This is what I said in a previous comment:
Subways Takes definitely bears responsibility, but probably so does Proton.
Since I have been following Subway Takes, I have personally never seen them do sponsored ads. I would be surprised if Proton is their first, though. If I’m right about that, I am curious if their previous sponsored ads are as covert.
It’s possible that it was deliberate decision on Proton’s part to not use YouTube’s collaboration display because when you use the collaboration display, the video appears on both channels. It’s also possible this is a mistake on Subway Takes or there is an issue with YouTube.
I personally think that it would have been better to mention Proton in the video.
Why exactly?
(I haven’t kept up with this thread since I commented so not sure if explained before)
As I said in a previous comment, last year, YouTube introduced a collaborator display, which lets you know when multiple channels collaborated on the same video. Instagram has the same collaborator display feature, and on both Proton’s and Subway Take’s IG accounts, they have used it for this ad.
I don’t know how collaborator displays work, but my guess is that it is not possible to use a collaborator display without the explicit consent of all the collaborators. Meaning, that Privacy Guides’s YouTube channel can’t make a video with a collaborator display showing MKBHD’s channel profile, without MKBHD’s consent.
So if Subway Takes did not have a Proton collaborator display on YouTube, despite having one on Instagram, it is possible that Proton declined to use it for YouTube. Or they forgot to consent, or Subway Takes forgot to request for consent, or there they both consented, but there is an issue with YouTube that prevents it from working.
It is unclear if collaborator displays are mandatory for sponsored ads. My guess is they are not. Imagine if Proton agreed to use collaborator displays for all the YouTubers they sponsor. That would mean that if you went to Proton’s YouTube channel profile, you would be able to see all the channels they sponsor. It would occupy a significant portion of their channel. Maybe they don’t want that. I don’t know. I am just speculating.
Unnecessary discussion, IMHO
2 Likes
I just randomly stumbled upon another Subway Takes video, and it has the official Paid Promotion label on the video. It is clearly visible. If that label wasn’t there I would have never known this video is a sponsored ad.
The title of video also indicates that it’s a sponsored ad, but because it is too long, it is not visible on YouTube Shorts. I can only see it when I play the video on FreeTube because FreeTube doesn’t display shorts in the vertical short format.
Nuuly, the sponsor, is apparently a rental clothing company and the bag that the woman is carrying is apparently from their website. I only know this because I visited their website. Had I not, it would have never occurred to me.
It’s weird that Subway Takes included the paid promo label on this video but not on the one they did for Proton. If I had to guess, I’d say that neither of the guests in these sponsored videos work for the company they are promoting. It’s also weird that that Subway Takes didn’t use the collaborator display when Nuuly has a YouTube channel.
On Instagram they used the collaborator display:
The YouTube video doesn’t indicate who the guest is, but it does on Instagram and TikTok. She doesn’t work for Nuuly. She’s a comedian. So I am guessing the guest for the Proton ad doesn’t work for Proton either.
Other than having to hold the Nuuly bag, I wouldn’t say that the Nuuly ad is staged in terms of the conversation the people are having. But I’m more doubtful about the Proton video. It’s definitely not random that the guest talked about privacy. She was probably asked to do it.
The TikTok video also clearly indicates it’s an ad.
If you consider Proton and Nuuly’s sponsored ads on their own, without the titles or any other paratextual elements, you would never know that these videos are ads, which is why having labels is important.
3 Likes
Isn’t your problem more with how YouTube or this weird Subway Takes channel handles things?
But if you have questions for Proton just reach out to them and ask if it’s such a big deal for you personally.
I honestly don’t know why you’re making such a big deal out of it and I also don’t know what you’re trying to say with your last message.
This two mouthed advertising is insane. How is proton simultaneously for activists and reporters but not for people who are Edward Snowden and have powerful state adversaries. Isn’t the primary purpose of a journalist is to draw state ire? Is an activist someone who sends polite requests to state and is never persecuted according to Proton?
This is just mind boggling how strong the loyalty to this company is among people who are supposed to be sceptical of companies.
Journalists are taught to assess their adversaries before ever sending a message, and they learn on day one that no email protocol not even Proton can hide metadata from a top tier intelligence agency. They are already fully aware of what to send and what not to send. They know Proton is a reliable tool for blocking corporate espionage or local legal harassment, or dragnet surveillance.
But the second their threat model escalates to a powerful state adversary, their training dictates they abandon email entirely and switch to anonymous out of band systems. Proton isn’t tricking them with “two mouthed” advertising, Proton’s disclaimer is just repeating the exact same security journalists are already taught in their own newsrooms.
Long thread here but we hear you – the YouTube short is not properly captioned to make it 100% apparent that this is a sponsored engagement. On other platforms it is easily apparent i.e. Instagram since we used the collaboration feature.
Not sure what went wrong here, but we’ll reach out to SubwayTakes to help us insert a “#ad” in the caption. Thanks for flagging!
6 Likes
The issue is that there is no clear indication this is an ad. There are three parties involved, the platform (YouTube), and the channels collaborating together (Subway Takes and Proton). Both Subway Takes and Proton have a responsibility to verify that the ad is displayed correctly. It’s possible that there is a bug with YouTube, which is where they would bear some responsibility.
The question was primarily aimed at this community as I am not intimately familiar with the rules of advertising on YouTube. But yes, it is also a good idea to ask Proton.
I watched this video with the full intention of sharing it here, without realizing it was an ad. Most likely, many people who saw it on YouTube didn’t realize it was an ad either. All the comments seem to indicate as much. It’s important to flag these issues, because audiences deserve to know when they are presented with a sponsored ad. Proton being a known privacy company, warrants having a discussion about the issue at stake.
Thank you for acknowledging the problem. Hopefully it gets sorted.
2 Likes
