Probably a very tight window between when they hamstrung explicit strings and when they still had it a a recommended feature.

Its unfortunate but theres more money to be made being less helpful. For example, google ads pay based on session length.

See youtube killing its short form videos with the 10 minute monetization cliff --> gap filled by vine and then later by TikTok

Once you change the usefulness of your product it's only a matter of time