Summary
Highlights
The video introduces a YouTube video titled "Welcome to YouTube" that premiered on April 5th, 2005, a date earlier than "Me at the zoo," which is recognized as YouTube's first video. The presenter questions how this is possible.
Several red flags are highlighted: the use of "premiered" in 2005 (a feature not available then), the channel's join date of September 4th, 2005 (after the claimed video upload), and the unlikeliness of a simple Van Halen song being chosen as the platform's inaugural video by the founders.
The presenter demonstrates how to check the actual publication date of a YouTube video by examining the page source code. They compare a known video's upload date in the code with the 'Welcome to YouTube' video. The investigation reveals that 'Welcome to YouTube' was actually published on January 25th, 2023, not 2005.
The video explains that the seemingly old aesthetic (old music, aspect ratio, video quality) of 'Welcome to YouTube' is likely a deliberate attempt to mimic older content. The presenter suggests that the video's displayed premiere date of April 5th, 2005, was set using YouTube exploits, essentially a visual glitch or manipulation, to make it appear as though it was uploaded before "Me at the zoo."
The video concludes by referencing an interview with Jawed Karim, co-founder of YouTube, who explicitly confirms that "Me at the zoo" was the very first video uploaded to the platform as a test, dispelling any doubts about its status as the original YouTube video.