Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

YouTube now requires users who run fan accounts to “make it obvious” in their channel name or handle that they don’t actually represent the company or artist that their account revolves around. That’s according to an update spotted earlier by 9to5Google, which says the new impersonation policy goes into effect on August 21st, 2023.

Previously, YouTube’s policies never carved out rules for fan accounts. It simply stated that channels designed to impersonate other channels or specific people aren’t allowed on the platform. But now, fan accounts must be clear that they aren’t affiliated with whoever their accounts are dedicated to or else risk having their account or channel deleted.

“Content intended to impersonate a person or channel is…

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