YouTube stops recommending videos when signed out of Google

ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 442 points – YouTube stops recommending videos when signed out of Google
bleepingcomputer.com

YouTube is no longer showing recommended videos to users logged out of a Google account or using Incognito mode, making people concerned they are being bullied into always being signed into the service.

This change, which is now rolling out, shows a simple YouTube homepage without any videos or tips on what to watch.

As noted by some on X, users who have cleaned their search and watch history or turned off their history settings also see no suggestions when they're logged in. Some people think YouTube is being pushy about this, trying to make users turn on their history settings.

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My guess,

  1. It was too hard to create a non-authenticated algorithm which could let users delete their past participation.
  2. They realized their non-auth algorithm was exposing too much info about what is going on during the upcoming election. And they are afraid that people will see all the fasc recommendations.

It has stopped doing this for me too though. I'm European. I'm assuming it's because they really want to stay on the correct side of European law.

so many companies telling on themselves when they would rather remove functionality or block countries rather than just comply with privacy regulations …

I think it's number 2. Now I can't see what the "default" presentation is (which always had 1 conspiracy theory thing).