4 ms·

Opening YouTube on a new machine / OS / browser / without login is eye opening in terms of the awful stuff that gets recommended by default and how quickly it t

Opening YouTube on a new machine / OS / browser / without login is eye opening in terms of the awful stuff that gets recommended by default and how quickly it tilts worse if you watch any of it.

shmeeed 11mo ago
This, so much! It's outright disgusting. I have no idea why we tolerate this as a society. I fear it is because this diagnosis isn't widely known, it's happening on the fringes. Everybody, including journalists and tech people, is moving about their own algorithmic bubble nearly all the time. They just can't imagine how bad the situation has become out there. We're turning a blind eye to the very thing that is destroying our societies.
fakedang 11mo ago
Every time I open YouTube in incognito mode, depending on the region I'm in, I get recommended either far-right content, Bitcoin grifters, Israel shills, nauseating YouTube vitality factories or straight up Jihadist/Hindutva/Christian-right content.
- luke5441 11mo ago
  For me it is empty here (EU). They don't even have a link to trending in the side-bar anymore. It just tells to search for something.
  - fakedang 11mo ago
    Please share your secret settings! I get recommended Christian-right stuff talking about bringing back the Crusades.
    - luke5441 11mo ago
      No settings, just a new private tab (so no cookies). I tested with a VPN to the US, and same thing there...
nyc_data_geek 11mo ago
I just did this on Youtube for the first time in a while, and it won't show me videos unless I start watching things first, unless I go to Shorts, where I am presented with an infinite scroll of what appears to be deeply unsettling and uncanny short AI generated engagement bait videos. It's baffling to me that they get away with this.
- steveBK123 11mo ago
  Re: AI I've noticed on YT there are some informercial level ads that are super obvious AI voice overs where it feels like they straight up lifted another ad and put their own dialog on top of it

Opening YouTube on a new machine / OS / browser / without login is eye opening in terms of the awful stuff that gets recommended by default and how quickly it tilts worse if you watch any of it.

shmeeed 11mo ago

This, so much! It's outright disgusting. I have no idea why we tolerate this as a society. I fear it is because this diagnosis isn't widely known, it's happening on the fringes. Everybody, including journalists and tech people, is moving about their own algorithmic bubble nearly all the time. They just can't imagine how bad the situation has become out there. We're turning a blind eye to the very thing that is destroying our societies.

fakedang 11mo ago

Every time I open YouTube in incognito mode, depending on the region I'm in, I get recommended either far-right content, Bitcoin grifters, Israel shills, nauseating YouTube vitality factories or straight up Jihadist/Hindutva/Christian-right content.

luke5441 11mo ago
For me it is empty here (EU). They don't even have a link to trending in the side-bar anymore. It just tells to search for something.
- fakedang 11mo ago
  Please share your secret settings! I get recommended Christian-right stuff talking about bringing back the Crusades.
  - luke5441 11mo ago
    No settings, just a new private tab (so no cookies). I tested with a VPN to the US, and same thing there...

nyc_data_geek 11mo ago

I just did this on Youtube for the first time in a while, and it won't show me videos unless I start watching things first, unless I go to Shorts, where I am presented with an infinite scroll of what appears to be deeply unsettling and uncanny short AI generated engagement bait videos. It's baffling to me that they get away with this.

steveBK123 11mo ago
Re: AI I've noticed on YT there are some informercial level ads that are super obvious AI voice overs where it feels like they straight up lifted another ad and put their own dialog on top of it