One of YouTube's most controversial features is finally making its much-requested return, although it might not take the form that many people expected it to after a six-year absence.
YouTube has had plenty of mishaps over the years and has changed dramatically since it first became the world wide web's dominant video-sharing platform in the mid 2000s.
Gone are iconic features such as the dislike button, video ratings, annotations, and even the often-maligned year-end YouTube Rewind videos that appeared to draw the ire of the website's community at large.
However, there appears to be one culled feature that has had its return requested the most, and people might have just got their wish as YouTube begins testing a new addition to the mobile app.
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As reported by Dexerto, YouTube is now testing the return of direct messages for certain users in a select number of countries, marking the first time people have been able to message each other on the platform since a similar feature was axed in 2019.
The original direct message system was first launch in 2017, allowing people to freely message pretty much any account on the platform, and allowed people to (in theory) interact with their favorite creators without having to go to another social media space.
It was removed just two years after though and 'replaced' by an increased focus on public comments, yet this new feature seems to revive the sprit of DMs in one way or another.
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It's currently only available to certain adults in either Poland or Ireland, but it's branded as an 'experimental' new way to 'share videos' with each other, allowing people to send clips and presumably Shorts and chat about them inside of the mobile app.
Your conversations will be monitored by YouTube in order to make sure that what's discussed remains compliant with the site's Community Guidelines, so what you say with others on the platform won't be entirely private.
"Our systems may scan for content that is against these policies," YouTube explains, "such as content that could cause real-world harm, and we may review flagged content."
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It's also implied that the feature will only be available to 'adults', and therefore those who go through the platform's age verification process, which some might not want to do.
Some on Reddit have previously speculated that the feature would never make a return because "there's too many younger creators," but the introduction of these age verification systems appears to have created enough of a barrier for YouTube to feel comfortable in bringing it back.