YouTube has a big news for you. In a move that may raise privacy concerns amongst some users, YouTube is now showing a blank feed if your watch history is turned off. In simple words this means, if you decide to stop YouTube from tracking your viewing habits, you will have to miss out on the personalised recommendations that it shows based on your watch history and viewing habits. You will be able to see just the search bar and the left-hand guide menu but no feed of recommended videos if you don’t turn on your YouTube watch history.
The change was announced in a blog post, where YouTube said that watch history helps YouTube provide video recommendations to its users. It says that the new change will enable “YouTube features rely on watch history to provide video recommendations and make it more streamlined for those of who prefer to search rather than browse recommendations. You can change your YouTube watch history settings at any time based on whether you prefer us to provide video recommendations or not.”
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“Starting today, if you have YouTube watch history off and have no significant prior watch history, features that require watch history to provide video recommendations will be disabled – like your YouTube home feed. This means that starting today, your home feed may look a lot different: you’ll be able to see the search bar and the left-hand guide menu, with no feed of recommended videos thus allowing you to more easily search, browse subscribed channels and explore Topic tabs instead,” YouTube said in a blog post. These changes are rolling out slowly over the next few months.
YouTube’s decision to show a blank feed of your watch history could give rival platforms like TikTok and Twitch an advantage. These platforms don’t track their users’ viewing habits, so they can offer a more personalised experience without sacrificing privacy.
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