The return of the YouTube troll: Google ends its 'real name' commenter policy

The search company has apologized for complicating the commenting process, and reversed its 'anti-troll' real name policy on Google+


Google has reversed a policy that forced users of Google+ to use their real names, allowing anonymous commenting to recommence on YouTube after an eight-month hiatus.


The search giant’s social network, Google+, required users to register and use a proper name for their accounts, although the company did not verify the name given was a user’s real name.


In an attempt to improve the notoriously poor quality comments on most YouTube videos, Google migrated YouTube comments to a Google+powered system bringing with it the real name restrictions of the social network in November 2013.


'We apologize'


“We know that our names policy has been unclear, and this has led to some unnecessarily difficult experiences for some of our users. For this we apologise,” said Google in a post on its primary Google+ page.


Although going some way to reduce the number of poisonous comments, the real-name restrictions forced on to YouTube commenters were unpopular. Other comment systems that use Facebook for instance, post under the user’s real name as it is on Facebook.


Google explained that the real name policy on Google+ was critical to building a community. Google+ now has 343 million monthly active user accounts, according to data presented by Statista. Facebook, the largest social network has over 1.28 billion users, while Twitter has around 255 million monthly users.


'There are no more restrictions on what name you can use'


“Over the years, as Google+ grew and its community became established, we steadily opened up this policy, from allowing +Page owners to use any name of their choosing to letting YouTube users bring their usernames into Google+,” said the company. “Today, we are taking the last step: there are no more restrictions on what name you can use.”


Despite Google’s claims of no restrictions, there are a few criteria for a name that must be followed. Profile names must have a first and last name, but one of them could be an initial, they cannot impersonate another person, and names can only be changed a limited number of times.


Google also blocks the use of swear words and other terms that violate Google’s terms of service.