YouTube Won’t Just Check Views At 301 Anymore

YouTube is doubling down on its promise to eradicate fake views. The world’s largest video sharing site has announced its plan to audit certain videos periodically, not just after they are posted.

Many people may not understand what auditing entails, but most YouTube viewers are familiar with the process’ most infamous byproduct: The notorious ‘views stuck at 301‘ problem, which represented the period of time during which YouTube scanned hot new videos in search of phony views. While YouTube has made things a little easier to understand by sticking a plus at the end of 301, it will now start auditing view counts as it sees fit, which could incite a new wave of user complaints.

Of course, frozen view counts don’t actually change the number of hits a video receives, and the process is a small price to pay to prevent shady companies from fraudulently driving up their YouTube numbers. Since a high view count represents so much, YouTube is right to be extra cautious; therefore, if you see more frozen view counts from now on, don’t fret.