
Why is Google News recommending non-news YouTube videos? - PopeDotNinja
Google News used to be a pretty good feed of stuff I wouldn’t have thought to look for.  Now it’s trash.  Social media reactions (Someone flips out &amp; drops bombshell of a reply to SomeoneElse), the same old hyper targeted content (as if the only thing I read about are jets and astrophysics), and now I’m getting YouTube recommendations for garbage videos.  Ugh.
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rvz
There's still plenty of garbage on Google News and especially YouTube since
the democratisation of the partner network and nearly all the news
organisations being present. But I've seen worse and its coming in the form of
'actual news'.

In the UK, we have a tax-funded broadcaster with a royal charter called 'BBC
News' and a look at its online content is essentially a new level of
woketopia. There's mountains and valleys of clickbait littered everywhere and
its impartiality stance is evidently non-existent.

If I had to choose, I would rather pay for YouTube Premium or Netflix with all
their junk than look at the hot garbage that is paid with a TV License to the
BBC.

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whereistimbo
If they had analytics on, maybe they are just following public demand? Just
like how junk food is popular because it is instant and tasty.

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newswasboring
The whole point of having income not being dependent on public demand is what
made BBC good. But I do see the point that if everyone is paying the tax, then
the programming should be catered to everyone?

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Bedon292
I always have a Google News tab open on any computer I am on, and have for
years now. I have yet to see a non news YouTube video on there. The only time
I see any social media stuff, is if I click on "View Full Coverage" and scroll
down. And only relevant stuff to the topic.

Perhaps you are seeing some A/B testing? Hopefully it will not stick around.

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hindsightbias
I’m frustrated with youtube. If they track me by IP, it’s not working. A whole
page of videos that I have zero interest in. It’s like the anti-analytics
algorithm.

Been like this for a month or two.

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jasonv
I joke that I want a YouTube “for adults”. Not “adult YouTube”. But the stuff
they push on me would be appropriate for, uhh.. youth of a certain age. But I
never click on them, I never will, I don’t understand why their algorithm
can’t see what I’m subscribed to and what I watch and socialize accordingly.

I think the algos must really only work on the thinnest of the most popular
videos... the daily dramas of you tubers with shocked faces. Or the algos
heavily compensate for engagement and monetization and there’s no marketable
middle tale. But if that’s the best YouTube can do with the data they have, I
can’t wait for a disruption that isn’t exclusively the province of “the
youth”..

/leaving the lawn...

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Nathanba
I'm getting decent suggestions but you have train it well. Get rid of all
music channels, all news channels, all channels that the algorithm could
possibly connect to mainstream content.

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tzs
Google News seems to get fixated on some things. For a long time, it was
recommending to me an endless stream of videos and stories about Dave Grohl,
including stuff from low quality celebrity rumor sites.

I didn't even know who Dave Grohl was.

It turns out he was the drummer for Nirvana, and the founder of the Foo
Fighters. I've heard of both bands, but have never purposefully listened to
either of them.

As far as I can figure out, someone I know posted on Facebook a video of Grohl
bringing a kid from the audience on stage to play guitar [1]

I watched it, and Google apparently decided from that single viewing of one
video that for the next several weeks Grohl was the most important topic in
the world to me.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhUgNciW2fs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhUgNciW2fs)

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PopeDotNinja
So I figured out part of it. Google News pulled a TikTok and introduced a
#ForYou page. Somewhere along the way, the #ForYou page became the default
option. I switched the default back to top stories. We’ll see how it goes.

