[Tijdreiziger]

I’ve also noticed this on lots of YouTube videos, where the creator clearly meant one thing, but the subtitles substitute a more common, similarly-sounding word with a different meaning.

I suspect they have the videos transcribed externally, and don’t check the transcription (or only do so in a cursory manner).

[TheCapeGreek]

Or automated transcription.

For YT vids, especially shorts, it's because churning out shorts/reels/tiktoks of clips from longer form videos (and/or with the split screen gameplay of some mobile game/minecraft platforming run) is now a common tactic for trying to gain tons of views on your account for monetisation later.

[Tijdreiziger]

I’ve also frequently seen it on long-form videos. I think the transcriptions must be at least partially reviewed by humans, because YouTube already has automatic transcription for videos without subtitles.