I have been conducting an investigation into false flagging ever since my Youtube Partnership was destroyed by competition. My videos were online for 3 years, without any problems, then suddenly I was mass flagged. 100% unique original videos, no copyrites or music, just videos about fishing advice.
I checked other related "fishing" videos. I found another Youtube partner with similar videos. Then I discovered he was using my recently flagged video's Titles, tags, and the exact descriptions for each video, all uploaded with his videos about fishing. He did this because my video became #1 in the search for "Saltwater fishing advice".....which used to be his #1 spot. Shortly after my video was dropped the first time, his video was back in the #1 spot once again.
I did not flag back, because I wanted to know how he flagged 50 videos so quickly each time on my account.
Then I learned about the Youtube "Auto-Flag Robots". To all Youtube employees....Flag Robots do exist. I know you know this, but if you don't, then now you do.
I also have a solution to stop the flag robots, a VERY easy one. Use CAPTCHA for EACH TIME SOMEONE WANTS TO FLAG. I know that CAPTCHA is currently used for flagging....after you flag 3 times. 3 times is plenty for a Flag-Robot to work. The "Macros" logs into the fake youtube account...flags 2 times, so as not to pass the 3rd and activate the CAPTCHA...the robot logs out, changes the IP, logs back into another account, Flags the same video again 2 times, logs back out...repeat. repeat.
If flagging required CAPTCHA every time, the flagging robots could not work, because they would be blocked by the CAPTCHA on the very first try, each time.
BTW All of this "FLagging Robot" stuff can be found in online forums...even today. But you have to be a member to see the whole info. Being the sneaky little ninja spy that I am, I became a member of these forums to get the low down, and bring it to youtube's attention. Your welcome.
There are many things that youtube can implement, that would easily "Slow down" false flagging. It can never be stopped, but shit man, we can at least stop making it so easy that a damn robot can do it.
Here are my other ideas.
1) Track "Unnatural Human Behavior" for flagging. By this I mean, if a youtube account only logs in for a brief period of time, only to flag a few videos, and then logs back out. THIS SHOULD SEND A RED LIGHT WARNING TO YOUTUBE. This account should be reviewed for suspicious activity.
2) If a video has been online for 3 years, and never been flagged, but suddenly it gets flagged 40 times. YOUTUBE SHOULD INVESTIGATE EACH ACCOUNT INVOLVED IN THIS SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOR. Every account involved in flagging that video should have activated a Red Light so youtube can investigaye further. Youtube has robots too, used to detect these kind of things, so why not use them to detect suspicious flagging behavior?
3) Anyone detected of false flagging, via the Youtube flag-abuse detection system, should get a warning strike. 3 strikes....and the account is suspended. Furthermore, all videos that have been flagged by that account need to be re-instated if they have been flagged. Let the video run again and see....does it get flagged again? Does it not? If the video was really offensive, it will get flagged again. If it was falsly flagged, it will remain, until the flaggers can get organized again.
Think about this Youtube. This will "Lighten your workload" because you will not have to "Review" so many videos. Think of how much workload those Flag-Robots are putting on you. You have to review each of those videos...for no reason...because a robot flagged it. Simply making CAPTCHA required for EVERY time a person uses the flag button, would stop the robots. Today. The robots would not work anymore. Even if they make the robots able to use CAPTCHA...it would ceritanly slow them down.
That is all I have for this. I am not angry at anyone...I just want to offer my simple, easily implemented solution. Youtube already has CAPTCHA for flag button...but they should make it so you must use CAPTCHA every time you wish to flag. Not just on the 3rd or 4th flag attempt. Each time.
Thank you. I hope these ideas can help.