YouTube launches Super Chat, a tool that lets you pay to pin comments on live streams
But you’ll have to do your own troll patrol
Soon, when someone goes on a live stream, you’ll see a dollar bill symbol in the chat window. Clicking this button opens up a slider that lets you set the dollar amount you’d like to send the YouTuber. The more you pay, the longer the comment gets pinned. You’ll also get a few more characters for your message as well.
After making a payment, the comment will be highlighted in a different color to help live streamers flag a paid message. If the comment gets pushed off the chat stream, creators can also click through paid messages by clicking through colorful pins at the top of the chat window.
Super Chat will replace Fan Funding, the site’s previous tool for viewers to pay creators. YouTube’s product manager Barbara Macdonald said the goal for Super Chat is to help fans reach out to their favorite YouTubers in real time, and vice versa. “Creators can look at their messages and prioritize their biggest fans during a stream,” she said.
Super Chat is similar to what Twitch currently offers with Cheering, a way for fans to tip live streamers with chat emotes. The problem with YouTube’s version, however, is that any troll can potentially pay to pin hateful comments on the stream. For that, Macdonald said the same moderation tools that are currently offered on regular YouTube will be available for creators to blacklist chat words or ban harassing viewers — but it’s still up to the YouTuber to flag posts that work around the standard community guidelines (say, an ASCII middle finger or other hateful symbols, for example.)
YouTube says the tool is designed for viewers aged 18 and older, i.e., those with a credit card, but it’s easy to imagine how a kid might get a hold of their parents’ account and wreak havoc on their wallet. For now, MacDonald tells us that any unwanted charges could be disputed via Google’s customer service, which appear to have a pretty strict policy on “donations.”
Super Chat globally launches in beta today for select users and will roll out more broadly on January 31st. If you think better parental controls might be required, the next two and a half weeks are the best time to give YouTube your feedback.
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