T&S #2: A Rationale for Uncaught Spam in UGVC
2025 June 25
Disclaimer: The following is an educational analysis based on the author's interpretation of publicly available data using the framework outlined in this post. It constitutes the author's opinion and is not a definitive assertion of fact.
Why write this blogpost?
Previously, this blogpost focused on the spam on 3 platforms that best deliver delightful experiences in the UGVC space: YouTube, Instagram and Tik Tok. The blogpost reviewed an example of two comment threads which looked like-near duplicates. Following that review, one may begin to look through comment threads in other videos and begin to wonder, "Why are there 'so many¹' uncaught cases of spam?". To address this question, this blogpost presents a rationale on why there may be uncaught spam.
Who are the UGVC ecosystem's participants?
For a UGVC ecosystem to operate, the ecosystem requires the presence of these 4 participants:
- Video platform providers
- Content producers
- Content consumers
- Advertisers
In addition, these other participants may become involved:
- Regulators
- Software/Hardware Service Providers
- Creative Process Service Providers
To date, spammers have participated in the ecosystem as "Content producers", "Content consumers" and/or "Advertisers".
Why is not all spam caught?
Video platform providers work tirelessly and valiantly to execute highly effective computer-program-driven (e.g. classifiers) and/or people-driven approaches (e.g. investigations) to detect and enforce on spam activities. Unfortunately, less than 100% of spam activities are prevented and/or stopped. Some reasons for this reality are presented in the following table.
Rationale for uncaught spam²
| Rationale Category | Reason |
|---|---|
| Computer-program-driven Approach Reasons | The current models are trained on irrelevant data. The current models are run on insufficiently frequent schedules. The current models have computational resource constraints. The current models made tradeoffs in recall and precision. The latest models have not yet been deployed. |
| People-driven Approach Reasons³ | The team has insufficient confidence that something is spam. The team has deprioritized mitigation for this type of spam. The team's tools may need enhanced and/or new capabilities. The team has not yet executed its mitigation approach. |
| Spammer-driven Approach Reasons | The spammer community and thus activities have grown. The spammer has developed novel, adversarial approaches. The spammer has identified grey areas in a platform's policies. |
What can be done to address the uncaught spam?
Returning to the 4 required participants in the UGVC ecosystem, the bulk of the work will need to be done by the folks in the video platform providers' teams. However, content producers, content consumers and advertisers can also help address the uncaught spam by making use of each video platform providers' reporting mechanisms and by raising awareness in the community.
What comes next after this blogpost?
For the next blogpost, expect T&S #3: A Person-driven Evaluation Framework for UGVC Spam.