YouTube shares an update on unlisted videos

YouTube has made a few changes to the visibility and discoverability of unlisted videos as a part of a security update to the system that generates new YouTube Unlisted links.

Unlisted videos uploaded on YouTube before 2017 will be set as private, starting July 23, 2021. For the unacquainted, unlisted videos can only be seen, shared, or discovered via links for that video and are not discoverable on any of the tabs or via search by keywords. Private videos can only be seen by the creator/uploader and the people they choose.

YouTube will notify the users who have been directly impacted by this change, and these users can also take a few actions who may opt-out of this change. Specifically for videos that are embedded on public platforms outside of YouTube such as a publisher's website or other third-party sites.

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Users can fill out a form and submit it before July 23, 2021, to keep the Unlisted videos uploaded before 2017 unaffected by the change and in their current state which may be 'Public'. And if these videos have been embedded on any other sites, they will continue to remain functional.

Unlisted videos uploaded before 2017 can also be altered to the state of being 'Public' to be visible for YouTube users. Older unlisted videos can also be reuploaded under the new system for users who would like to go through the new security update. Views, comments, likes, and any of such data wouldn't be transferrable for the new upload, and old links embedded on other sites would have to be updated with the new URL.