YouTube Stops Recommending Videos When Signed Out of Google (bleepingcomputer.com) 90
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: 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. Before, even in incognito mode or when not logged in, Google would still show you video suggestions. Now, users see a message saying "Get Started" and "Start watching videos to help us build a feed of videos you'll love" when they open YouTube in incognito mode, with videos no longer being recommended.
Now we complain when Google ISN'T tracking us? (Score:5, Insightful)
What, exactly, is Google supposed to recommend when viewed in incognito mode?
Clicking on any of the Explore links on the left hand side (for example, https://www.youtube.com/feed/t... [youtube.com]) still shows recommended videos. As does searching.
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What, exactly, is Google supposed to recommend when viewed in incognito mode?
Clicking on any of the Explore links on the left hand side (for example, https://www.youtube.com/feed/t... [youtube.com]) still shows recommended videos. As does searching.
Nothing its not supposed to know who you are which now proves incognito mode is BS and they do know who you are
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Browser side private mode in any browser can't keep your identity secret. Not a chance. It simply keeps your wife from knowing you watch gay monkey porn.
It's a device side-only privacy feature.
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Browser side private mode in any browser can't keep your identity secret. Not a chance. It simply keeps your wife from knowing you watch gay monkey porn.
It's a device side-only privacy feature.
It's more a "faith based" privacy system until the missus steps on a "banana peel".
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It's also a signal to the website that you don't want to be tracked or given personal recommendations. Only scummy websites ignore it.
I'm not sure what the problem is here, isn't this what we wanted? No personalized feed, nice minimal search interface like the main Google website. If you want to see trending videos, there is a trending link on the left side.
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There's 2 different things going on here that are getting mushed together, inappropriately.
If I'm in normal mode and they already know who I am from their other trackers why do I need a login to keep track of the cat videos I've already seen and for them to know that whoever I actually am likes cat videos?
If i'm in privacy mode then they just removed a client side benefit of tracking my past activity but have not enhanced my privacy at all because they still track me server side.
Either way they still track
Re: Now we complain when Google ISN'T tracking us? (Score:2)
Interesting, but I would like to check out what you mentioned. No, not the gay monkey porn ( for a friend, of course) thing but the device related stuff
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All I was saying is that privacy mode on all these browsers only does stuff like block some cookies, not store url history and other shit to scrub your surfing habits. They don't do more than that. Since Google, FB, and other privacy destroying tracking scumbags all use dozens of other metrics to profile your activity and track you across the net from the server side, there's precious little you can do on your device (laptop, iPad, pc, Mac, Linux, whatever),tohide yourself.
Even a VPN save you. It only mo
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Re:Now we complain when Google ISN'T tracking us? (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, man, Google says they are just being transparent.... but I can see right through them!
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Generic popular videos, with "potentially sensitive" stuff filtered out and several slots reserved for hand-picked channels (usually MrBeast and SSSniperWolf in the US).
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What, exactly, is Google supposed to recommend when viewed in incognito mode?
Based on what other people are watching, i.e. "what's trending". Or based on your location, e.g. what's been uploaded in your town/city/state. Or just random videos. Or whatever they have been recommending in the past.
If one wants to be obtuse and abusive like Google, then of course the answer is to recommend nothing.
P.S. of course Google is still tracking you even after you logged out or using incognito mode.
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Videos, Youtube should recommend videos.
What other content site is blank on the home page without links to content, can you imagine going to a news site that doesn't link news and instead just provides you with a search prompt, no, because that is absurd and what Youtube is doing here is also absurd. They could show most popular videos, music videos, trending videos, news videos, sport videos, tech videos, cat videos, etc etc.
Re: Now we complain when Google ISN'T tracking us? (Score:2)
Bingo. I've sent this feedback to them multiple times as well. It's completely asinine what they are doing, all in the name of coercing people to enable watch history. They could at least show recent videos from the subscriptions list on the homepage.
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This!
Also, I have my browser delete all cookies every time I close it. Once I do watch a few videos, recommendations start coming in.
Since before this change (and, to a degree, also after it), what it would recommend me sans knowing my history was right wing shit, I think this is a major improvement.
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Probably some trending stuff. Maybe based on your location/browser language.
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I just brought it up and while it's mostly blank, there's a "Trending" button on the left under "Explore". Click that and a familiar looking page of garbage shows up.
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Traditionally, if you weren't signed in yet they would recommend the most egregious drivel they could find. Computer voices reading copy-pasted content from reddit, compilation videos made entirely of two-second clips from dozens of other users' videos, that sort of thing. Absolute garbage.
Just giving you a blank search form would be a large improvement, honestly.
About data, obviously (Score:3)
This is to force you to agree to the TOS that dictate what you can and can't do, as well as consenting to building a cross-channel analytics profile on you as a person. Also their whole "by using an adblocker you're violating the terms of service" doesn't work unless you agree to be bound by those terms of service. Then they can hold your data and access hostage, to gmail and other shit you're stupid enough to store with them as well.
Re: About data, obviously (Score:2)
You alrrady agreed to everything by visiting the site. They don't need you to login to make a valid contract.
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In the US attempted browsewrap agreements need to show the user visual elements that reasonably notify them that use of the website assents to their terms of service: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
YouTube has no such visual elements so therefore I didn't assent to their TOS and can't be bound by them.
Not forcing anyone, really. (Score:3)
This is to force you to agree to the TOS that dictate what you can and can't do, as well as consenting to building a cross-channel analytics profile on you as a person. Also their whole "by using an adblocker you're violating the terms of service" doesn't work unless you agree to be bound by those terms of service. Then they can hold your data and access hostage, to gmail and other shit you're stupid enough to store with them as well.
Until YouTube simply blocks me from watching content, or prevents me from searching and finding what I want to watch, they’re not forcing me to do a damn thing here. I noticed the empty screen on a new tablet I configured, and left it that way.. Still using YouTube the same way weeks later. I simply search what I want to find. Quite the novel concept apparently.
If NOT having curated and sponsored content forced upon people is doing anything, it’s forcing people to actually use their brain an
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This is to force you to agree to the TOS that dictate what you can and can't do
Errr no. Not even remotely. You've always been presented with a ToS lock screen, at least for the past 15 years. Having an account has zero to do with Terms of Service for using Youtube.
as well as consenting to building a cross-channel analytics profile on you as a person
Also no. They were doing that before without any account using quite ordinary tracking principles.
Nothing terms of service related requires you to have an account. Incidentally the recommended videos are still there, you just have to click on "explore" and you get the same screen you did before. Literally nothing in your pos
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You've always been presented with a ToS lock screen, at least for the past 15 years.
I've never seen that screen, and I've been using YouTube since about 2007. I wonder if it has something to do with location.
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>Errr no. Not even remotely. You've always been presented with a ToS lock screen, at least for the past 15 years. Having an account has zero to do with Terms of Service for using Youtube.
Nope, never saw that
That'd Be Great; Bet It Won't Last (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Not tracking someone is bullying them . . . that's rich. Who is concerned about this? What did they say, and where did they say it? This sounds like the story of the woman suing Facebook for not serving her ads.
This "news" article's logic is so bizarre it sounds bought.
Re:That'd Be Great; Bet It Won't Last (Score:4, Informative)
they just arent providing you proof
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I've been asking for years for evidence of this, because if it is true then there is a massive fine from the EU in store for them.
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I've been asking for years for evidence of this, because if it is true then there is a massive fine from the EU in store for them.
Open up Youtube in incognito mode. You're presented with ToS specifically stating you're being tracked. And no there's no automatic fine in the EU simply for being tracked. The law is far more nuanced than that.
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When I open YouTube in incognito mode I don't see any ToS, but that's probably because of my security software blocking it. They should present a GDPR permission request, but again I block those as I never want to opt in anyway.
If they are illegally tracking without permission or technical necessity, that's a GDPR violation.
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> sounds like the story of the woman suing Facebook for not serving her ads.
She can have ALL mine!
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God are we back to "I need the article to explain this obvious thing to me" concern trolling again. I thought people had grown tired of that...
You know full well what the wording means. I refuse to believe your that dim that you really dont understand it. So why post it?
Youtube straight up harasses and threatens you if you turn on an ad blocker on the site (at least if you use an ad blocker it knows about) , and throws a sad and refuses to do recomendations if you dont turn on web history, and now its expan
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You've got a point. Even a poorly implemented change to member policy seems conspiratorial. We know we're being pimped, we just don't like being reminded.
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The only bizzare thing is that anyone would think that Google stops tracking anyone. They just stop showing recommendations. They still know what they'd recommend to you, they just won't show you.
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Not tracking someone
That's presumptuous. What makes you think you aren't being tracked just because the landing page no longer shows videos?
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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.
Not tracking someone is bullying them . . . that's rich. Who is concerned about this? What did they say, and where did they say it? This sounds like the story of the woman suing Facebook for not serving her ads. This "news" article's logic is so bizarre it sounds bought.
It's an LLM's take on what humans should feel, according to Google.
Good (Score:5, Interesting)
Please Tell Me What I Want Sirs (Score:5, Insightful)
Why would you want to see reccomendations even when you're logged in?
If you are on YouTube and can't think of a video you want to watch... maybe you... DON'T want to watch any videos right now!
You're now free to go and do literally anything else with this time you've now freed up. Do you have books you complain you never have time to read? Stop wasting your life watching videos that you didn't even feel like watching in the first place.
Are you concerned your kids have too much screen time? Use this reclaimed time to play game with them or ask "how're you doing?" instead. Really. Try it.
I personally don't understand the ad ecosystem. Companies pay other companies for the privilege of annoying me, pissing me off, and making me resent their company and products. Somehow this creates value for them. And so Google needs to keep my attention span hooked, even when I can't think of anything in my own brain that I want to watch on YouTube.
Just willingly letting yourself be mentally programmed for profit.
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lol yes I do
I want something in the background while I do other stuff, but I don't want to just turn on some random OTA station. It does need to be something tangentially related to my loose interests or it's pointless, but I don't have any focused subject to search for. And I never rewatch videos (or TV, or movies), so going through my subbed channels when I've already exhausted them
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>"Why would I want to see recommendations if I'm not logged in anyway?"
I have NEVER logged into a Google account on my desktop computers (and yes, I have one, as all Android users MUST). And yet I use YouTube every day on my home Linux desktop computer, often for hours. It is where I spend 98% of my "online" time. They use at least cookies to remember me and track everything I watch, and offer lots of suggestions (which are actually extremely useful).
I don't want to log in. I don't want to subscribe
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I have NEVER logged into a Google account on my desktop computers (and yes, I have one, as all Android users MUST)
I think you mean Gmail users. I've been using Android without a Google account since 2013, and it's great.
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I kinda assumed a Gmail account is a Google account and vice-versa. Is that not correct?
I also thought that modern Android cannot use Google Play Services without a Google/Gmail account...
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I know you can create a Google account using a non-Gmail address. I don't know whether that account gets an associated Gmail address, but other Google accounts do.
I have a tablet that runs stock Android 9 Pie. All of the apps that require Google Play Services on it run just fine.
I also have a phone on which I have installed LineageOS for microG [microg.org] 20.0. A bunch of apps that say they require Google Play Services run on it, although it has no Google apps at all.
And I've never put a Google account on an Android d
Non-Gmail Google Accounts on Android since 2012 (Score:2)
Google Play Services on Android required a Gmail account prior to about 2012. Logging in with a Google Account at a non-Gmail domain produced an error message "user@example.com does not use Gmail" with an offer to create a new Gmail account. Since Android Market was renamed to Google Play Store, any Google Account has been usable, even Google Accounts associated with a non-Gmail address.
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Thanks, that clears it up. I do remember being forced, but it was a long time ago.
This might be (Score:5, Interesting)
This might be the best feature YouTube has rolled out in a while. I already “subscribe” to channels and playlists via RSS as it is, so I pretty much only find myself on their dumpster fire of a homepage by accident anyway. If they’re saying I can just log out to not see a page filled with whatever sports, political, disaster, celebrity, and other dreck they’re unsuccessfully trying to foist on me to drive engagement, that sounds like a win.
(in the interest of full transparency, my homepage actually already looks like this because I disabled my watch history; they switched it to this view several months back for anyone who did so, which really did feel like a win when it happened, since it’s so refreshing not to have those thumbnails shoved in your face)
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This is not new (Score:4, Informative)
This has been the case for months now, since the middle of last year at least (https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/159k3gh/youtube_not_showing_recommended_videos_without/).
It seems like the author of the article just happened to finally notice it the other day and decided to write an article about it
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And I have not seen it, ever. But I also have never logged into a Google account on my computer, and will never use Chrom*, maybe that is the difference. I don't know. Perhaps it is still yet coming, but nothing of the sort yet has happened for me.
Roku is cooperating (Score:4, Insightful)
After using YouTube on Roku for several years, a couple days ago it forcibly signed me out and made me use two-factor authentication to re-connect to the service. The web of monitoring and snooping is tightening and it seems little can be done short of abstaining from the use of this stuff entirely.
Nothing of value is lost (Score:1)
Often I don't even want recommendations, they are distracting, and often click-bait. I go there for a specific topic and only want to see my search results.
Aha-toplay Off! (Score:3)
Maybe that's the way to finally turn autoplay off and not have it auto-turned-on over and over and over again.
I should have known the only way to make it work right was to not be a user!
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>"Maybe that's the way to finally turn autoplay off and not have it auto-turned-on over and over and over again."
Never comes back on for me, and I have never logged into a Google account on my home computer, where I use YouTube.
The big fight for me was getting rid of the damn autostart crap. I *never* want something to play unless I specifically tell it to play. I don't want mouse-over previews. I don't want to click on a video in a list and then it just start playing either. I was able to block all
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Maybe that's the way to finally turn autoplay off and not have it auto-turned-on over and over and over again.
Not sure what you're talking about. Autoplay settings remember your preferences. Or are you blocking cookies and not logging in? In which case how is Google supposed to remember your preference? Clairvoyance?
Bullied, you say? (Score:2)
What, having your account suspended for no valid reason wasn't enough of a clue?
Am I missing something? (Score:2)
I don't have an account with them, but if I pull up any of the saved pages I see what YT thinks are recommendations down the right side. Is this article about something different?
Re: Am I missing something? (Score:2)
No more Mr beast on my homepage (Score:2)
The amount of people who complain to me or just in general about seeing videos from Mr beast on their YouTube homepage is staggering, now I can just tell them to use Incognito.
Until you wartch a video (Score:2)
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YouTube has a homepage? (Score:2)
When I think about it, it's obvious they must have a homepage. But I've never thought about it before now, and have probably only seen it a few times over the years.
I constantly have MANY YT video pages opened in tabs, and the vast majority of those links came from recommendations on other YT tabs. Most of the rest came from searches I did in, you guessed it, an already-open video page. The remainder came to be as a result of links on other websites, search engine results, or from friends' emails.
Is going t
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>"Is going to the YouTube homepage a regular thing that regular people actually do? If so, why?"
Yes. Like you, I have tons of open Firefox tabs with things I will watch. It is how I queue. And I have bookmarks set for anyone I follow (since I have to do it manually). And I have *NEVER* logged into a Google account on my computer. I will sometimes go to the home page specifically to see the recommendations when everything else in my tabbed queue is empty (and yes that still works fine). It creates
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Thanks for the explanation - that makes perfect sense. If Google hadn't made this latest dick move I'd probably try out your way of doing things.
If I lost all recommendations, that would really suck. And it would NOT entice me to log in.
I wholeheartedly agree. I was thinking about that when I posted my comment. I'd probably end up using YouTube a lot less - a huge amount of my viewing is in what I call "YouTube rabbit holes". Not only that, there would then be zero reason for me to not use FreeTube, and Google would lose the fair amount of data they collect about me even in the absence of my loggi
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>"It seems to me that Google is trying hard to shoot itself in the foot."
They ended the phase of abusive monopoly a long time ago and are following predictable actions.
>"This whole cancerous "keep growing or die" corporate mindset has to stop."
Well, it is the goal of any business to grow and to make as much profit and control as they can. This pushes down prices and creates innovation and is good for everyone. The check on it going off the rails is competition. And it is key. The system doesn't wo
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Again, I agree, except on one point. Yes, competition checks the differential growth which, as you rightly pointed out, causes problematic imbalances. But competition does nothing to limit overall growth.
I was wrong in calling limitless growth a "corporate mindset" when in fact it's a societal one. But I was deadly serious - pun intended - when I likened it to cancer. Relentless overgrowth of the kind we're experiencing - where we keep using more and more resources to have more and more stuff, which often m
They've already been pushing you to accept this (Score:2)
For months you've had to opt-in to allowing them to track what you watch. I didn't opt in but now I get no recommendations even when signed in. Curiously, when you watch a video the usual suggestion of videos appears when the video is done. I wonder how long it will be before they turn that off too.
Saw this last night (Score:3)
Went to YouTube last night and lo and behold, no recommendations. Oh well, I know the channels I like, the types of stuff. Quick search later and there's all recommendations related to that search. Watch a couple vids, search a channel, more results. Within an hour of tube of random YouTube viewing, it looks like it used to in my logged in days. Do miss leaving comments and seeing responses. Not.
alarmist (Score:1)
Blank Front Page (Score:2)
Wow, this is weird.
They can and do recommend videos based on your IP address and inferred location, if that's all they have to go on. At the bare minimum, they'll recommend videos in your language. But now the front page is just blank. The YouTube front page used to at least show you trending videos. They really are trying to goad you into signing in.
Just don't think they're not tracking you, because if you do sign in, they're going to associate your "anonymous" tracking session with your account.
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As long as the search function still works, this is exactly what I want and is not going to move me one step towards signing up and in.
All the unwanted crap, gone! Awesome!
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Goad you into signing in, *or* clicking on "trending" in the sidebar, I guess..
I prefer it this way (Score:2)
I was getting tired of YouTube recommending videos with large red circles and arrows or gaping mouthed humans in the thumbnail image.
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I was getting tired of YouTube recommending videos with large red circles and arrows or gaping mouthed humans in the thumbnail image.
It’s particularly disturbing to find young female creators constantly using some gape-mouthed thumbnail sucking on a finger or some shit to garner attention and views.
Yeah, we get the whole sex sells thing, but you don’t need to look like you’re sponsored by the Acme Ball Gag corporation when sharing church decorating tips for the holidays.
I hear a lot of demands (Score:2)
From people using a free video streaming service. You nuke your cookies everytime you exit, you have modtly convinced Google not to track you by other means, you block or skip ads using plugins. And now you want YT to recommend videos when it's not supposed to know who you are. It feels like one of those spousal arguments that you can't win. Are you expecting Google to buy you flowers? Just move on and use a different video streaming website for a while, you two need to see other people for a while.
Social media copycat (Score:2)
I noticed this once a couple weeks ago. While I was viewing in private mode, the page flashed the usual page of recommendations, and then promptly removed them all with the message "Search to get started!"
YouTube is just taking a page from all the social media giants, and heading in the direction of a gated community. For some idiotic reason, more and more sites on the web are blocking you from accessing content unless you sign up. Gone are the days when you needed an account to participate, now you need
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Hell twitter or whatever they call it now is essentially a blank page without an account. The sheep have lost and don't even know it.
better this way (Score:2)
It sounds like an improvement: go to YouTube and see *only* the things you search for, not unwanted crap suggestions.
Only happens in chromium (Score:1)
Been like this for many months/years? (Score:1)
If you are signed in but have history turned off, it shows no suggestions at all.
It used to, some months/years ago, but not any more. Now you just have the subscriptions tab to go on.
It's not a bug, it's a feature (Score:2)
Quite frankly, most of the "recommendations" I get are total rubbish. Some influenza trying to hawk some crap or videos that BLOW MY MIND are not exactly something I'm even remotely interested in.
Youtube homepage is borked for half a year already (Score:1)
Youtube homepage for logged users is borked since August 2023, if user has watch history turned off.
"Your watch history is off. Update your settings" or we will not give you any video recommendations on home page.
They are perfectly fine with pushing videos from compromised user accounts in recommendations.
So you're saying.. (Score:1)
Pleeeeze don't throw me into that brier patch (Score:1)