Snapchat Stops Recommending Wholly AI-Generated Videos on Spotlight

Snap said on July 31 that wholly AI-generated videos are no longer eligible for recommendation on Spotlight. The change took effect in July and updates the systems that decide which videos can be surfaced beyond the accounts that posted them.

Snap's notice changes recommendation eligibility. It does not announce an upload ban or state whether a wholly AI-generated video can still earn ad revenue.

Recommendation eligibility already appears in Snap's monetization rules. Snap's current support page requires program candidates to publish original, advertiser-friendly content that complies with its recommendation guidelines and says Spotlight videos must be at least 30 seconds long to earn revenue. Snap's monetization policy says accounts that primarily or frequently publish recommendation-ineligible content are unlikely candidates. Neither document says a single wholly AI-generated video automatically loses payment eligibility.

Snap left a route open for AI-assisted work. Content enhanced or edited using Snapchat's AI creative tools remains eligible for recommendation and will include transparency indicators, the company said. The announcement does not specify what indicator viewers will see on an eligible Spotlight video.

The July rule makes firm a direction Snap outlined in April, when it said Spotlight users would see fewer synthetic AI videos and widely syndicated posts as the service elevated original work created with the Snapchat camera. At that point, Snap said the number of U.S. creators posting to Spotlight daily had grown more than 70% year over year in the first quarter of 2026. The figure came from Snap's internal data.

Snap now says unique Spotlight contributors worldwide increased by more than 120% from the previous year, based on internal data covering July 1, 2025 through July 20, 2026. The company did not publish contributor totals alongside the percentage.

The announcement leaves enforcement details open. Snap said no detection system is perfect, but it did not explain how it will classify a video as wholly AI-generated, how much human footage or editing changes that classification, or whether creators can appeal a recommendation decision. The published boundary is narrow: wholly AI-generated videos are ineligible for recommendation, while work enhanced or edited with Snapchat's AI tools remains eligible for recommendation.