they’re subscribed to.Even when paying for the so-called “high quality subscribers” these accounts are often inactive. This can be easily detected by YouTubes algorithms due to the artificial inflation of subscriber count and beyond that, you can spot them from miles away because they lack the genuine behavioural patterns of real platform users.
Instead of actively watching videos, commenting and liking the latest uploads of their favourite creators, fake subscribers do nothing more than subscribe to multiple accounts with others without any meaningful interaction generally.
Additionally, you will likely experience a sudden drop in subscribers when YouTube bulk-deletes fake accounts who do not seem truthful which is easy to flag. This can result in suspension and/or deletion of the channel as previously mentioned as it is easily detectable who loses large amounts of subscribers at once.
To achieve real success you need to build a strong follower base who will actively consume your content and engage with you. It’s not a matter of quantity but of quality. Even a handful of engaged subscribers are worth more than 5,000 bots. Real followers will recommend your channel to friends and family, like, share, save, comment, keep up with the news and regularly check up on your new content as well as rewatching their favorite ones. It is all of these factors that will signal to YouTube that your content is high-quality, improving its ranking in search results and increasing its reach across the platform.
Authentic engagement is key to turning YouTube into a sustainable source of income. Brands base off their sponsorship decisions on the authentic channel metrics to ally with creators, and fake subscribers will deter these business relationships from happening.
Purchasing bot subscribers or being involved in sub-for-sub schemes can result in demonetization, in other words the removal or lack of eligibility for the YouTube Partner Programme (YPP), as YouTube requires real audience engagement, watch hours, and authentic subscribers to qualify for monetization. If a channel inflates any of these metrics through artificial means, it violates Youtube’s Fake Engagement Policy. It can happen that a channel is already monetized but is later discovered that it has gained a significant amount of it subscribing in a fraudulent way, so Youtube may suspend or remove monetization privileges indefinitely, losing all in an instant.
To truly monetize your channel, you need real people who will engage with your content, click affiliate links, support you on platforms like Patreon, and buy your merchandise. Quality followers, not fake numbers, will drive your channel’s long-term success.
Consequences of Demotization
Takeaway: Buying fake subscribers can lead to account suspension, inaccurate metrics, and sudden subscriber losses. True success comes from real, engaged followers who boost your channel’s reach and monetization opportunities. Quality over quantity is essential for long-term growth.
YouTube has stayed vigilant in addressing this issue and has armed users with information to detect potential fraudulent activity. Some of the signs to spot fake YouTube subscribers include:
Takeaway: YouTube has armed everyone with information to stay vigilant against those who are trying to get ahead. Some of the recognizable flags include discrepancies between views and engagement, unusual like-to-dislike ratios, generic comments, average views compared to subscriber count, among others.
For brands and marketers, tools like Influencer Hero provide an extra layer of security in identifying authentic influencers to work with, so truly think twice before buying bot subscribers because as easy as it is to buy them it is the same to detect them with the tools available nowadays.
Even though YouTube is actively attacking this problem, investing time, efforts and money for a brand is not something easy so all the boxes should be covered before collaborating with an influencer. Here is where Influencer Here comes into play, this platform offers several tools to complement the work of YouTube:
This tool of Influencer Hero provides insights into an influencer's audience, including fake follower percentages, audience demographics, and growth trends. By analyzing these metrics, brands can assess the authenticity of an influencer's following and make informed collaboration decisions.
Influencer Hero's Chrome plugin allows for quick analysis of influencer and audience metrics directly from the browser. It offers engagement rates, fake follower percentages, and follower growth trends, enabling brands to evaluate potential influencers efficiently in a matter of seconds.
By utilizing these tools, brands can ensure they collaborate with YouTube creators who have genuine, engaged audiences, helping improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.
Also, Influencer Hero offers valuable support to help clients understand what can be achieved on YouTube and how influencers operate on this platform, keeping clients informed and guiding them every step of the way.
Takeaway: Tools like Influencer Hero help brands identify and match with authentic influencers by providing deeper insights into an influencer’s audience, including fake follower percentages and engagement metrics ensuring successful collaborations.
Having a genuine and successful channel is like learning to ride a bike, it may take time, patience and effort but it's possible for those who put in the work and time. For a channel to grow, it needs real and engaged people who are truly interested in your content.
Here are some strategies to take into account when looking to grow a genuine channel:
Respond to comments and foster genuine conversations. This is key to build relationships, it’s just like meeting new people in a social setting where you need to make an effort to connect with them. Maybe even checking up on them on what content they would like to see next, that fosters a two-way connection where they feel seen and heard and in turn are engaged.
Make sure to provide high-quality, valuable videos that attract and hold on to real viewers. Think of it like a good book, you need to keep the chapters flowing in an entertaining way. Consistency in the content you produce ensures your audience remains engaged and excited for what’s next.
Regularly review your analytics to identify and understand audience behavior. This helps you get to know your audience, what resonates with them and what doesn’t. This insight allows you to refine your content to better appeal to their interests and preferences, rather than do content without understanding which could ultimately lead to failure.
How often have we consumed content exclusively on the thumbnail or captivating title? We may enter because of this, but end up liking what we see or hear, discovering a new channel that we hadn’t noticed before. It’s important to balance this by keeping it honest and ensuring your content delivers what was promised. Misleading thumbnails or titles can lead to negative comments and frustration.
It's important to cross-share your videos on other social media to reach even more people. This way, you are promoting your content on a variety of platforms which can attract new viewers and grow your community beyond YouTube.
These are very useful to help people find your content when they search specific topics or want to learn about something using relevant keywords. This helps improve visibility and stay relevant.
By following these recommendations, staying on track and avoiding shortcuts, you will grow a true YouTube family and build a channel that has a strong following. This is key to reaching the success you’re aiming for.
Takeaway: Growing a YouTube channel takes time and effort. Focus on engaging with your audience, creating consistent, quality content, and using eye-catching thumbnails. Promote across platforms and use relevant keywords to boost visibility and build a genuine, engaged following.
In the YouTube video titled “How Buying Fake Subscribers Ruins Your Channel” you can see all the steps of the process of buying fake subscribers explained in detail, showing how it inevitably leads to disappointing results.The creator demonstrates how, initially, it may seem like a quick and easy way to grow your channel, but since these fake followers don’t engage with the content, they are eventually detected by YouTube due to low engagement, which negatively impacts the algorithm.
This can lead to the demonetizing of the channel, suspension of monetization on videos or even of the channel.The video concludes with the creator emphasizing that true success on YouTube—and real revenue—comes from genuine interaction and building an authentic audience that remains engaged with your content.
Earnings are achieved through a genuine strategy focused on authentic growth, captivating content, and fostering meaningful interactions while building a sense of community.This video serves as a clear example of the consequences the creators should take into account before resorting to fraudulent practices.
Takeaway: In the YouTube video it is clearly shown that although the process of buying subscribers to grow may be quick and easy it does not come without consequence, so to reach real success creators should invest real effort.
YouTube remains committed to maintaining a platform where creators can thrive authentically. By implementing advanced tools and strategies, such as automated engagement analysis and periodic subscriber purges, policies and systems the platform works tirelessly to detect and remove fake subscribers. These efforts play a critical role in preserving the integrity of content and ensuring that creators with genuine, engaged audiences have the opportunity to succeed.
Tactics to manipulate metrics, such as buying followers or engaging in subscription exchanges, not only violate the platform’s policies but also negatively impact the quality of a channel’s metrics. This can result in the removal of fake followers and, in some cases, demonetization or channel termination.
Creators must focus on building a genuine, engaged, and interactive community, as this ensures sustained growth and long-term success. Avoiding fraudulent practices and embracing an authentic approach is key to gaining real followers who engage with the content, ultimately boosting a channel’s performance and monetization opportunities.
For brands and advertisers, platforms like Influencer Hero provide useful tools to verify influencer authenticity and ensure successful collaborations. These tools allow for informed decisions, protecting their investments and fostering relationships with creators who are genuinely committed to their audience.
Ultimately, while the temptation to buy followers may be strong, true success on YouTube is built with effort, dedication, and a base of real, passionate followers.
YouTube conducts periodic purges of fake subscribers to ensure its algorithms can accurately identify patterns of suspicious behavior. Immediate removal could lead to false positives, while batch processing allows the platform to refine its detection methods and maintain platform integrity.
Yes, fake subscribers can negatively impact a channel's monetization. YouTube's Partner Program requires creators to meet specific engagement and watch-time thresholds. A high number of fake subscribers can distort these metrics, making it harder for a channel to qualify for monetization or maintain existing partnerships.
Fake subscribers distort critical metrics like engagement rate, audience retention, and demographic insights. This leads to inaccurate data, making it difficult for creators to understand their audience and for brands to assess the value of collaborations with the channel.
Absolutely. If a creator is found to have fake subscribers, their credibility can suffer, especially among brands and their authentic audience. It can signal that the creator prioritizes vanity metrics over genuine connections, which may lead to fewer collaborations and loss of trust from viewers.
Channels that rely on fake subscribers face reduced growth over time, as real engagement metrics stagnate. This also makes it harder for creators to attract genuine audiences, as YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes content with authentic engagement, potentially limiting the reach of the channel.
Schedule a Demo with one of our media experts below.
.png)
