YouTube plans to make a change to its monetization policy on July 15 that appears to target «inauthentic» content. The change may be aimed at helping slow down the flood of AI-generated content on the platform to make it easier for viewers to find higher-quality videos.

The company says in a short support post, «On July 15, 2025, YouTube is updating our guidelines to better identify mass-produced and repetitious content.»

In a follow-up video message, video creator and YouTube editorial and creator liaison Rene Ritchie downplayed the impact it will have on creators who may be concerned about the changes, saying, «This is a minor update to YouTube’s longstanding YPP (YouTube Partner Program) policies to help better identify when content is mass-produced or repetitive» 

Ritchie said that kind of content is already demonetized and is what users would call spam. 

But what’s not mentioned in the post or the video is that YouTube has been battling a problem with AI-generated videos, particularly «AI slop» that is of low value to users but that is inundating social media networks and platforms such as YouTube.

The problem has gotten so bad that John Oliver recently devoted an entire episode of his HBO show to the rise of AI slop. (You can find it, incidentally, on YouTube.)

A representative for YouTube did not immediately respond to an email for comment.  

Marvel Rivals season 3 is almost upon us, bringing with it the blessing of the Phoenix Force. Jean Grey, original member of the X-Men and sometimes terror of the cosmos, is joining the roster as a new duelist. As usual, we’re also getting a new map, some balance changes and several quality of life changes when it comes to cosmetics.

And hang in there, Daywalker devotees — Blade is coming in Season 3.5 next month. 

Phoenix’s abilities in Marvel Rivals

Phoenix joins as yet another duelist — an already oversaturated role, but one that feels appropriate for her. She brings a mix of area-of-effect damage that can help chew through groups of enemies as well as mobility that lets her flit around the battlefield to find flank angles. 

Phoenix’s primary fire applies instant damage to enemies (also known as hitscan fire) and applies Spark stacks to opponents, represented by up to three flame icons above their characters. Heroes detonate at full stacks, releasing a burst of additional damage around them and healing Phoenix over time.

Her alternate fire sends a rapid-fire burst of flame that creates a series of small explosions, similar to Hela’s alternate fire. The first blast briefly stuns enemies while the other apply a slowing effect. This ability also applies Spark stacks.

Her first ability is a quick dash that leaves behind an exploding illusion, which can apply a Spark stack to any enemies hit. 

Her second ability grants Phoenix limited-duration flight, speed boost and ammo regeneration, allowing Phoenix to freely fly around the battlefield for a few seconds. The flight is on a resource meter that recharges while Phoenix isn’t flying.

Phoenix’s ultimate has a few different effects. After she leaps into the air, you aim toward a point of impact where the ultimate applies a burst damage in an area and adds a Spark stack to anyone hit. It also destroys any deployable items — think Peni nests, Rocket beacons, Namor squids — in the area. Perhaps most significantly, it removes all bonus health (represented by blue portions of a hero’s health bar), allowing Phoenix to more effectively cut through the overhealth applied by Venom’s Symbiotic Resilience ability or support ultimates like Luna Snow’s Fate of Both Worlds and Mantis’s Soul Resurgence. 

A mobile hitscan hero with a stacking mechanic and a meteoric ultimate? Yeah, sign me up. Between this and Overwatch 2’s Freja, this longtime support/strategist main may have officially turned into a damage/duelist main.

When does season 3 start?

Marvel Rivals season 3.0 is scheduled to start on Friday. Typically, this involves servers going down for a few hours around midnight PT before being turned back on for the new season in the very early morning.

What about Blade? Haven’t we waited enough?

Rivals continues to make Blade fans wait, since that hero won’t be added to the roster until season 3.5. But at least that’s only a month away under the new season structure. 

Rivals season 3 balance changes

In the Dev Visions vol. 7 video, Rivals devs gave us a quick breakdown of the upcoming balance changes, and we now have the official patch notes. 

Team-up changes

Rivals is adding two new team-ups, tacking heroes onto two existing ones and removing two others (Storming Ignition and ESU Alumnus) from the game. It’s also nerfing another. Here’s the quick rundown:

• New — Primal Flame: Phoenix anchors to add damage over time and lifesteal to Wolverine’s attacks after his leap. 
• New — Ever-Burning Bond: Human Torch anchors to let Spider-Man shoot a burning web with a flaming tracer. (The flaming tracer stacks with Spidey’s regular tracers, devs said.)
• Updated — Symbiote Shenanigans: Adds Hela, giving her Soul Drainer Hel Sphere slowing tendrils.
• Updated — Stark Protocol: Adds Squirrel Girl, giving her an explosive, homing gauntlet. 
• Updated — Guardian Revival: Devs said they’d be nerfing some element of the Guardians’ team-up.

Other things coming in season 3

The battle pass is getting some adjustments to account for shorter seasons. Battle passes still offer 10 skins, but you’ll earn tokens at a faster rate to make it easier to progress through the entire battle pass in a shorter time period. Daily missions are also going away, with weekly missions shifting to permanent quests instead of being time-limited. Seasonal missions that offer large batches of tokens are also being added.

Rivals devs also announced a new competitive mode coming in season 3.5 but said we’d have to wait for any details about it.

The game is also adding accessories (which appear to be animated stickers that float above the KO notifications), new chroma options and visual effects for ultimate abilities. Perhaps the nicest quality of life change is the ability to mix and match MVP animations with any skins, instead of having certain MVP animations locked to specific skins. 

I’m already excited

I had been falling off Rivals for the past few months, but the trailers for Phoenix and the new season got me excited all over again. I’ve played more Rivals in the past week than in the previous month, and that’s just to shake off the rust before Phoenix gets here. Once the season actually starts on Friday, I’m planning to spend even more time in the game. 

Ready to upgrade to a new phone? Now is the perfect time to take the leap. Amazon Prime Day Deals are rolling in and the Google Pixel 9A just dropped back down to its all-time lowest price. It has a lot to offer, which is why it’s among the best Pixel phones on the market and our favorite Android phone for the value. 

If you’re looking for a Pixel 9A deal to save you some cash on your upgrade, there are several options out there. But for an unlocked model that doesn’t lock you into a multiyear contract Amazon has a Prime Day deal you won’t want to miss. Right now the already affordable Pixel 9A has been slashed to just $424 — lower than yesterday’s deal priced this item at $449. That’s a $75 savings and a return to the lowest price we’ve seen on this model.

Not a fan of Amazon? This deal is also available at Best Buy and directly from the Google Store. Though you won’t save as much with the deal through Google Store.

There have been some design changes with the Pixel 9A, but change doesn’t have to be bad. Some highlights are its bright screen and solid camera performance. It has a lower RAM than the baseline Pixel 9, but it has the same display size, processor and AI features. It’s also worth noting that this particular phone lacks Satellite SOS connectivity, which is available on the rest of the Pixel 9 lineup. We have a breakdown to help you compare the 9A with the Pixel 9 and 9 Pro. 

CNET expert Patrick Holland also found the Pixel 9A cameras to be the clear winner against Apple’s budget phone, the iPhone 16E, in large part to its three camera setup featuring a wide, ultrawide and selfie cam. He noted that, «the Pixel 9A really pushes the dynamic range in its images. The phone captures more details in the shadows but really aggressively brightens them too.» 

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.  

In his review, Patrick Holland also observed that, «the Pixel 9A’s 5,100-mAh battery is the largest on any Pixel phone. But compared with the Pixel 8A, it also has a bigger screen that maxes out at 2,700-nits brightness, a more powerful processor and onboard AI processing. The result is just an OK battery life that was almost the same as last year’s Pixel 8A. Typically, I got around a single day’s use on a charge.» 

That probably works for a lot of buyers, but you can decide which specs are the most important to splurge on. That said, at under $500 you’ll get a lot of value for the price — especially in the age of impending tariffs. 

Why this deal matters

For a budget-friendly phone, Google’s Pixel 9A has a lot to offer. We love the phone at full price, so nabbing it for under $450 is a great deal. It’s currently back down to the lowest price we’ve found on this model so far, and we don’t anticipate it will drop lower any time soon.

With AI features, solid camera performance and plenty of other goodies, this phone is packed with value. But this deal could end at any time, so we recommend making your purchase soon to lock in this low price.