3 Questions YouTube Won't Answer!

[@HowToCookThat]

What do you think, is the bias real? Ad: Go to ground.news/howtocook to outsmart algorithms, see diverse perspectives and stay informed. Sign up through my link to get 40% off for unlimited access on the Vantage plan.

[@dinodoeseditz]

Thanks Ann! Great video!

[@tfordham13]

Nope not at all I just think that most people prefer male youtubers as they usually do more liked content

[@markxxx21]

@@tfordham13 It would help to know the audience too. A nice clean cut young man will get you a lot of female views. But a sweet clean cut girl doesn't bring the same result. After all there are lots of "Adult" channels men will watch for women.

[@abekane7038]

I think there could be more factors that would need to be discounted to draw any strong conclusions. The Bias is evident but the cause isn't clear without discounting some other factors, such as user demographic shift

[@tfordham13]

@@markxxx21 yeah most youtubers viewers are probably men since they often have more free

[@PirikkoP]

What I find incredibly frustrating is when you watch a KZbinr for years and suddenly their new videos just won't show up on your feed anymore, so you have to visit their channel regularly. But the shittiest videos that you'd never voluntarily watch are in your feed, of course.

[@carsonvessar3763]

This is a big issue for me as well, I have notifications on for a ton of channels that don't post all that often and I'll randomly look up their channel and see that I didn't get a notification for over a year even though it's still on

[@alexbrown1050]

more revenue on the ragebait channels. your channels aren't profitable. especially if you're smart enough to ad block

[@angelbear_og]

You know there's a "Subscriptions" tab, right?

[@PirikkoP]

@angelbear_og Yes, and? More often than not videos dont appear in the subscription feed. Especially those from channels I actually watch.

[@carsonvessar3763]

@@angelbear_og most of my fav youtubers don't post often and I just won't see there videos in my subscription tab at all. I always have to go to their channel directly

[@rim-1or4wr1y]

ITS SO ANNOYING to type something in the search bar and ALL I GET ARE SHORTS that are IRRELEVANT to what im searching for. The search bar is USELESS now.

[@nuages8915]

The filtering option helps

[@tymccarthy9661]

Same with Google. Its useless now. Like the top 5 results are ads, and the next five are content farm sites, then Wikipedia, then more content farm sites, then after scroll for an hour to the bottom, you find the site that actually has information that's helpful.

[@Doozclops]

There's a browser extension for Firefox (not sure about other browsers but honestly why wouldn't you be on Firefox anyway) called "KZbin Search Fixer". It really helps to filter out all the junk.

[@ThiCC_Yosh]

it also shows a lot of vids that im not looking for 😭

[@richgirl7]

Exactly!! For example I searched up "how to use lace wig glue by BoldHold" then it doesn't show the video that I'm looking for! It just shows inappropriate, disgusting shorts: pimple popping, ingrown hair removal, how to change a baby and the thumbnail is a real baby genit*ls

[@spikes_johnson]

I love how this channel went from debunking cooking to debunking EVERYTHING. These videos are super well put together and always informative

[@melblack7412]

Agreed!

[@JaredG_WV]

I think as a full time KZbinr, she's totally qualified to weigh in on anything that's KZbin related, cooking or not. Its kind of a behind the scenes type of video.

[@spikes_johnson]

@@JaredG_WV I never said or implied that she couldn't

[@SeekingTheLoveThatGodMeans7648]

@@JaredG_WV Yes, she seems to be quite ethical.

[@terry_the_terrible]

But now she's debunking AI when she does not have any expertise on it. She's even conflagrating recruitment AI and viewing algorithms which are completely different. Right now she's "just asking questions" but how long until she goes full Joe Rogan or ugh Alex Jones

[@morriganx6021]

"they don't have to share if they don't want to!" *Zooms in on article promising transparency* The SHADE Ann!

[@disemvowel4846]

This was absolutely my favourite part of the video. KZbin should be ashamed - either they have access to all this data themselves and are choosing to ignore the bias in the algorithm, or they're doing a terrible job of assessing the available information AND keeping the raw data from the creators who rely on the platform to make a living.

[@emilyrln]

I lol'd so hard 😂

[@klaratehcoolcat]

​@@disemvowel4846they know. 100% they know but they need shorts to do impressive numbers to prove to stakeholders they're competitive with all the other soc media companies.

[@itsbonkerjojo9028]

Why do you have to make a cmt on this ? Why not ?

[@roxcyn]

They don’t care and I 😂because I love her pointing out their hypocrisy.

[@hermant860]

That list of top channels is downright dystopian. A bunch of garbage content preying on children and parents who don't care. Thank you Ann, never stop the amazing work you do

[@Koolee2]

I was about to write this exact thing!! You said it better than I could have

[@125loopy]

My siblings are under 13, and I'm so glad my parents were so strict with their screen time.

[@indigopentagram3330]

Agree. I couldn't help but cringe at the childish tones as Ann mentioned the comments being enabled. Makes me want to puke. The only real one was the moist man, which honestly I'm surprised he was up there but good for him

[@MelieneGardner]

@@indigopentagram3330 Nile Red / Nigel is real too. Of all the ones she listed, he's the only one I personally watch at all.

[@cruncyart]

@@MelieneGardner Same here, NileRed is great

[@Ziiiiii33]

I hate how when you open youtube it opens on shorts now. I'm usually coming on to watch longform content but I get distracted by the shorts before I even get to the homepage.

[@Meraidd]

I'm similar, I might start watching my regular daily upload and I know a bunch of creators also uploaded that day, but I see a short and.... I'm gone. I had to physically step away for a bit

[@wasamurphy7796]

Stop watch history and you won’t get shorts anymore lol

[@larax222]

I had to get a youtube shorts blocking extension to block this madness

[@mishXY]

Enhancer For KZbin Plugin! you can completely hide shorts and many other cool features! it improved my online media consumption and helped restore the KZbin that I love. also I cleaned my subscriptions up, bookmarked the "my subscriptions" page (alias u2b)

[@NabPunk]

bookmark the subscriptions tab, or pin it on your browser, disable history, and there is also a way to block shorts on your browser. Ironically, you can learn about how to block shorts by searching for the method on KZbin.

[@vermillion1735]

I deliberately have never downloaded TikTok because I know my brain well enough to know that I'd be stuck scrolling for as long as I had the time to. The biggest thing that upsets me is that shorts cannot in any way be hidden, and not only can they not be hidden - they're being pushed so hard that they cannot be avoided at all.

[@blackcountryme]

I haven't downloaded it cos it is an "Almost cyber weapon" I don't really want the CCP to know me.

[@sharka7145]

Oh, they can be hidden! But not naturally or through tools provided by KZbin. I have ADHD, and I've never downloaded Tiktok for the same reason. I could not imagine pushing dopamine hits AT KIDS. That seems damaging, long term.

[@rnelody5496]

I use Ublock Origin, which lets you insert code to hide certain elements of websites. Someone posted code that blocks all pathways to the Shorts page (shorts don't show up in my Recommended, search results or subscribe page, and when I do click on a short it forces it to render in the normal video player so I can't just scroll to the next one). It has genuinely been a lifesaver, whenever I use KZbin on mobile I just get stuck scrolling through Shorts for so much longer than I want to.

[@Danni317]

This! I would love the ability to hide or get rid of shorts

[@sum1rllyspecial]

I have heard that there is shorts blocker extension that you can add, but that’s just what I’ve heard, I’ve got now clue where to find it. Also I’m wary of downloading extensions, they seem dodgy.

[@catgay57]

I come to KZbin specifically becaus I'm tired of the short form content thats littering every other platform. Thats the entire point of KZbin! Thank you, Ann, for another amazing video. Not only are you an incredible food scientist and cook, but your ability to debunk misinformation and parse reality is unmatched. You're a gift to us all 🙏

[@supme7558]

Explain all the tictok on youtube

[@toaztelg]

KZbin search is seriously broken. And I _hate_ shorts.

[@cz2301]

I only watch two Shorts channels: Olafur Waage and Adrian Bliss, one is from Iceland and the other is British. Their humor is quite sophisticated. Other than them, most shorts are crap imo

[@madeleine363]

Yup! When I search for something I get maybe 4 videos, then shorts, 2 videos, then more shorts and videos I've already watched

[@FrIoSrHy]

There are extensions you can add to remove them.

[@evelinapushkash6827]

Hopefully a lot of people see this but if you put " before:2025 " after your search it filters out all the bullsheet and there are no shorts. It's the only way I use the KZbin search bar anymore. Also, every time you open KZbin and see shorts, click "not interested" until they stop appearing when you start the app.

[@evelinapushkash6827]

Hopefully a lot of people see this but if you put " before:2025 " after your search it filters out all the bullsheet and there are no shorts. It's the only way I use the KZbin search bar anymore. Also, every time you open KZbin and see shorts, click "not interested" until they stop appearing when you start the app.

[@lisagraff-sands4207]

I love Anne's progression of getting more and more frustrated with youtube until she starts talking about such amazing topics.

[@velbeenify]

Yes I’m loving these meta video topics

[@lyndonwesthaven6623]

'I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed' intensifies

[@Vellss94]

My biggest issue is that if you type in the search bar something say "manicure ideas" you get completely unrelated videos and a lot of them are ridiculously disgusting and I found i have to click on "videos" to avoid all the shorts which are most of the problematic videos and yet still KZbin doesn't give you the option to block channels.

[@athenaNS]

Yes it’s crazy, it made me actually avoid searching and scrolling down the results 🤯 absolutely sick

[@achocolatebiscuit5087]

YT got rid of one of its best features, which is the search engine. I remember how I would get thousands of what I wanted. Markiplier? Funny vines? Makeup tutorial? You'd get it before. Now? Cute ducks? Yeah, you get a few vids of cute ducks, but the moment you scroll a bit further for more cute ducks and BAM..... among us s€x animations😭

[@Vellss94]

@ThePursuitWOD This doesn't work when you're searching though you can only mark not interested if you're watching shorts.

[@HowToCookThat]

@ThePursuitWOD an independent study monitored peoples youtube viewing (with their permission). They found that if they click 'not interested' for content or channels, within 3 weeks they were being shown it again.

[@fallencyano9015]

agreed, sometimes i have to go on a search engine instead of youtube to actually find what i want. it sucks

[@amandasjoberg463]

The search function is so broken now, I hate it. Why, after only showing me like 10 videos related to what I searched for (of which many are shorts), does it give me other things "I might like"?! Like I literally told it what I wanted and it tries to give me something else 😡 if what I'm looking for is not in the first videos I'm just not gonna find it. I sometimes go to google to find youtube videos which is so stupid and annoying...

[@IamAlmostRealWitch]

yeah. I have to start searching youtube videos on google. It is horrible, in this days google shows you 100 add before it gives you what you want. But it still works better than youtube search. Bar is truly in hell.

[@dawnkindnesscountsmost5991]

KZbin presenting the "You might like this" videos that aren't what I asked for, reminds me of the old days of going into a shoe store, and a worker had to retrieve the shoe you want from the back room. They'd bring the size or sizes of the shoe you selected that you want to try on, then 3 or 4 other shoes in slightly different styles that "you might like to buy," as well. Up-selling. As old as the hills. My mom taught me early to be polite but ignore the other shoes, especially when there is only one pair of shoes in the budget.

[@nalanimulcahy8451]

OMG right that is my biggest bitch about this whole thing, I literally end up back on google using different search terms for the whatever I'm looking for and opening in new tabs so I actually have a selection to look through

[@neverstoplearning7214]

Yes!!!!!!

[@cheesypastel]

I literally feel like the people complaining about this don’t watch KZbin that often because I rarely ever get recommended with something I don’t want to watch, maybe you don’t watch enough videos or watch KZbin that often, but you are complaining about an algorithm that literally does work. And as far as shorts go then just ignore them, I swear no one knows what self control is with their short attention spans. Which I have one too but If I don’t wanna watch shorts I’m not gonna click on one.

[@RosannaPansino]

Thank you so much for posting this Ann. I think you perfectly captured what so many creators talk about behind the scenes. How the algorithm works on KZbin now is purely focused on specific metrics, and if you dont reach those certain benchmarks within the first hour or so of posting, your video simply isn't suggested to your audience like it used to be. A lot of the comments here about shorts are also spot on. Of course they are taking views away from long form, just look at the homepage you showed where there wasn't a single long form video. Once you dive into the numbers on every single DIY and Cake channel losing 90% of their viewership all at once, especially for female creators, it paints an even crazier picture. I truly hope you continue to cover these topics as they are very important and almost no one is discussing them.

[@eschybach]

Ann, you should pin Rosanna's comment. It seems the algorithm has it buried at the moment... smh

[@RenRenNumberTen]

I agree, this should be pinned

[@Telbruk]

Wow my first subscribed cooking channel creator (mmh Companion cube cake) commenting on my latest subscribed cooking channel creator, this is so awesome, I am dreaming of a collaboration right now.😍

[@terry_the_terrible]

I was never subscribed to cooking channels but I got a lot of recommendations and for a while cake and decorating videos were all the rage but the trend died BEFORE the advent of Tiktok or KZbin Shorts. Not because of an unseen bias but because... the watch value is simply mined out. A lot of female creators did videos as a side project and simply copied each other. There is no value watching the same thing and you yourselves are simply not presented with these copycat videos. Meanwhile Sideserf with her hyper realistic cakes and Amaury Guichon with his insane chocolate crafting skills are still going strong. And are constantly getting clipped for reaction videos on other channels. You can't treat KZbin as a passive income and expect to become fully solvent on something that you're not putting effort into. And ALL how to videos have the same problem. There's very little which is new. We can watch still excellent videos from 10 years ago to do that. The only thing that makes you stand out is exceptional skill, a unique perspective or a language which is not offered by English KZbin.

[@charliebrown1184]

Thank you for sharing your experience and perspective Rosanna!

[@Anhilare]

what disturbs me the most are the channels clearly made for kids but not marked so, like how is this acceptable?

[@HowToCookThat]

@ThePursuitWOD I agree and hope someone sends it to the right person at the FTC.

[@begone2753]

I think, there is still a massive amount of people out there, with a complete numbness for anything technical. Maybe they get a messenger installed and some sad excuse for a game. They have no idea that there is a YT Kids App.

[@heiho9029]

My only worry is that more strict rules could hurt channels which are family friendly, but not explicitly made for kids. Pokemon and animation youtubers come to mind for me (although there are plently that aren't family friendly), especially if they use their famously shoddy algorithm to decide what is or isn't for kids.

[@DocMerchant13]

@@heiho9029 Same, I feel more stricter guidelines could hurt KZbinrs on things like Hermitcraft, which make family friendly content, but its not really kids content.

[@StonedHunter]

The problem is there are a lot of non-kid channels who will post a video about something generally marketed for kids (pokemon, minecraft, etc) but still for their adult audience. Like it was said in the video, they often put intentionally very not kid friendly language and such in order to avoid being lumped into the kids category. Stricter guidelines could make it harder for those people to make the content they and their adult audience want to see without getting themselves lumped in with the channels making kid centered content with disturbing shit in it that we all know plagues yt kids

[@TheGlowingFairy]

KZbin search is so biased towards new and trending videos, evern when you write a very specific title looking for a specific video, it'll be like the 5th result.

[@VelaiciaCreator]

Or so far down, they tell you there are no more search results. Like.... google... these sites have billions of entries spanning a long time, don't tell me there's no more results because that is a big fat lie.

[@muruusa]

I hate how the search page has also turned into 'recommended' videos. like no! i'm looking for videos that I KNOW exist, but I just can't find them, because it's full of shorts, what other people watched, for you and other dumb videos that have nothing to do with my search!

[@CarlosFlores-pl3lb]

Happened to me last night. Was looking for a specific podcast episode, of which I had the exact name by the way, and had to scroll all the way down to find it. Wtf??

[@talonhammer]

I typed in the exact title of a video recently and it never showed up, I had to go back through my discord chats to find the link!

[@priscilah4]

A typical search these days is getting a video on an unrelated topic from a blocked channel recommended right on top.

[@RichieRouge206]

To me - the likes of TikTok and Shorts are almost conditioning people to have a short attention span! It’s pathetic

[@vaiciciaku]

Its not almost. It does.

[@LittleWhiteRabbitB]

No, you're right. There have been studies showing exactly that. Kids who spend their free time outdoors or otherwise engaged offline are able to retain information much, MUCH better than "screen kids". It's a rapidly growing problem.

[@jessy1982]

Not just kids, adults too. As a kid I could focus and remember better than now as an adult now that I watch more KZbin content.

[@reneewhite2687]

Yep I deleted TikTok because the need for constant stimulation was ruining my focus

[@davidci]

It's no coincidence that KZbin Shorts are so full of misconceptions and misinformation too, negativity fuels the algorithm, and of course, those ones get pushed further at the top. And even if a YT Shorts isn't meant to misinform, it's hard to cram in all necessary details in 1 minute, so you have to take out some details, which in something as detail-heavy as cooking, can be very detrimental.

[@nihilismistheonlyway4680]

Damn. If that's true for just youtube shorts imagine the cesspool of misinformation on tiktok! And I've heard it's where a lot of teens are getting their "facts" now. Anyone remember that movie idiocracy? It's coming true before our very eyes!

[@UnicornsPoopRainbows]

​@@nihilismistheonlyway4680 I guess the only silver lining there is TikTok has a 3min limit... I can't think of anything else good about it...

[@rainbowhaven]

​@@nihilismistheonlyway4680yes, it's so true, kids these days are saying slogans without knowing what they even mean, as well as the misinformation that they are being fed by "five minutes 'craps'" and creators like that. It's so sad how kids are being raised by social media these days.

[@NasAndChico]

It’s not just KZbin. I did a little “experiment” on Twitter. When I post positive things my impressions are very low. When I deliberately post more negative tweets it gets lots of impressions, likes and retweets. The same with Facebook

[@Aphelia.]

Sorry to comment something unrelated, but your profile is absolutely iconic. 10/10

[@cornchips3285]

If I want to watch shorts, I will go to TikTok. I find every platform now is trying to be the same. Instagram is for pictures, TikTok is for short videos, KZbin is for long videos, etc. we don’t need crossovers

[@EvilParagon4]

Well the problem is all of those companies have different owners. Facebook is fine with you leaving to go look at pictures on Instagram because you stay within their bubble. But KZbin --loses money-- doesn't get money because you decide it's time for short form and you go to TikTok. They don't want you to leave. To an investor, not getting money is the same as losing money.

[@timhuester7721]

I think some healthy competition is good for the products. It only suxx, if companies abandon their core products and try to become something different, like it's happening with youtube and their shorts.

[@cornchips3285]

@@timhuester7721 yeah i agree, and I totally understand why the companies are doing it since they will ultimately get more money, but I just miss when each platform was its own unique thing

[@SLYKM]

​@@EvilParagon4"not getting money is the same as loosing money," that is exactly how they think, and it makes everyone's lives worse for it.

[@SLYKM]

​@@timhuester7721a bit too optimistic to think companies could ever stop themselves at just healthy competition.

[@Sang15Mitang]

KZbin shorts is one of the worst things to happen to the platform in recent years. Not only is the player garbage, but it is invading the searches and I keep clicking shorts by mistake when I want to watch an actual video. The search has been broken for ages on KZbin though and it's really hard to find what I'm looking for regardless.

[@evilbob840]

I dislike videos under 60 seconds. I hate videos filmed vertically. I really hate videos that automatically repeat. I loathe KZbin shorts with a burning passion, which only grows as they keep pushing them.

[@Sang15Mitang]

@@sarahe2274 I'll have to try that. Usually the only way I can get semi decent results is if I limit it to like only videos released within the past year. But of course that cuts out a lot of results.

[@NovemberOrWhatever]

I feel like Shorts could be good if there was a way to actually pick which ones I wanted to watch based on channel as well as title, instead of just being reliant on the algorithm. And if they didn't push them so much. And if they gave them a UI more similar to the rest of the app. Okay, that's a lot of caveats, but I think they could be fine in theory

[@evilbob840]

These comments got me thinking about how to get rid of shorts, so I went looking. There is a plugin for Firefox called "Hide shorts from KZbin" that seems to be doing exactly that. They are gone from my home page, my recommended, my alerts, and the sidebar while watching something. I know there are different extensions for Chrome, but I didn't look at those.

[@g33xzi11a]

They even broke the search history. Used to be able to find some niche thing I watched like a decade ago and the last year or less I sometimes can’t find videos I watched in their entirety that very same week and have to try to find them through the regular search

[@bouncepatrol]

Thanks for the shout-out Ann! Yes it's a shame that so many channels which are seemingly kid-directed are not marked as such, because of the strong financial incentive not to do so. It makes for a challenging landscape for parents trying to navigate KZbin with their kids. Absolutely agree with your hypothesis that the recommendations amplify pre-existing biases that audiences already have, which means the top of the funnel is steered away from women and NB, creators of colour, plus size creators, LGBTQ+ creators, older creators etc. I wonder what the solution might be? It seems like KZbin do try and bring lots of diverse creators under partner management programs and training opportunities, but it's very hard to break through an audience/algorithm bias once it becomes self-fulfilling, like you've pointed out

[@GamerAbbylee]

It's not just the algorithm that's broken, so is the search function. I'll search something like "how to cook that chocolate cake", and I'll get two videos I already watched, another content creator's cake video, and a random reaction video. KZbin doesn't give you good suggestions even when you ask for them! 😂

[@HotaraTakeo]

"youtube search fixer" plug in fixes that.

[@marlieshilgersom3569]

It will always be a video talking about eugenia coonie for me. I don't want to see that poor girl, pls stop showing videos about her randomly

[@Diamond1234]

Odd, I just did that search and I got How to Cook That youtube channel as first result, then 2nd result is "How-to make CHOCOLATE CAKE Ann Reardon How To Cook That". Guess I don't have that problem? Then again, I clear my browser cookies, cache, and history a lot so maybe that's the reason.

[@chaos.corner]

Not to mention it shoves a bunch of unrelated content into the search area. It's marked but it's annoying.

[@KeeseToast]

Pretty ironic, that google destroys what they should be best at in search for more and more profits

[@damienfenton3880]

Shorts are totally random and you don't know what you'll get until you swipe and actually watch the next one. One day I was scrolling through some shorts and after various videos of cats, dogs, movie scenes, and stupid pranks, there was a video of two people in hospital crying because their baby was still born with the baby's body in the shot. Why the hell would YT think I would want to see that. I subscribe to channels I want to see so I hate the randomness of shorts.

[@godassasin8097]

a little still born content every now and then never hurt nobody

[@ghirastars8108]

this has been happening to me too. i use youtube for music, cooking videos and gaming yet it thinks i want to see shorts of sick babies, dying animals and surgery???

[@lightgriffinsect]

​@@godassasin8097 yes it can. it has. it can be extremely triggering for some people and is generally just an upsetting topic for many. youtube's algorithm is harmful, that's a fact.

[@athenaNS]

I know !!!! I hate it!!! And there’s nothing you can do about it ! I’ve clicked the ‘do not recommend’ button a hundred times but it’s still the same

[@mfcryptidsheep4661]

​@@lightgriffinsectno shit, it's harmful. it was a joke

[@boraxmacconachie7082]

This video explains a lot. I remember one day I opened youtube and all the women had suddenly disappeared from my recommended videos. It was really confusing. I had to deliberately search them out and follow them to see any female creators/hosts at all. That was probably the day they brought in the new algorithm. The recommendations have been way worse since then. Whatever youtube was doing before, it was much better

[@Linn-tw6wl]

I'm definitely not the only one of my friends that's noticed youtube pushing more male creators to them and not recommending female creators, so its interesting to know that other people are having this problem as well.

[@dietotaku]

i will start by saying that i make AGGRESSIVE use of the "don't recommend this channel" button, partly because i share my account with my kids so i always get a tip-off when they start watching something i don't want them to because that channel starts showing up in my recommendations. for the most part, my recommendations have been... understandable, and i do get recommended a fair amount of female channels - unfortunately just because i watch one female youtuber doing product reviews or true crime stories, doesn't mean i want to watch EVERY female youtuber who does product reviews or true crime stories. so perhaps the problem is that "being a youtuber" is already a more male-targeted career goal (after all, it's my son's #1 career aspiration, while my daughter would rather be a NASA engineer), and the women who ARE youtubers tend to be clustered into a couple of niche subjects. if i want to subscribe to a product review channel, a STEM channel, a true crime channel, a medical info/memes channel, a TV/movie review channel, and a sketch comedy channel, it's more likely that that list is going to be dominated by male creators because most of those categories are dominated by male creators.

[@Jocelyn-ub4rt]

I don't usually comment on videos but Anne has articulated my frustrations with KZbin's algorithms so well. People used to think algorithms would be more objective than humans but in reality they just amplify existing biases and KZbin's is no different

[@MsChampagneSanity]

Another thing I HATE about KZbin is that you can’t BLOCK channels anymore. I have spent hours researching how to block or hide searches or channels but they still show up. I’m talking about SCARY things children shouldn’t see. On the adult app you can “block for children” but they can swap between profiles very easily. Even when these are blocked on their child account it still shows.

[@Patchouliprince]

I noticed this recently too!

[@UnknowinglyDerpy]

Yeah, in my case i had to put in an extension on my browser just because of that reason

[@Chlo-ee]

OMG, I thought I was going crazy. It’s really gone 😢

[@msdouglas12100]

This!!! I don't want my daughter to watch some things and now I can't even block it.

[@PearlCradle]

There is an extension for that - but you're right, we shouldn't HAVE to rely on extensions for the bare minimum! Even with my channel blocker, I still see questionable channels' videos popping up in my home feed. 500+ channels blocked, and still more to come.

[@deglorath2203]

KZbin's algorithm is an awful mess, but seeing it like this really brings home just how bad, thank you as always for sharing what you've found Ann!

[@HowToCookThat]

Thanks :)

[@SarushaIsMyName]

Targeted ads should be illegal for everyone.

[@Marqan]

Getting ads on things you're interested in is probably more useful than getting ads on everything randomly. I don't like ads in general of course, but the targeting part of it actually makes it more bearable. I don't want climbing gears or luxury cars advertised to me, because I'm absolutely not interested in using those.

[@tsm688]

does google even have targeted ads anymore? I remember when their ads were scary on target for me. For years they've shown me nothing but trash I don't care about. In the words of someone inside google, there's two brackets -- the housewares bracket, and the tactical flashlight bracket. It's not much finer grained than that.

[@AnarchistEagle]

@@Marqan The thing you should be concerned with isn't "are the ads I'm receiving relevant?" it's "Why are advertisers allowed to spy on me?" We generally have forgotten that privacy is valuable, that it's something that should be protected as much as possible, and over the years the internet has become more hostile to privacy. We should be fighting against any system that that tracks us.

[@hakayonder3396]

@@Marqan Setting topics you're interested in/wouldn't mind seeing and having the option to update them would be a lot better option. You just got sacked and need a job? Put job offers in your ad sense. You're always trying to stay on top of new fashion trends? Put in clothes. Now I know that you can customize personalized ads to an extend in a similar way, but currently you can only have no personalized ads at all or personalized with your preferences AND data harvested from you. There's no option to have ads showing you the topics you have chosen and nothing else. I HATE seeing travel ads and there's no way for me to block that topic, I'm never clicking them either. The ad campaign is losing the company money and I'm losing the opportunity to see something more interesting. It's like ad-services think the ad-viewers are babies that cannot be trusted on their word regarding what they like/hate.

[@pvanukoff]

@@Marqan That's a strange take imo. And that's the take they want you to have. They want ads and marketing to be "bearable" because then it becomes more normalized. I disable all targeted ads, use ad-blockers, sponsor skips, etc. The more we just sit back and allow it to happen, the more normalized and invasive it gets.

[@whynotcaptaincrunch]

Whenever I click "don't show me this" on the KZbin shorts, it helpfully hides them and then says, "We won't show you any shorts for 2 weeks." Why 2 weeks? Why not... forever? Or until I ask for them back? Google in the past few years has really embodied that "if you're not paying, you're the product, not the consumer" ethos. Google only cares about its users to the extent that they can sell us to advertisers.

[@AutumnSwift2]

I used to get those videos that would be posted on multiple different accounts and because of it continues to pop up.

[@gegahex]

i have a chrome extension to hide shorts from search results because it got so bad

[@HowToCookThat]

that sounds great, what is it called?

[@Hakkar]

Ah ofc, why didn't I think of that. The list of extensions to fix youtube is growing longer and longer. Return dislike, sponsorblock, KZbin Nonstop and now also one for hiding shorts. On top of that - uBlock Origin which is mandatory imo. Whenever I have to look up something on my phone urgently and have to wait for ads... it's like getting eye cancer with a side of lobotomy.

[@inglouriousbadger]

Id like to know too

[@megandykes5762]

I use extensions to block shorts on youtube on both my phone and laptop. I use the app ‘Untrap’ for my phone, which might be ios only, and means I have to watch youtube on my browser instead of on the app - but this is a price I’m willing to pay to avoid shorts! I use the chrome extension ‘Unhook’ on my laptop. Both of the extensions are amazing, huge credit to the creators! They allow me to not only block shorts from ever appearing, but also to block things like auto play, recommendations, even my home page if I want (it automatically redirects to my subscriptions). Would recommend.

[@T-5seconds]

i use firefox, and i have an extension called "youtube search fixer", which allows hiding shorts, hiding "related" results (which makes up the majority of the random videos in search results,) hiding playlists, and a bunch of other stuff (and it's all toggleable)! i don't know if there's a chrome version, but i'd assume so?

[@JellyGummy26]

as a women watching a looot of youtube, I also noticed the female creators I used to watch religiously slowly started disappearing from my feed a couple years ago... I thought maybe they just stopped uploading, but it was until I re-discovered Swell entertaining (who was in this video!) that I started to search for the ones I remembered to see what happened to them. A lot of them stopped uploading (like Joanna Cedia, jenna marbles), some I just lost interest in their content, and some had just stopped showing up on my recommendations :\

[@LtLost15]

The home feed I think prioritises the types of videos you are interested in and not the creator's you subscribed to. Like with tiktok, my for you page (home feed) rarely has people I follow and that's why it has the "following" tab. So my question is why aren't you using your "subscriptions" tab because that tab shows you which of the creators you subscribe to has posted new videos and so on and that's why I mostly use it and not the home feed.

[@seemorebutts1798]

I watch Safiya, Hope Scope, Mia Maples, emmymade, Evan and Katelynn, Boze, Alexandria Ryan, Grav3yardgirl, RacchLoves, Charlotte Dobre, Jaime French, Swoop, Syd Mac, Vivian... Just to name a few.

[@pizzadogma]

even youtubers with more progressive views get suppressed by the youtube algorithm in favor for more ragebait conservative/alpha male podcast content instead

[@ember9361]

@@LtLost15 because this is not tiktok, and youtube's homepage used to show you videos from channels you subscribe to. Changing the way things work out of the blue with no heads up is youtube's fault, not the end user's.

[@HalbdaemonKite]

I mean... there is a blue dot next to the subscribed channel, if they postet something you haven't checked out yet. So I'm honestly confused as to how you could not notice channels you subscribed to uploading regularly.

[@wallareekelkar9458]

I'm so glad someone is actually talking about the ill effects of yt shorts... Another danger of shorts is that you end up wasting waay too much time scrolling, and you don't realize it because you think the videos are, well, short. Plus, if we scroll for a long time, some really inappropriate and disturbing content pops up which we have no control over. Did anyone also notice that the ads (or maybe it's just in India) are also weird?

[@breannawatson6281]

Ads are weird in Canada too. 🇨🇦 And I'll spend hours watching shorts, and feel like total crap after. I feel more productive watching long form (not sure why).

[@kristin123a]

Ads in Norway is just normal things like makeup, coffee makers(ie Nespresso), local food, H&M etc.

[@goober479]

I don’t use Shorts or tik Tok but my friends all complain about this. They get a lot of that sexist guy who has a really horrible podcast where he berates and humiliates young women with BS sexist views. He’s the new Andrew Tate. My friends say they get depressed seeing men still saying horrible sexist things from the 50s

[@Wargthorne102]

I'm glad someone else mentioned the weird ads! I'm American and I'm so sick and tired of getting those disturbing ads. I kept getting the "spicy" audiobook ones and those Jesus AI ads that have the mouth moving,

[@OGimouse1]

Shorts are the brain version of trial size or minis: it doesn't count if it's "just one [at a time]"

[@saraha1514]

This bias is absolutely real. All of the female creators that I've been following for years (including you) have been practically removed from my recommended videos, forcing me to have to check your channels specifically for new content!! It's been so frustrating and I'm glad someone is finally bringing it to everyone's attention!! Also I freaking hate shorts!!!! KZbin used to be/still is the only place to access longform content

[@loubloom1941]

It isn't real. The simple truth is that the male creators tend to put in far more effort or have more interesting content than female creators. Hence why they're pushed by the algorithm. Most of the content is crap IMO, but still. It gets views

[@Saezimmerman]

This issue with the recommended page is something I've noticed as well. It's more likely to show me old or repeat videos than a new video from one of my favorite female content creators.

[@kvasir8931]

Its not a bias. Its just that the biggest channels focus on the main demographic of the platform, which is kids, mostly of the male sort. Thats why the biggest channels make these constant action "lets blow up a lamborghini" type videos. The algorithm doesnt know the gender of the creator, it knows what people like to watch.

[@bobblelooble3530]

@@loubloom1941 “men are just more talented and hard working than women” is disproven by every single study ever and a classic misogynistic take to boot. Put more effort into listening to women and you might be able to make more interesting comments 👍

[@MrViki60]

women making up problems when they don't have any.

[@VraerynDaDragon]

What it feels like browsing the Internet these days in terms of flavors: "I'd like to order mint." Service, "Here you go, our best licorice." "I...I ordered mint." "You'll love this, our statistics show that some people that like mint also like licorice." "I don't care about that, I ordered mint!" "But do you like licorice?" "Well, yes, but-" "Ah, good, so our algorithm is working." "No, stop, I ordered mint, I'm not in the mood for licorice!" _Service ignores you and leaves._

[@D33_G33]

😂😂

[@lizardog]

I've never seen it stated better.

[@heyitslucylol]

FACTS.

[@kc1858]

1000% agree with this

[@rackc8288]

And I hate both, so it gives me both. Figures.

[@thentheworld6152]

I loved the biscuit representation of data! That must have taken ages.

[@HowToCookThat]

yes it did, thanks for appreciating, made me smile.

[@yeetbigly6604]

It was a great representation! And made me want a snack...

[@skibidi.G]

Mom 😊 😘 ​@@HowToCookThat

[@Silversubs29078]

Back in 2021 i was going through a rough patch in life and i was spending a lot of time online that i should've. Even though I mostly watched funny cat videos and chess related content, I went down the yt shorts rabbit hole. And there I kept getting recommended all sorts of hateful content and no matter how much I blocked or reported I kept getting recommended it. And it had started to affect me quite a bit cuz I was 13 back then. I joined an online support group for teens and it helped me a lot; not just helping me not be chronically online (lol) but just life in general.

[@HowToCookThat]

Well done silversubs for seeking support. Definitely choose what you view, don't let ai pick for you.

[@drunkenhobo8020]

I accidentally watched a single trainspotting video about two years ago (I thought something interesting was going to happen to the train). Ever since then my recommendations *always* include trainspotting videos, no matter how many times I click "I'm not interested".

[@user-mn8lz7gf6d]

It's interesting how differently people are affected by content. When I started spending more time online, moderation was just being implemented and there was little censorship, it was fine. Open discourse was actually possible back then, but apparently not everyone can handle that.

[@britterlie]

You did great getting yourself help, all the best to you!

[@AkshayKumarX]

@@user-mn8lz7gf6d Even back in your "old days" there were a lot of people who did in fact ruin their lives by watching all sort shit that is now "openly discussed" over on the chan sites and the like. Kinda like a man belting his kids 5 times a day and turning to you saying "My parents used to beat me up like that 10 times a day and I turned out fine".

[@valeriewaltonCN]

Your son deserves a raise. And extra credit in his math class at school.

[@anders630]

I had no idea Nile was that big but it gives me a bit of hope for humanity.

[@Alice-si8uz]

The dude has a good mix of nerd and charisma lol

[@blackcountryme]

and throwing stuff on the floor, the inner caveman like that😂

[@iwantagoodnameplease]

Who hasn't wanted to make chicken nuggets from diamonds, or make gold from poop?

[@bonbonbot8444]

IKR i for some reason felt proud. IDK why.

[@HisameArtwork]

not even close to a good science channel, but compared to piewdie or that Logan guy, may youtube gods bless Nile with a long career and hope he doesn't get brain rot like TV science channels that went off the rails entirely with alien conspiracies evolution deniers.

[@Jayy4351]

I really feel like writing a research paper on this and giving you credit

[@hopehoping]

And James!! :D

[@Jordy04]

I think hearing Ann utter the words "Skibidi Toilet" just took a year off my lifespan.

[@romanmgelman]

Added two years to mine 😂

[@steffaneecaiola613]

I was gonna say, I never thought I'd hear her say those words but here are 😂

[@ioana7547]

I personally think it’s hysterical how she doesn’t use memes for the laughs but instead presents them as if she were talking about the weather rofl. Understated humor

[@indigopentagram3330]

It was beautiful like a bird song

[@emilyrln]

There's an increasing proportion of English that means absolutely nothing to me 😂

[@sjenner76]

This should be mandatory viewing at KZbin, and they owe you a significant thank you.

[@nalodailec]

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

[@mariahs1123]

Surely it'll take at least another 5 years before YT catches on and starts caring.

[@sjenner76]

@@mariahs1123, darkly true …

[@johansteinmetz371]

KZbin is becoming worse :( forever grateful for Ann for consistently delivering quality content that’s transparent and educational. More people need to see this

[@Phengophobia]

Excellent analysis! Another note regarding the search function, which has seriously been bugging me - I look up a video by a specific creator, and often the results have nothing in common with my search. For example, if I search for a song by a specific band, I'm bombarded by all kinds of other songs or videos I've watched - despite not looking for them at all!

[@denisep3306]

I despise the number of shorts on KZbin that are just repurposed tick-tock‘s. Nothing new is being created. I liked KZbin because you actually got to hear from someone. Not just the latest dance I can do.

[@ballpit_nails]

Shorts creator here. Just to offer a little insight, a lot of creators are flocking to KZbin from TikTok because TikTok doesn’t pay anything and offers zero creator support 😭 3 years on the platform, 1M followers and I’ve never seen a dime from them. Totally understand it may be annoying to see a similar video seen on TikTok but as someone just trying to make their living it makes no sense to not post them here 🥺

[@shanel4294]

My TikTok algorithm and KZbin algorithm are completely different so I’m finding these tiktoker from KZbin. It’s mostly animal related here so I’m not mad at it.

[@AutumnSwift2]

​@@ballpit_nailsyou aren't going to be payed much better by KZbin

[@snusmumeriken]

absolutely love how Ann has taken her incredible food science skills and used it to analyse data to figure out the YT algorithms and if they're sexist. Absolutely incredible work and she blows me away with her skills every time!

[@Stephnooob]

I'm so bothered by the amount of channels in that top list that STAR CHILDREN. Absolutely awful.

[@patriciatoomingtheplantpar2558]

I build boats. When my clients pass on a business card it says "PAT" instead of Patti or Patricia because there is a bias against women everywhere... FACTS

[@Maialeen]

The constant fear of women is so foul. Absolutely shxt scared that we might take away something from men and that they're not the only capable ones.

[@robertschnobert9090]

There's a reason why JK Rowling uses the name JK instead of their real name. They make more money that way 🌈

[@nonenone5413]

the truth is right here in this comment

[@KingKogi]

That's exactly why I started my KZbin channel with a "male" name, even though I'm a woman.

[@knownothing5518]

You're a boat builder? Omg that's amazing! Where can I find your business?

[@veeandness]

I physically cannot use KZbin without plugins that remove shorts. I refuse to partake in that sort of nonsense.

[@missk7001]

Oh please tell me what plug-in are you using? Thanx!!

[@therewasoldcringe]

insane how people actually watch youtube on phones... its not a phone site. i have like 10 total blockers, for ads and shorts, just for youtube to keep it usable

[@nikki4803]

Yo, can you share? I didn't even know that was possible

[@PirikkoP]

Definitely. On the PC it's really easy anyway, for Android, Firefox let's you add extensions that make KZbin much more bearable and even for stuff like the Firestick there is a third party app that makes the KZbin experience so much better. I'll never understand why people endure KZbin unmodified.

[@veeandness]

I'm using Shortsblocker@@missk7001

[@jjackson4273]

And here's Ann Reardon finding the answers as usual. Relentless and thoughtful. She brings it whenever she steps into the room.

[@SephKane]

I find KZbin very confusing and difficult to navigate. It also never seems to show a variety of all the different creators I'm subscribed to. Just the same handful, unless I manually search for someone and then that creator will be added to the mix indefinitely. The notification system is severely flawed.

[@tookitogo]

You have to enable notifications for each subscription. Click/tap the subscribe button _again_ after subscribing and select “all” notifications instead of the default “personalized” which means “AI, take the wheel!” and doesn’t prioritize it a lot.

[@annamelvina216]

Yes! My brother has a KZbin channel that I'm subscribed to. He posts fairly regularly but I never see his video on my feed. I have to search him up to see what his latest is.

[@littlebear274]

The number of videos I miss from people I'm subscribed to whose videos I always click on straight away is WILD. I have to go way, *way* down the page past all kinds of really old stuff to be sure I've actually found the new videos from the people I like most. I also found that as soon as I told it to stop recommending me MrBallen it started recommending me all his million side channels, like it had found this "one simple trick that viewers hate!" to get around my preferences.

[@OopsIDidItAgainUh]

I've observed that there's also an influx of community posts on my home page from random news corporations and meme channels. I just watched one viral video from a famous news channel and searched for a viral meme template to edit it and send to my friend. After that, ever since the home page refreshed, I see a lot of community posts from BBC, ABC, NBC, etc. and channels that have videos like "achieved 50k subs with one video" and "why do I comment everywhere?". Despite clicking "not interested", "do not recommend channel" and down-voting such topics in the preferences, I still get a lot of them. Even the ads I get are from topics that I downvoted in the preferences. Since I rarely use a computer or my laptop, I mostly watch videos through the KZbin app on my phone, where I can't add any plugins or extensions to filter certain types of content and ads. I will also not get premium membership anytime in the near future, so at this point, I'm just tolerating.

[@VANILLAMILKISGUD]

I’m so sorry. At this point, you should just make a new channel. 😭

[@VraerynDaDragon]

I semi-regularly get inundated with random nursery rhyme content and other child-focused videos. I am a 26 year old man that lives away from his family and have hit everything from "not interested" to "do not recommend channel" without watching even a second of the video. But like the heads of a hydra they won't. stay. away. This is absurd.

[@farrahupson]

Going into your history and deleting the videos that caused the change might help to get rid of the bad recommendations.

[@evanallaire2829]

Removing Videos from History effects Cookies JSYK

[@OopsIDidItAgainUh]

@@farrahupson oh yeah that makes sense. I'll try doing that. Thanks for the info!

[@jonus28]

I absolutely hate how KZbin has been pushing Shorts for a while now, especially all over my Home page. I have searched for a way to edit or otherwise hide them, but there's no option I could find outside of downloading a third-party browser extension. Hey, KZbin, if I want to watch short-form videos, I'll seek them out. Thanks!

[@josephorman4223]

Can I get the name of this extension, because I have tried to find something like it, but have failed

[@thatonelie9702]

@@josephorman4223chris titus tech has a video explaining how to remove youtube shorts with ublock origin

[@Anne-ng5nv]

I love the way Ann puts so much effort and time in making these debunking videos, they are so true and well put together! As much as I appreciate them, I also secretly miss her baking videos which I’m watching since the very first beginning ;’) However, I totally understand there are priorities!! Thank you so much Ann for being such a wonderful person!!❤️

[@ColettexCollins]

I am so glad we have a cool aunt of KZbin like you. Tha aunt who sees that things could be better and sticks up for everyone. You are a rock and so brave. I know it's not easy to be so vocal when this company pays you. Thanks ❤

[@mariskamellema6154]

Another problem I see with shorts is that the attention span of children is shorter. If they don't get interested in just a few seconds, they don't pay attention anymore. Big problem in classrooms where they have to be focused on, say a matchproblem for a few minutes. Or have to listen to an instruction of the teacher.

[@lauraw2526]

Not just a problem for kids, I’ve noticed my own attention span getting worse and have been trying to watch less youtube

[@jamie-fb5tj]

plus all these kids are consuming misinformation/inappropriate content and being exposed to things they shouldnt

[@ololo518]

@@lauraw2526 Yes! I was watching this video (I purposely clicked on) and look at my phone, before thinking "wait. Don't" It's so hard to concentrate these days,

[@lauraw2526]

@@ololo518 All social media is designed for rapid feedback. But you can retrain your brain! I’ve been trying to read more, or get back into hobbies like knitting rather than scrolling KZbin. It’s hard at first but gets easier with practice.

[@stainlesssteellemming3885]

@@jamie-fb5tj Gotta tell you, I started using the Internet and bulletin boards before there was a WWW (yeah I used one of those weird things you see in War Games where he puts his rotary phone handset into a holder ). The "misinformation" part has been there from the start, and the "innapropriate" stuff has DEFINITELY been there - you just had to look a little harder.

[@SnoFitzroy]

Swell Entertainment mentioned!

[@spacebar9733]

Me too it makes me so happy 🩷 like bringing two friend groups together and they love each other.

[@aaronspotts9696]

Ann you are one of the few youtubers left with integrity and compassion for the content you make. Your fans are still here loving your content. I am truly sorry youtube is punishing creators with shorts. I really hope they restructure very soon to long for content which made youtube huge in the first place! Love all your videos!!

[@jellybeanium124]

commenting to tell the algorithm to promote this female creator, because Ann is awesome and her work is important!

[@MatthewMayhew]

Honestly my take home from this is that there are a lot of people in the world watching silly, low quality content, and of course this is heavily incentivised - it's quick and cheap to make and an enormous amount of people will still watch it, providing more and more ad revenue. Thank you for actually making decent, top quality content

[@anthonyhollohan7651]

well some ppl put effort into their shorts and dont make money back from it , mrbeast and zach king ok thats all i can think of lol

[@gracefoster7587]

The people that are watching silly low quality content are children. It’s literally all children. If you look at any of those comment sections, you’ll see it’s very obviously bots and little kids interacting with this content

[@anthonyhollohan7651]

@@gracefoster7587 are u saying mrbeast content is low quality and low effort?

[@GM-qq1wi]

I am dying for you and Nile Red to collaborate somehow, your combined knowledge of science, food and chemistry would make for some facinating content, not to mention the potential cross polination of your folowers would be beneficial for both. Ive been a follower of both channels for years and was tickled to see you reactto his 100% pure cookie video.

[@ShamelessFNGRL]

I mean he'd be an incredibly easy taste testing subject x'D the amount of things he's tasted or straight up eaten that she's warned us about is way too high 😂

[@ittybittylidicommittee]

Plus sometimes for his food videos, he gets through all the chemistry processes only to not really know how food works, so it’d be really cool to see results that aren’t reliant on his cooking skills.

[@Grandma_Jizzzzzzzard]

That is actually a great idea 💡

[@lunabtxt]

great idea!!

[@adinacarlinger]

They could recreate a Heston Blumenthal recipe 😀

[@brookemattingly6216]

Thank you as always for being so thorough and transparent! Your videos are so refreshing

[@ramsoomair]

Auphmau was banned in our house due to the screaming and going into inappropriate topics at times.

[@nbucwa6621]

I didn't even know my nephew watched aphmau until this video. I's so glad Anne mentioned the inappropriate content she has. It made me realise even though i check in on their screen time often, it's still easy to mix how some channels throw in a little adult content randomly. I decided to ask him what channels on Anne's list he watches regularly and it was almost all of them. I'll definitely being going to each channel and going through their content myself. It's crazy because their youtube is locked for inappropriate content/videos but a lot of obviously inappropriate content gets through not even counting these ones.

[@whitepaint7870]

I really dislikes youtube shorts, they just make youtube look messy and tend to be bad. I always prefer long form content because it makes it easy to just pick a video and stick to it.

[@Kessik8]

Totally agree, they tease, then you want to know more and find no link or anything in the description and comments.

[@cassandra_lord]

Someone recently pointed out to me that she "doesn't know a lot of women who do what I do", so if you ever decide to delve into this topic further, it could be interesting to find out how many women creators there are on the platform in the first place. My channel viewers have also always been predominantly male, and all the channels I've watched that have shown their stats have been the same, so there could even be more men on both the creation and viewer side. I haven't done any research into this myself, but it would certainly be interesting to know more!

[@HowToCookThat]

hi Cassandra, It would be interesting to see at a platform level the number of male v female creators each year. I know of quite a few that were doing well and stopped uploading when their views died. Viewership is another interesting question youtube says it is 54% male users. But that doesn't break down views. For my channel it is 57.7% female viewership.

[@cassandra_lord]

@@HowToCookThat Thanks for replying with your insights! If what you've replied with is reflective of the broader reality then, as you say, that doesn't make up for the discrepancy at all. It makes sense that women would be discouraged and leave the platform if their stats drop. Even if they overcome that, they've been set back more than the men, and it will take longer to reach the top percentile. Your videos are great and this was an interesting deviation, I look forward to your future insights on other topics!

[@dreamofwings]

The interesting thing about Mr Beast is that his channel is propped up by a lot of bot activity. Furthermore he's not an indy creator, he's managed by an agency, Night Media, which is directly connected to Disney Digital Media. They manage thousands of apparently extremely successful influencers btw. I'm sure a person could draw all kinds of conclusions about how KZbin's algorithm connects to that.

[@lazy_bt]

i didnt even KNOW mr beast had connections to disney until i read your comment! its all about making it look like youre indie and "popular despite not having a corp behind you"... i dont even actually watch mr beast videos ever, but it goes to show how youtube went from "broadcast yourself" like a genuine human being, to a dull corp run by capitalism.

[@nicolejayne]

I started watching your channel back when you were baking cakes and all that stuff, KZbin stopped pushing me your channel until one day I was going through my subscriptions and refound ur channel. Very glad i did. I love these videos aswell as your debunking vids

[@leadharsh0616]

I barely get any of my interests recommended anymore, i am pretty sure the atrocious shorts content i sometimes accidentally watch affects what gets onto the main video page

[@Emirrea]

Using youtube has gotten a lot nicer after I swapped from using the apps even on mobile to using firefox with adblocker, an extension that removes shorts and an extension that allows the video to keep playing on the background. It's 10/10, would recommend.

[@randomname6599]

I never comment on videos but damn it you DESERVE THE INTERACTION! I absolutely love your channel, it is probably the one of the only channels I watch where I can trust the information without even thinking about it, because I know you always do your research and put such effort into your videos. Keep going! Rooting for you

[@angiesingleton9047]

I did the same thing. And I'm replying to this comment to boost interaction. Let's heckin goooooooo! 😤💯💯

[@emfen]

Even on third party apps the search has gone down the drain, I've been looking for crochet instructions for my project and sometimes the same video scrolls by 3 times. On desktop it's a nightmare to find anything at all, it was kinda shocking since I'm primarily a phone user with privatization apps enabled.

[@anajarak2055]

Ann, I've been watching you for years and I just wanted to say that you're incredible. You really are a voice for the people and you're just flat out amazing! ♥️

[@HowToCookThat]

thanks anajarak2055 😀

[@katewelsh1285]

Im not watching youtube for shorts. Thats what other platforms are for. Im here for long, quality content. Just like what you produce for is week after week. Thank you so much what you do for us 😊

[@jackwright517]

With shorts, every 30 days I need to open my browser on a PC and click the "x" icon on the shorts panels in the homepage to mostly hide shorts across all of my devices... Ridiculous I can't disable shorts entirely.

[@psychedalek]

There's a great Chrome extension called ShortsBlocker that removes them from everything

[@tyriana..340]

Totally agree! I do notice that if I consistently click them away and never EVER click on any shorts, I get zero recommendations of shorts. I still get ads, but at least the ****** shorts are gone! 😁😁

[@tillvanenjoyer]

can you explain more on how you do it? i only heard of constantly clicking not interested on shorts to block them

[@seedye]

@@tillvanenjoyer I bookmarked kzbin.info?persist_app=1&app=desktop on my iPad, and it’s the only link I use to open YT. I didn’t realize that was why I’m able to block the shorts for 30 days.

[@leadharsh0616]

But it still gets recommend under videos, like this one i have many cooking videos recommended

[@muenstercheese]

anne stays winning with the investigative journalism!! great work!

[@a.nonamoose]

Why isn't there an option to block shorts from my subscription feed? I hide them one by one individually. Any channel that posts multiple shorts in a row I unsubscribe.

[@seedye]

I bookmarked kzbin.info?persist_app=1&app=desktop on my iPad, and only use it to open YT. They put 1-3 sections of shorts at first, but there’s an “X” on each section. If you click it, the shorts are hidden for 30 days.

[@diablotry5154]

There is several tabs including "videos" on mobile at least which filters out all shorts

[@MoonberryJam93]

On android you can do this with a modified app. There are a couple out there, but the one I use is called ReVanced. You can disable all shorts-related features so you never see them at all.

[@gracefoster7587]

KZbin will never make it easier to block shorts because they profit from it. It’s like requesting YT to remove ads

[@IamAlmostRealWitch]

I can hide short for 30 days. But I think that maybe be location base function.

[@NRNF1776]

I too, absolutely hate the short format. It feels like my brain is melting. I love your videos, and other channels who do in depth long format videos... And would always prefer a 30 min video on a 30 seconds video. ❤❤❤

[@searaph]

Wow, the way you presented the data with biscuits was clever and very easy to follow! That looked really cool and must have taken forever!

[@snowy_hercules]

yeah, that was very on-brand (and it made me crave cookies lol)

[@edayavuz1667]

Those looked like some nice chocolate cakes😋 it made me hungry too...

[@preciselyregal660]

As always, a very thought-provoking video! I can't say how much I appreciate Ann's citing of her sources/describing her process and the fact that she is willing to ask difficult questions but not claim to have the answer if there isn't a clear one. Her integrity and desire to inform (as well as entertain) are the reason HTCT is the channel I recommend the most to everyone I know.

[@wherefancytakesme]

Shorts being on loop can feel so overstimulating, and I have attention span issues enough as it is. These are bad for people like me in every way.

[@Dash_Gallou]

What universe am I in where Ann actually said Skibidi Toilet? 😂💀

[@bej4987]

She's got that Ohio rizz

[@bangtangirl3503]

it's for scientific purposes

[@wayIess]

​@@bej4987As someone from Ohio, I had urban dictionary what you just said.

[@Vollyv]

I liked when she said 'we'll replace him with one of his toilet characters' like she is so done

[@belughlegosi]

@@wayIesssame

[@maryobrien4415]

I love how Glen and Friends (A Canadian KZbinr and his wife) treat shorts. They started to make shorts so that their regular channel would still be recommended by the algorithm. I don't pretend to understand the system. What Glen does, is to use the shorts as commercials (short snippets) to get people over to his regular channel. They short of show their contempt for the format.

[@VVsupremacy]

Yes! I love it when people take advantage of Shorts. Stupid people would still comment "why can't you share everything here rather than make us watch a long ass video?", when the video might be just 10 mins or 15 mins, or "Let me spare you the hardwork-" and put a very bad or misrepresenting summary of the video. The amount of people who casually flaunt their reducing attention span is scarily large.

[@lokicooper4690]

That’s a super smart way to use shorts to their own advantage. Love it!

[@AmyLSacks]

@@VVsupremacy Give it another year and this site will be 90% still photos, because who has time to watch something a whole 60 seconds long? ;)

[@marcelacecil3036]

thank you for your information. I have been aware that shorts are being "pushed" when I go to KZbin. After this, I am going to completely reject watching shorts. You are awesome keep up the good work you do!

[@dayneglinkowski]

More quality content - please never leave us Ann! Though this one made me despair for our future... Everyone should be talking about this!

[@teruhiiko]

Just for kicks, I sorted all of the creators I subscribe to and tallied it up. 80% male, 20% female. And of those female creators, I think only about half are actively creating content. Interesting!

[@gracefoster7587]

You inspired me to analyze my subs and about a 1/3 of mine are female with 1 female/male duo. Two of those accounts are also owned by the same person. Honestly surprising to me since I am a girl and have more feminine interests. However, there are multiple female content creators that I do regularly watch, but don’t subscribe to for various reasons. I can only think of 1 male content creator where I regularly watch his content, but have not subscribed. Should probably reflect on why but it’s interesting to think about.

[@shadycatz85]

It's almost exactly 50/50 to me, which is shocking to me as my spotify and shows and films I watch are female dominated. I don't think it'd be like this if not for the algorithm

[@dianapovero7319]

This was a great example of how important it is for the viewer to curate what's in their feed, if we the viewers use do not recommend enough WE can influence the algorithm to better reflect OUR interests rather than allowing the algorithm to change our interests. Thank you Ann!!

[@Pierre-AlexandreVincent]

Thank you Ann. The time and effort you and your son have put into this is mind blowing. Not even counting the awesome, but also not at all necessary, stop motion. Talk about going the extra mile 😄

[@mintjaan]

One thing I appreciate about your upload times is that I noticed a lot of Australian, New Zealand and other's in a similar time zone adjust their uploads to be during American time zones but yours aren't. So I can wake up early in the morning and see a new video whenever my subscriptions are relatively slow.

[@minnie7453]

i remember years ago when Lily Singh spoke up about being the only woman to represent in all the top youtubers of the year, and PewDiePie (among others) saying well, youtube is the truest meritocracy that a platform can be, so it can’t be sexism. as if people’s biases don’t permeate algorithms and straight up effect what content people choose to consume.

[@capthawkeye8010]

Ah yes the so called 'rationalist' view that is really just paternalistic ignorance.

[@RoeShamBoe]

that girl is a nutjob with wackadoo worldview that is completely backwards

[@lemon4087]

Ye, I didn't predict this purge of content from female creators 😢 else I'd have subbed to every channel I somewhat liked. Now I never get stuff recommended that I wanna see, n I forgot who I used to watch too..

[@lemon4087]

Also whenever I see a female creator(which is v rare, it is a dude fest)have a good vid title n interesting thumbnail, it's a radical right side pipeline of America, I'm not American😢 I don't need that bs

[@AmyLSacks]

@@lemon4087 Back in the 1980s, a writer named Bram Djikstra said that women who wanted to succeed as painters during the *fin de siecle* generally tried to be like the most popular men in terms of what was in their pictures. They also felt pressured to take fewer technical and stylistic risks than men. Seems like not a lot has changed, in art OR politics. :(

[@percibaltwinkus]

i love that your son helped with this video, your family is so lovely! you can tell he looks up to his very smart parents :)

[@thefirethatburnswithin7906]

One of the things that helps me is that I don't let KZbin record my watching history. I did this for privacy reasons. For a long time, videos would be recommended to me on the home page, but now KZbin will not recommend me anything on the homepage or shorts. When I look for something specific, I can usually find it using search. I find that my related videos next to a yt video tend to be quite diverse for me.

[@f33rcetv34]

Seeing Anne talk about Skibidi Toilet so casually has made my day You really have one of the most informative channels on the tube, so much effort and analytics goes into it Your effort is unmatched THANKYOU

[@mamajoysings]

Also I love how you call out what is happening with youtube, it's so important that we remain aware of what is really happening.

[@theroaminghomebody]

Ann, you don't miss. Thanks for all the time and effort put into this. It help me be more aware of what's really happening on this platform and how KZbin continues to evade transparency with their creators

[@ahnmichael1484]

Your channel is stellar - when I first started watching (years ago), I thought it would just be (excellent) food videos .. but you use your science tools to help people process all kinds of issues, so many important social issues. You are awesome and thank you!

[@Aimenel]

Thank you, Ann and James, for all your hard work in exposing all of this! And thanks to all the people in the comments who mentioned an extension for blocking shorts. I didn't think to search for one for some reason, but now I have it and KZbin is usable again.

[@rouka120]

The amount of people who let their kids just watch KZbin unsupervised concerns me. The sensory overload and constant screen time cannot be good for development either.

[@aurore7554]

Women are too often targeted, not only by haters (all content creators have them), but also by insults and really aggressive comments on social media. That aspect could also prevent more women from becoming content creators or it could make them stop making videos. There was in fact a TEDtalk about this a couple of years ago to try and denounce this.

[@enunya]

Most haters of women... are other women. Us chicks can be vicious!

[@jessy1982]

Yeah, it's also more of a risk for women to show their face and voice on the internet than a man (because of creeps), so that could be why using images and games and non-voiced (like slime) content is more popular for them.

[@mwater_moon2865]

Back in the early days of the internet (before You Tube) a study was done where scientists went in chatrooms with feminine (Melissa), masculine (Michael), or indeterminate usernames (Stargazer). The feminine username participants received an average of 600% more harassment than the neutral usernames and were sexually propositioned 1000% (10 times) more often than the neutral or masculine usernames. I'm not sure it's improved all that much in the last 25 years, but it's sure as heck not new....

[@uioplkhj]

​@@mwater_moon2865Why so much more hate?

[@jessy1982]

@@uioplkhj My complete guess is women are taught to be more conservative and men are taught to chase, so that makes men more likely to harass women than the opposite. Also women are VERY seggsualized in media, and online, so to some men it normalizes it.

[@thedisappointedoptimist6916]

It's so disturbing that some of the biggest channels are starring children but not made for kids. Reminds me of that mom who made a video about how the majority of the bookmarks and Playlist people made of her channel were of her kids in the pool or eating something phallic.

[@writerstarotwithLeenna]

I watch a lot of tarot and astrology videos and over the past 5 years it's still female dominated but there are a lot more male readers who appear to be favored by the algorithm along with content that doesn't fit the time range in the filter "today" or even "this week". It would rather give me popular content than new content... I always use filters and keywords to search for new channels to support or older ones I like, and where before the algorithm used to take into account channels you subscribed to to recommend content for you, it no longer seems to do that anymore either. Thank you so much for this. It's all quite worrying especially about the kids content and targeting and the exaggerated biases. It explains a lot. I was going to reboot my presence on this platform but now I'd rather upload my content to a platform that's more inclusive and protects kids. Love your show❤❤❤

[@shoegal]

So true about the tarot videos. I get recos from male creators which is fine but their views and subs are fewer than the videos from women with higher stats which are only recommended to me after I've been scrolling for an hour.

[@dekumarademosater2762]

​@@shoegalso you're saying Some content with Fewer Views and Subs is being recommended above and before Others with More Views and Subs. And a Significant Difference is the Some are from Male and the Other are from Female creators. Sounds like a clear example of bias to me. Especially if the dates for creation were similar (which I'm assuming, but confirmation would be good too)

[@liesvdm7667]

I can't overstate how important you are in bringing this info in such clear but well researched and thorough manner!! I consider myself quite well informed but I learn so much from your videos and it makes me more aware of other, related issues, by encouraging to think critically. Thanks for all you do!

[@laurencourtice2803]

Ive been waiting for you to talk about shorts!! It's so annoying how people can post a 10 second video and get millions of views while proper creators barely get any views

[@dinodoeseditz]

Exactly! Some KZbinrs spend hours ONLY on full videos, just to get only a handful of views. There’s great KZbinrs, simular to airrack, like jack pembrooke, and he barley gets any views. The algorithm is not fair.

[@GenJuhru]

Snippets from other content creator's long form vids, like fake react videos and just inserting themselves...

[@laurencourtice2803]

@@GenJuhru yes!! And how so many TV shows and pov creators are just getting reposted with ASMR videos next to them

[@rodh1404]

As Ann points out, Shorts make their creators barely any money even with those millions of views. Long form creators will generally earn much more with even 1% of the views. But IMO, she's right about the Shorts polluting KZbin and causing fewer views to the long form content. And in my case, even though I tell KZbin I'm not interested in seeing Shorts at all, they keep coming back every 30 days and I have to tell KZbin I'm not interested in them yet again.

[@DaRealEaze]

Why don't those "proper creators" also create KZbin shorts to boost their view count on their long form videos? All of this is marketing and not an emotional thing so if those people aren't smart enough to do that it's their fault.