Word to the Wise--don't try to "game" the system--
Daily Dot | YouTube strips Universal and Sony of 2 billion fake views: " . . . Sony/BMG was the second largest sufferer, dropping more than 850 million views in one day, bringing its total number of views to a mere 2.3 million. RCA, which got off scot free by comparison, dipped 159 million views. Its tally now sits more modestly at 120 million views. In addition, each label's YouTube archives are now surprisingly thin. UMG, which had long held a heavy hand in YouTube operations, now only boasts five videos on its YouTube channel, none of which are actual songs—and none of which last more than 1:23. Sony's page, by comparison, is currently empty. The company did not respond to the Daily Dot's request for comment. . . Google's takedown of these major music channels came on the same day that hundreds of YouTubers took to Google forums and their own YouTube channels to inform their peers that they'd been subject to a series of video takedowns for violations of YouTube's Terms of Service (TOS). Some speculated that the widespread video takedowns were caused by a technical error, but YouTubeconfirmed that the users violated TOS item 4, Section H, which bans automated methods of inflating view counts. "This was not a bug or a security breach. This was an enforcement of our viewcount policy," wrote a Google representative on the forums. The apparent crackdown on fake views became a major talking point Wednesday on Black Hat World, a forum where users trade tips about unethical search engine optimization tactics. The thread's first post alluded to a friend of the poster who "sells likes" and was recently told by four different customers that their videos "got deleted due to TOS violation.". . ."
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