Has YouTube experienced enshittification?
What would removing the dates accomplish except making things more confusing and harder to find? What advantage to YouTube is there?
They one one goal: keep you engaged in the app.
Nothing else matters.
In their eyes, further reoving the “choice” of what to watch and shifting more of it to the algorithm optimizes that. And visible view counts/dates is a factor, as you may skip a video the algorithm thinks would keep you engaged.
For sure this has to be it. Less distractions, less info, less choice, more control for them
It is enshittification. IDK why other comments are mad about calling that out but look up the term if unfamiliar. Corey Doctorow laid out a thesis a few years ago and , the trend has continued. It seems unabated 😡😰
I just question if steering users toward old and outdated videos really keeps them engaged.
My guess is that it makes it easier to suggest you older content that wouldn’t be interesting when you can see at a glance how outdated it is.
I don’t understand why the hell I would want to watch an old ass YouTube video unless I sought it out.
