The site has stopped showing homepage recommendations for users who have paused their watch history.
YouTube, long criticized for its recommendation algorithm, appears to face a new issue. When users pause their watch history, the platform halts homepage recommendations, instead urging users to re-enable history for content suggestions. This change affects users who’ve had watch history paused for years, while recent pausees still see recommendations.
Reddit users express frustration at the suddenly required watch history, suspecting an aggressive move towards ad targeting. The platform had previously made recommendations without needing watch history, raising questions about the current requirement.
To circumvent the issue, users can briefly re-enable and then pause their watch history again to restore recommendations.
Chance Townsend, the General Assignments Editor at Mashable, reports these developments.