Unravelling the Thriller Behind a Secret YouTube URL

I hit enter, undecided precisely what was about to occur. After a second or two, my browser redirected me to a different webpage. A blocky, pc generated determine appeared on the left-hand facet of my display screen. A collection of random-looking numbers and letters displayed on the appropriate. This wasn’t YouTube anymore. It was a profile for a participant within the massively common recreation Minecraft on a completely completely different web site.

I used to be confused. How had a legit YouTube URL one way or the other taken me away from YouTube itself? This wasn’t a faux YouTube web page that had led me right here. It began with an actual video on the location, and I simply tweaked one letter to make a brand new, nonetheless YouTube–affiliated, URL. And why did I land particularly on this web page that was solely completely different from YouTube?

The reply would later reveal rather more than simply the machinations behind this one little trick.

Initially my tipster, who glided by the pseudonymous deal with KT, didn’t present rather more data. After I requested the way it labored, they didn’t reply for a number of hours. “Did you figure it out yet?” they later messaged.

“It’s a pretty unique way, dumb on YouTube’s end,” they added a day later. 

A couple of weeks later, the ‘wtch’ URL pointed to a unique web page. When changing ‘watch’ with ‘wtch’ within the URL of a YouTube video, the browser didn’t redirect to the Minecraft profile anymore. It went to a selected YouTube channel with the username “HiddenName” and a field asking whether or not I wished to subscribe to the channel routinely popped-up on the display screen. Somebody was altering what web page the URL pointed to.

I adopted up with KT, and this time that they had some extra particulars. KT stated the ‘wtch’ trick was one thing to do with an “MCN panel.” After Googling round I discovered that MCNs, or multi-channel networks, are teams of YouTube channels that band collectively. This may be helpful for branding, gaining a bigger viewers, and splitting sponsorship income. Model businesses typically run these networks, and should use a panel or dashboard to handle all of these channels directly.

MCNs are just a little antiquated now. Creators during the last decade or so might have wished to affix an MCN so they might get entry to the corporate’s panel that might assist streamline and professionalize the creator’s workflow, displaying their income, paystubs, and different data.

Immediately YouTube gives a lot of this data on to creators. However corporations nonetheless provide comparable panels and providers at this time. 

So, I discovered an organization that appeared to supply certainly one of these MCN panels. After getting in contact and arranging a telephone name with somebody who works inside certainly one of these corporations, I agreed to not publish his identify nor the identify of his firm so he might speak extra candidly about what was occurring with MCNs, and hopefully, the thriller over the ‘wtch’ URL.

“Everyone is super secretive about it,” the corporate supply stated. “It’s so stupid,” he added, referring to no matter was occurring with these YouTube URLs. After I requested him to elaborate, the corporate supply stated persons are taking customized YouTube URLs by submitting requests to YouTube, claiming that the URL ought to belong to them. Ordinarily, a YouTube channel’s URL could also be one thing like youtube.com/channel/ after which a string of seemingly random characters. Individuals can apply for their very own customized URL too.

However what in order for you a URL that isn’t actually the identify of your model, or media outlet, or the rest? The supply stated that individuals who desire a particular customized YouTube URL usually message him, typically round ten folks a month, in his place at an organization concerned with MCNs. The folks would ask him to place in a request for a selected YouTube URL for them, one thing that these with an MCN panel can do, the supply stated. As a legit enterprise, the corporate at all times denies such requests, the individual stated. 

Apparently, the individual stated that those that are concerned in these YouTube video games are additionally usually concerned in websites resembling OGUSERs. That rang a bell: for years, my colleagues and I’ve lined that website, which is a discussion board the place folks commerce Instagram and different social media handles. Sometimes, the usernames can be single phrases or nouns that are tougher to register, and thus extra worthwhile. Typically, OGUSERs members will hack into these accounts after which promote them for hundreds or tens of hundreds of {dollars}. Some folks acquire them for the clout.

I seemed on the OGUSERs discussion board, and, certain sufficient, there was somebody promoting what they described as a “YouTube URL claim service.” The one that supplied the service, who glided by the username F, claimed to me in a chat on the messaging app Telegram that “I do not go out of my way to contact YouTube myself or offer any guidance that would go against their terms of service. My goal is to put my client in a position to where they get the URL they desire most safely and stand out in a positive manner moving forward so their investment pays for itself.”

In addition to promoting a service for getting maintain of particular YouTube URLs, some folks promote the URLs they’ve managed to acquire, the supply on the firm stated. 

So ‘wtch’ was virtually like a type of laborious to get and good to have Instagram handles, just for YouTube. Scammers have been doing this kind of factor with YouTube for years, but it surely’s solely actually taken off not too long ago, they added. One purpose may be that the cash round Twitter and Instagram handles has dried up, they stated.

When it got here to the ‘wtch’ trick, the individual thought what occurred was that somebody had, it was now clear, obtained the customized URL youtube.com/wtch. The corporate supply couldn’t inform if whoever managed ‘wtch’ had put within the request to YouTube themselves or purchased possession of the URL from another person, though the latter was their finest guess.

I needed to communicate to the one one who would actually know: whoever managed the ‘wtch’ URL.

KT, my authentic tipster, revealed how that they had managed to search out some details about how this ‘wtch’ trick was taking part in out. That they had been in contact with the individual behind it. KT gave me this individual’s Discord username and I reached out.

“Hiya,” they replied, utilizing the deal with SeedTech. SeedTech requested me to confirm I used to be actually who I stated I used to be. So I confirmed them my Twitter account and advised them in a couple of minutes I’ll tweet a hyperlink to a selected article. That satisfied them.

SeedTech confirmed a lot of what I had heard earlier, and in addition talked about that folks do purchase and promote customized YouTube URLs. They defined that to get a customized YouTube URL, channels wanted to have no less than 100 subscribers, a banner and a profile image, and a desired URL suffix that isn’t lower than 5 characters in size.

‘Wtch’ nonetheless was solely 4 characters. How was the attainable? SeedTech stated that the customized URL truly included an underscore, and was ‘_wtch_’. YouTube solely counts letters and dashes in direction of the character depend, SeedTech stated, so the URL seems to be solely 4 characters. 

SeedTech despatched me screenshots of what seemed to be an choice of their panel that permit them select the place to redirect guests to their customized URLs in direction of. They then made a tweak themselves and advised me to verify the ‘wtch’ URL.

I did what I had achieved a month earlier. I loaded up a random YouTube video, once more, most likely one thing online game associated, and eliminated the ‘a’. This time after urgent enter, a YouTube web page appeared, asking if I used to be certain I wished to depart its website. After clicking “GO TO SITE,” I landed on vice.com. SeedTech had proved they managed ‘wtch’ by altering the redirect to the corporate I work for.

‘Wtch’ was SeedTech’s plaything. He might make it redirect to no matter web page he wished. Possibly he might promote it. Or he might preserve it. In the intervening time, it was extra of a collectible.

SeedTech stated there are various kinds of redirects too. Whereas some could go to a selected web page, others are conditional. In that if, say, YouTube believes the customer is over 50 years outdated and in America, they’ll get despatched to at least one web page. In the event that they’re in the UK, feminine, and below 50, they’ll go some place else.

In addition they made a distinction between the kind of URLs that they had, and true “vanity” ones. With theirs, the customized URL for the channel could possibly be youtube.com/wtch, however when clicking on numerous tabs on the channel’s web page, resembling “videos” or “playlists,” the URL would change to a much less elegant trying one, resembling youtube.com/c/_wtch_/movies. True vainness URLs, although, protect their customized identify even when flicking by way of tabs. Comparable to youtube.com/motherboard/movies. SeedTech stated they haven’t been in a position to get certainly one of these extra fascinating vainness URLs.

One slight thriller remained although. I discussed that earlier than the URL redirected to a selected channel, it had been taking guests to a Minecraft profile. SeedTech requested me to make clear.

“I was actually not aware of this, I think this may have been done by crazy when he has access to the channel,” SeedTech stated, seemingly referring to a different person.

YouTube didn’t reply to my a number of requests for remark despatched since mid-February.

As for why SeedTech wished the ‘wtch’ customized URL, they stated “I wanted the wtch URL since It’s a common misspelling of watch, and seemed likely to get some traffic, I know Watc + Wath did.” They have been proper; I visited it a number of instances no less than.

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