# Weird videos and thumbnails on You Tube - what are they for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 29, 2023, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864 "2023-09-29T14:15:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/1 "2023-09-29T14:15:45Z")
There’s this weird-ass channel (I’m sure there are others that are similar, but this is the one I’ve noticed) on You Tube with a woman who purports to do knitting videos. Most of the thumbnails show a picture of her. However, she has several videos with really weird thumbnails showing various Fox News hosts with chyrons like “Trump catches Biden buying gun” or advertising other events that even the most hardcore trumpers must know aren’t true because Trump isn’t in any office right now, so no he didn’t throw Biden in jail or whatever. And the chyrons will have weird punctuation like a period in the middle of a word or sentence. Also, the video titles are in irregular fonts that show up on YT but translate as empty squares on a smart TV. If you are unfortunate and misguided enough to click in the video, there will be a segment of Fox News that must have been copied from their channel’s footage, then after a while the knitting woman comes on. She has lots of people commenting on the Fox portions of her videos, so is she doing this to get viewer engagement because her knitting content is just not cutting it? Also the channel name is not anything close to “Fox News” and actually sounds like a foreign name of some kind, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/2 "2023-09-29T14:43:21Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > She has lots of people commenting on the Fox portions of her videos What are they saying? Are they confused about it or commenting on it like it was the main purpose of the video? Has the channel been around for a while? Is it possible it’s to get segments of Fox into countries/areas where it might otherwise be censored? Do you want to give us an example? I can’t say I’ve ever seen anything like what you’re describing. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/3 "2023-09-29T14:44:44Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > “Trump catches Biden buying gun” Also, was that made up or real, and if it’s real was it before or after Trump got caught buying a gun? ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/4 "2023-09-29T14:46:27Z")
Being YouTube, maybe give us some links so we can see? ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/5 "2023-09-29T20:09:59Z")
I thought it might be unseemly to link it here, but okay. [Weird video](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCyjl1l2tyU) The channel is Citlembik TV. The above example seems to just be a regular segment from Fox. It starts out talking about Diane Feinstein having passed away. Everything just seems to be regular ol’ Fox News content but advertised with really weird thumbnails. The people who comment on the videos seem to be Fox News fans and comment about the political content, not the knitting. Also an interview with Karen Pence. The knitting content starts suddenly at time stamp 31:39. The user does have a pinned comment saying, “Do you like Trump?” So it’s not an accident for sure that her content is mixed with Fox. I think you’d have to go to the channel page to see the thumbnails, which is the really weird part to me. [Really weird thumbnails](https://m.youtube.com/@citlembiktivi/videos) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/6 "2023-09-29T21:07:48Z")
I wonder if the channel\* was hacked. It’s called ÇitlemBikTV, but the about section says Lan Anh Handmade Channel. The videos with the Fox segment for the first half hour cut back to her in the middle of doing something for the last 15 minutes. On top of that, all the Fox videos were uploaded in the last few hours. She does appear to upload a lot, so it’s possible all of the videos that were uploaded today would have been uploaded anyway, but my WAG is that she didn’t intend to have the Fox part at the beginning of them. \*Either her channel or some type of service where she can store the videos between filming and uploading them. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2023, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/7 "2023-09-29T21:49:05Z")
That’s weird. I hadn’t noticed the discrepancy between the channel name and the “about” section. But why would someone need to hack another channel when “ÇitlemBik” could just start their own channel and start uploading stolen Fox content or whatever they wanted? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/8 "2023-10-07T23:39:39Z")
The account has been terminated and all content removed. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/9 "2023-10-08T01:56:09Z")
Oh, good. I hadn’t checked back and figured YouTube would just let it keep going, even though it seemed like a scam account. Still can’t understand what they were trying to achieve. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/10 "2023-10-08T10:51:26Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > Still can’t understand what they were trying to achieve. Brainwashing? If you watch them ironically, or out of curiosity, it will eventually permeate your subconscious, and you will be a trump fan, and hate everything good? Join us! Or possibly not. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/11 "2023-10-08T18:54:42Z")
> [@Skypist](#): > > Still can’t understand what they were trying to achieve. If the account had indeed been hacked, maybe the only thing they were trying achieve was pure vandalism, just to prove to their friends that they could. Not everything has some grand agenda behind it. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/12 "2023-10-20T03:49:36Z")
Here they are again. The same random Fox News content with strange thumbnails and the Asian knitting/crafts woman spliced in toward the end. Different channel name. [“JOE FOR.GETS HIS SPEECH”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_sZLkzMzoU) [“JOE RESIGNS AFTER THE VISIT”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSjBJaPMbrE) I guess I’m used to most video creators on YT wanting views, so that’s what I’m expecting this is rather than vandalism of someone’s crafting channel. Oh, and the channel is named “DIY” but has pictures of food across the top. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/13 "2023-10-20T14:49:35Z")
Those both seemed normal to me, other than the missing audio. I’m assuming they were fixed since you posted this, which IMO, pushes this more towards it being hacked rather than something the creator did on purpose. However, a whole bunch of those videos are in a playlist called Trump 2024. But that could be something that was mixed when the channel was being fixed. I’m still curious if this is being used as a way to get clips of Fox News into countries (or to specific people) that aren’t otherwise able to access it. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/14 "2023-10-20T15:06:45Z")
OMG that is super weird. Now it’s just the knitting content! The previous channel that was closed had the same woman knitting spliced into recycled Fox content. This channel was just the same last night but has now reverted back to just the knitting. And last night all the Fox videos had lots of comments from supposed viewers all saying that we needed Trump to be president again in 2024. I wondered if they might be comments from bots since they were all so similar. ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/15 "2023-10-22T19:45:03Z")
Yet another Fox content spliced with knitting content channel has popped up. It has 100,000 subscribers and is called the “Yen Channel.” I won’t post any more examples, I promise. It’s just so weird to me since I thought everything on social media was about getting views (views = money). This seems like a lot of effort to just be a troll, but maybe it is. And this really ISN’T about Fox or Trump to me. It’s more about what is going on with the weird thumbnails. It feels like whoever is doing this is trying to scam old people who watch Fox News or something. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/16 "2023-10-22T22:41:19Z")
Maybe it’s the 21st Century take on a numbers station? > **[Numbers station](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_station)** > > A numbers station is a shortwave radio station characterized by broadcasts of formatted numbers, which are believed to be addressed to intelligence officers operating in foreign countries. Most identified stations use speech synthesis to vocalize numbers, although digital modes such as phase-shift keying and frequency-shift keying, as well as Morse code transmissions, are not uncommon. Most stations have set time schedules, or schedule patterns; however, some appear to have no discernible patt ---
**Author:** ![dougrb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@dougrb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougrb)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-videos-and-thumbnails-on-you-tube-what-are-they-for/990864/17 "2025-06-26T22:37:57Z")
I created an imgur account to post this thumbnail in the upper right column. This is a sponsored ad for Phone Equipment and Systems. Can you hear me now? > **image needs two clicks** > > [https://imgur.com/9OUJVKE](https://imgur.com/9OUJVKE)