Showing your computer screen during a live stream is risky and more often than not, some viewers will be waiting to pounce and use any sensitive information that gets revealed on-screen.
Comedy YouTuber and streamer twomad recently experienced this first hand when he showed his YouTube Creator Studio tab during a live stream and displayed the redemption code for his one million subscriber plaque on-screen.
Shortly after revealing the code, twomad realized that one of his viewers had used it to steal his award and shouted: “What? Somebody just took my one million plaque.”
twomad pleaded with his audience to “give it back” and later tweeted the clip and asked Team YouTube for help.
While twomad’s experience is a lesson to all creators that you should never reveal any sensitive information during a live stream, it also highlights the weaknesses in YouTube’s system for handing out subscriber plaques.
YouTube has used this same code-based system for years instead which, as can be seen in this situation, can result in anyone claiming a YouTuber’s plaque, if they manage to get access to the code.
Since the system has been used for several years, it’s unclear if YouTube plans to make any changes and add more verification steps to the process to protect against the awards being stolen in this way.
