"While trying to make improvements, we missed the mark," she wrote on Twitter. "As I write this, we're working to address your concerns & we'll have more updates soon."

To our creators & users–I'm sorry for the frustration & hurt that we caused with our new approach to verification. While trying to make improvements, we missed the mark. As I write this, we're working to address your concerns & we'll have more updates soon. — Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) September 20, 2019

YouTube said it was moving beyond subscriber counts to determine whether a channel should be verified. Instead of surpassing 100,000 subscribers (a threshold creators could game the system to reach), the service will take authenticity and prominence into account when choosing which channels to verify. In essence, it's adopting the approach of many other social platforms, which verify people if there's a solid chance they may be impersonated, or if there's a reasonable possibility they'll be confused with someone else.

As part of the change, YouTube told a group of prominent figures they'd lose the vaunted checkmark -- which it's jettisoning anyway in favor of highlighting channel names to denote verified status. That led to confusion and disappointment among many in the community, as well as concern about losing out on brand deals.