YouTube bans strange ad for being too terrifying

The video appeared to unsuspecting viewers – and looked to horrify them

Thursday 16 August 2018 16:26

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki speaks on stage during the annual Google I/O developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., May 17, 2017

(REUTERS/Stephen Lam)

YouTube has banned an ad for being too terrifying.

The video – which was intended to promote a film called The Nun – looked innocent enough when it began. It was mostly dark and meant to look like the volume of the phone was being adjusted up and down.

But anyone watching for long enough would see a horrifying jumpscare appear.

11 YouTube features you didn't know existed

Show all 11

1/1111 YouTube features you didn't know existed

One of the YouTube app’s most frustrating shortcomings is the inability to play music videos in the background or when you’re phone’s locked. There is a way around this, but only on iOS. Open the YouTube website in Safari, play a video and then press your iPhone’s home button. After that, launch the Control Centre by sliding up from the bottom of the screen and tap play.

YouTube’s looping option on desktop is really useful, but nowhere near as easy to find as it should be. To loop a video, right-click it while it’s playing and select Loop. Even if you have Autoplay enabled, your video will replay itself as soon as it finishes.

YouTube recently introduced a black-and-red Dark Theme on the desktop, which is much easier on your eyes than the regular version of the site. Enable it by clicking the account symbol, selecting Dark Theme and turning Activate Dark Theme on.

Another alternative YouTube user interface is available to access at youtube.com/tv. It’s a really simple, no-frills UI that’s incredibly easy to navigate.

You can test upcoming and experimental features early by signing up to YouTube TestTube.

When you want to watch a YouTube video but don’t have your headphones and don’t want to disturb anyone around you, turn on Captions. They’re also really handy if you’re trying to watch a video in a foreign language. Transcriptions, meanwhile, break down exactly when certain things take place, so you can skip to the part you want to watch accurately and easily. In the More tab under the video title, launch the dropdown menu and select Transcript.

You can lean back in your seat and control YouTube videos with your keyboard if you want to. J and L let you rewind and fast-forward 10 seconds, K is pause/play, M is mute/unmute and the 0-9 keys let you jump through various stages of the video, from 0 per cent to 90 per cent. On the app, you can fast forward or rewind 10 seconds by double-tapping the right or left side of a video.

If you’re on a limited mobile data plan, there are easy ways to save yourself some money. In Settings on the YouTube app, hit General and enable Limit Mobile Data Usage and disable Autoplay.

Unless you make them private, other people can see your Liked videos, your saved playlists and subscriptions. If you want to hide them, go to Settings and Privacy. You can also clear or pause your History. On either desktop or the mobile app, go to History and select Clear All Watch History or Pause Watch History.

Sometimes you want to share a video with a friend, but want them to watch a specific part, rather than the whole thing. Instead of sending the timestamp through as a separate message, make the video automatically play from the right place. Just pause it at the right moment, click the Share button, tick the Start At box and copy the URL.

Stats for Nerds shows you technical data for YouTube videos, including video format, audio format and bandwidth. On desktop, you can find the info simply by right-clicking the video player and selecting Stats for Nerds. On mobile, you have to enable it first in General Settings. Once that’s done, open a video, hit the menu button in the top-right corner and tap the Stats for Nerds option.

Now YouTube says that the ad is too scary and that it will not be shown to anyone anymore.

The video first came to many people's attention because of a tweet warning users that it could come up. The post was shared 140,000 times.

The popularity of that post led to YouTube recognising the ad and taking it down.

YouTube's content policy explicit outlaws ads that are likely to scare the people who see them.

"We value diversity and respect for others, and we strive to avoid offending or shocking users with ads, websites, or apps that are inappropriate for our ad network," it reads, and says that it will not allow "promotions that are likely to shock or scare."

The video itself can be seen on YouTube, because it has been re-uploaded. But it is as scary as many people have said, and so shouldn't be watched by anyone who might be concerned by it.

Join our new commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies