Snapchat To Stop Recommending Fully AI-Generated Videos On Spotlight
Snapchat will stop recommending videos that are entirely AI-generated on its Spotlight feature, updating its recommendation systems to prioritise original, human-created content.
- Platform: Snapchat, Spotlight feature
- Change: fully AI-generated videos no longer recommended; content edited or enhanced with Snapchat's own AI tools remains eligible
- Effective: August 2026
- Context: unique Spotlight contributors up more than 120% year-on-year
A Narrow Line Between "Enhanced" And "Generated"
The policy draws a specific line rather than a blanket one: content entirely generated by AI loses recommendation eligibility, while content a creator has enhanced or edited using Snapchat's own AI creative tools stays eligible, now carrying a transparency indicator. Snapchat said, "No detection system is perfect, but our goal is simple: keep Spotlight a place where authentic creativity has the best opportunity to be discovered," acknowledging the distinction will not catch everything but treating it as the right place to draw the boundary.
A Growth Problem As Much As A Trust One
The change lands against a backdrop of rapid growth on Spotlight, with unique contributors up more than 120% year-on-year, growth that can just as easily be diluted by low-quality, repetitive AI content as it can be strengthened by more creators. Snapchat's own framing acknowledges AI can be a legitimate creative tool and a source of new forms of expression, but the recommendation change is aimed specifically at limiting fully synthetic, low-effort content from crowding out human-made videos in a feature built to discover new creators.
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