No more YouTube recommendations on Android if video history is turned off

TheRadiatorIsWarm@sopuli.xyz to Android@lemmy.world – 173 points –

This is explained on this support answer

It's a thing on Revanced YT even if spoofing an old version. Applies to the web version as well now

This seems to be due to some new EU law ?

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Yes and no. Without a users video history (& other tracking turned off) best they can do is push random ads hoping it would hit one in a million. That is not effective and sometimes even diseffective (hitting a controversially opposite target). Tha harms YouTube on both ends more than the ad’s company

By pushing users to turn it on they apparently gain more than just pushing random horse crap.

There's not really much evidence that targeted ads work any better than random ads. Plus they already have a point of data to serve ads: what video the user is watching.

Honestly this is making me want to turn mine off, but having a watch history is very convenient

alternative youtube frontends like Invidious, Newpipe or Freetube (Desktop) keep their own watch history without letting google know