YouTube Starts Adding Watermarks To Downloaded Shorts Clips

YouTube has started adding watermarks to downloaded Shorts clips to stop users from cross-posting them to other platforms.

To stop its users from posting Shorts content on other platforms, YouTube is following in TikTok and Instagram’s footsteps with the introduction of watermarks on downloaded Shorts clips.

The feature will take a few months to appear on mobile, but YouTube says it will start rolling it out on desktop within the next few weeks. You might be wondering why YouTube is introducing this measure. The answer, of course, is competition.

While creators prefer to create their content on one platform and post it to many others, the platforms want to ensure viewers (and potential creators) know where said content originated.

As YouTube explains in its announcement:

“We’ve added a watermark to the Shorts you download so your viewers can see that the content you’re sharing across platforms can be found on YouTube Shorts.”

Translation: “This content was created on YouTube first.”

While creators on TikTok found ways to circumvent the watermark by removing it from content altogether – we can’t be sure if it can be done with Shorts. If it’s not possible, Reels creators might find it hard to grow their audiences, as Instagram recently announced it advises against creators posting Reels that are watermarked by other apps.