More and more internet platforms are getting on the privacy bandwagon to keep your data safe. The problem comes when a feature is completely obsolete because it depended precisely on analyzing your information. That is exactly what is happening with Youtube. Do you have history turned off? Better think twice if you want everything to continue working normally.
Through its support website, YouTube announced that its home page will stop showing you recommendations if history is disabled. The median came into force as of today and, as might be expected, there are already users expressing their discontent.
Instead of posting videos that are trending locally or globally, the home page is almost blank, as if there was a connection problem on the platform. The only solution, of course, is to forget about your privacy and turn YouTube history back on.
“Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history turned off and you don’t have a previous one, features that require history to provide video recommendations, such as your feed YouTube home.
This means that, starting today, your feed Startup can look very different: you will see the search bar and the menu on the left, but without feed of recommended videos.”
Youtube.
YouTube claims that this is not entirely negative, as the absence of recommendations on the home page will make it easier for you to navigate between subscribed channels or explore the Trending tab, for example.
This situation is further proof of the immense dependence that companies have on our data. It’s understandable that YouTube can’t offer you recommendations because it doesn’t even know what you’re watching. Basically, then, reinforcing your privacy by disabling history means sacrificing a part of the experience that YouTube gives us.
However, it seems that YouTube is clear that this is the way to go so that its users know how important it is to give them our activity on the platform.
“We’re launching this new experience to make it clearer which YouTube features rely on history to provide video recommendations and make it easier for those who prefer to search rather than view recommended material.”
If you are someone who continually ignores YouTube recommendations, then having history turned off will not affect you. If, on the other hand, you take advantage of the content displayed on the home page when you don’t know what to see, we suggest not adjusting anything.
YouTube mentions that while the changes were rolled out today, it is possible that in some regions you will not see it for a few months. Surely they want to measure the reception in a staggered manner and act accordingly.