Some topics seem stickier than others. Like clicking on one Jordan Peterson video seems like enough to change a third of the front page to other videos by him.

At least that's how it works for my account even though I'm completely uninterested in the guy.

Aye. I fucked up once and clicked a link to a PragerU vid that was being discussed on reddit. Non-stop recommendations about OWNING LIBS for a few weeks.

It's gotten to the point where I don't click links simply because I don't want to get spammed.

At least on desktop, you can remove videos from your watch history, which I think will drop them from the recommendations algorithm. Search here and click the X on the offending videos: https://www.youtube.com/feed/history

I have gotten similar behavior but for a more innocuous subject lately my youtube feed has been flooded with Warhammer40k videos after I made the mistake of clicking on a video on the subject.

I clicked on one of his videos like a year back to try to figure out what all the hubbub was about. I have auto delete history after 3 months on. Only video I ever clicked on about him, I still occasionally get inundated with his videos every once in awhile. I can also confirm that using YouTube in this way does not lead to a lot of variety, even though I am subscribed to a large amount of things. The video recommendations do not seem to ever show me when people I'm subscribed to post videos.

It also works in the reverse, you click one video but ignore the rest and it doesn't suggest you more. Meaning that one video doesn't usually throw it entirely out of whack.

> even though I'm completely uninterested in the guy

You are so not interested in him that you a) know his name and b) watch his videos?

If you want to get rid of something you only clicked once, click something you like 2-3 times and it will not be listed in the first results anymore. After some time it will disappear if you really do not watch this kind of content.

This works with and without account.

You can just open the video in a private window to avoid influencing the recommendation engine.

if it comes from the same ip address at the same time i'm pretty sure it counts it too, as I sometimes get similar recomendations coming up from my other PC which has a different account, pretty sure I cant hide my porn browsing by using a VM for the same reason :-)

But then you have to pay for it with ads, and they're really cranking the thumbscrews with the ads these days.

EDIT: on the other hand, a few days back I accidentally used private browsing on a technical video and got a few of those mythical good ads of the sort that inform you about a genuinely interesting and relevant product you didn't know about. So maybe it's not the worst thing ever.

There is always Ublock origin for the web and vanced for android .

> Ublock origin

It's not been blocking youtube ads for me for a week or two.

Or remove the video from your Watch History after watching it.

> So in my experience, the bubble is actually too easy to extend.

Yes to the point where looking for content on prehistory can lead to flat earther conspiracy theory rubbish.

why do you think it's a good thing that you're in an entertainment bubble? The same criticism that applies to a news bubble applies to entertainment as well, it narrows people's scope.

Maybe if youtube did not keep you in an etertainment bubble you would find much more music you unexpectedly enjoy from artists or genres you haven't heard of.

> why do you think it's a good thing that you're in an entertainment bubble?

For example, when I'm in the mood to watch sailing videos, I don't want to get bombarded with Taylor Swift's latest concert (which I have absolutely no interest in) in the recommendations. My interests don't necessarily align with what's "popular", and anything bubble-less will necessarily have the popularity of something as one of its inputs.

Compare that with news, where some events are important enough that _everyone_ should know about them (COVID-19, for example), local events affect you more, etc. There, the bubble is a hindrance to your situation awareness.

As for music, I mostly use Google Play Music for that, through which I have discovered a lot of new artists.

> I don't go to Youtube for news / information

In general it seems that social media regarding news and politics is almost always toxic and should be avoided.

Twitter in particular is entirely awful because the format prohibits any intelligent discourse.