Overview
The YouTube Views Down Controversy or the YouTube August 10th Controversy refers to claims that many YouTubers’ views significantly started lowering starting on August 10th, 2025. Some people blamed algorithm changes and an update rolled out on August 13th, 2025, that required accounts of people in multiple countries suspected to be under 18 to verify their age. YouTuber Josh Strife Hayes put forward the theory that channels with historically more desktop than mobile viewers were being suppressed starting on August 10th, sharing data from several other YouTubers that purportedly supports this theory. The hit to viewership was reported by many big YouTubers and creators, including DarkViperAU[1], Ludwig[2], Linus Tech Tips[3] and more. In mid-September 2025, YouTube[4] claimed that the lowering viewership was due to ad blocker extensions, which can, allegedly, sometimes make certain views on videos not count.
Background
August 13th Age Verification Update
On August 13th, 2025, YouTube rolled out an age verification update that requires accounts suspected to be held by people under the age of 18 to verify that they are adults. This update affected several countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
YouTubers Notice Dropping Views
In early September 2025, some YouTubers began addressing their lowering view counts in videos and posts on social media.
For example, on September 2nd, 2025, the LMG Clips YouTube channel, run by Linus Tech Tips, posted a video in which they discuss the lowering views, suggesting there was some change to how their videos are served to YouTube users, garnering over 214,000 views in two weeks.
On September 7th, Jeff Geerling posted an article about the dropping views, sharing graphs relating to his own YouTube channel’s lowering views.
Developments
Josh Strife Hayes’ Investigations
On September 12th, 2025, YouTuber Josh Strife Hayes posted a video sharing the results of his independent investigation into lowering views, garnering over 160,000 views in four days. In the video, Hayes claims the drops started on August 10th and that views from desktop PCs were the most affected, not mobile. His hypothesis is that “channels that are historically watched on desktop are counting desktop views lower than usual.”
Ad Blockers Claim
On September 15th, 2025, a YouTube employee made a post on the Google[5] Support page addressing lower view counts. The post lists four possible reasons for lower view counts, including “Return to Baseline,” “On-Platform Competition,” “Viewers Using Ad Blockers & Other Content Blocking Tools,” and “Seasonal Viewing Habits.”
That day, X user @YouTubeInsider, run by YouTube’s Creator Liaison Rene Ritchie, made a post claiming that ad blockers are responsible for the lower view counts. The post shares the claims about ad blockers leading to lower views.
Online Reactions
The drop in views was discussed by many YouTubers as the phenomenon became more widespread and sparked discourse online, especially in September 2025.
On September 14th, 2025, YouTuber Cr1tikal[6] posted a video reacting to Hayes’ video, garnering over 1.2 million views in two days. In the video, Cr1tikal checks his analytics and notices a similar pattern to Josh Hayes, where desktop viewership dropped. He also wonders if it could be an algorithm change, but doubts it.