# A news bot spotted in the wild of YouTube? Or foreign fake news makers in training? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477 "2020-09-13T04:29:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/1 "2020-09-13T04:29:19Z")
So I looked for video news of construction workers that recently removed a confederate statue, on orders from the city or an university in Charlottesville, the Google search pointed at a Guardian news video. Well that was amusing now, but I wonder if this News Time (nothing in the “About” section BTW) outfit is not a preparation for something that will be deployed soon for less ethical reasons… or an all thumbs ESL video student with no clue. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYkqIPGS1LI) First some odd things: First frame makes it look like a video from the guardian, it is not. Then after a generic shot of civil war soldiers the narrator talks about the bronze plaques of the statues being removed too and… the video shows a dental procedure looking for dental plaque 🤨, then there is a quote from an activist reporting that they are _moving the needle_. Anyone with some experience with idioms knows that it refers to: > **[Move-the-needle Definition & Meaning | YourDictionary](https://www.yourdictionary.com/move-the-needle)** > > Move-the-needle definition: To shift the situation in some area, activity, sphere etc. to a noticeable degree. > 1. To shift the situation in some area, activity, sphere etc. to a noticeable degree. > > _We need to move the needle on global poverty._ > > Origin > > From the indicator [needle](https://www.yourdictionary.com/needle) of a measuring instrument such as the [speedometer](https://www.yourdictionary.com/speedometer). But whoever or whatever put this video report together shows a video shot of a… hypodermic needle! More odd things are that when protesters are shown, we get a shot of an unrelated protest in Spain, Argentina or other Hispanic nation. An the audio gets louder later. 🤦🏽‍♂️ So what you guys think? Bot training or foreign guys practicing to create distractions for the coming election or international incident? ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/2 "2020-09-13T04:45:46Z")
The narration seems to be verbatim from an actual article at The Guardian, which also features a photograph likely used for the first frame of this video. > **[Crowd cheers as Charlottesville takes down statue of Confederate soldier](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/12/charlottesville-statue-confederate-soldier)** > > Bronze figure known as ‘At Ready’ has stood in university town, which was rocked by white supremacist march in 2017, for 111 years I also noticed the background music slowly increasing in volume toward the end, eventually overwhelming the voiceover. I wonder if The Guardian (which I took to be a generally reliable source of news) has a case for having this video taken down even though they’re credited for it in the video description. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/3 "2020-09-13T04:57:04Z")
Clearly a ‘newsbot’, and hilarious 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/4 "2020-09-13T16:21:21Z")
Although I do wonder if a newsbot would be so deceptive as to add a **single** frame shot of a real report that does not appear in the rest of the video. IIRC when I looked at how that takes place some editors can add a single frame from another source, and it is not at random that that takes place, editors can make an specific frame to become the thumbnail of the video. Seems to me that it is done to poison the Google and YouTube recommendations. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/5 "2020-09-13T16:22:35Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Although I do wonder if a newsbot would be so deceptive as to add a **single** frame shot of a real report that does not appear in the rest of the video. It’s the source of the story so they threw it in. It’s just doing some very simple word associations to select the video. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/6 "2020-09-13T16:30:41Z")
Oh I found it, I was not imagining things: > **[How to make a thumbnail for your YouTube videos, using a frame from the video...](https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/streaming/how-to-make-a-thumbnail-for-youtube)** > > To make a custom thumbnail for YouTube, you can use editing tools available on your PC or Mac computer. The important bit to me is this one: > You can choose a video thumbnail when you initially upload the video, or later, when the video has been processed. **You can even change it after it’s published.** Well see later if the makers of that video do the right thing and remove that deceptive frame and text. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/7 "2020-09-13T16:41:44Z")
Ah! I see what you are getting at. I thought lots of videos did that kind of thing. There’s usually a shot of a scantily clad young woman doing something remotely related to the title of the video. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/8 "2020-09-13T17:00:37Z")
As an aside: This is bugging me, that video did remind me of a joke a stand-up comedian said once: “I was going for the gingivitis trophy but I only got a plaque!” 😁 Any one remembers who was that comedian? (circa 1990-2000) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-news-bot-spotted-in-the-wild-of-youtube-or-foreign-fake-news-makers-in-training/920477/9 "2021-01-24T19:11:19Z")
Update: That account was: [Arnold Schwarzenegger voice] Terminated… [/ASv] > Video unavailable > > This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.