YouTube will throttle Shorts reach for channels that mostly repost other people's videos.
YouTube says it can now identify channels that primarily aggregate or re-upload other creators' clips without significant changes. Those channels will see reduced visibility in the Shorts feed going forward, according to the company. YouTube hasn't detailed how it defines "significant changes" or how the detection actually works. It's a feed-ranking shift, not a takedown policy - the videos stay up, they just stop showing up as often.
Shorts has become YouTube's main growth engine, and low-effort repost accounts have been one of the easiest ways to ride that traffic without making anything original. A ranking penalty is a softer lever than a copyright strike, but it also turns originality into an algorithm input, not just a legal one. Expect aggregator channels to get more creative about dressing up reposts as "commentary" to dodge the filter.
YouTube has adjusted recommendation weights before without fixing the underlying incentive to repost first and ask questions later. This looks like another dial turn, not a cure.