TechAltar

PSA: If you share a YouTube video using the native share feature it now attaches your user ID (?si=xxxxxx) to the URL automatically.

YT likely does this to growth-hack DMs. When someone clicks on the link, YT can start a DM thread between you two automatically with this ID even if they found the link outside of the YT app.

If you post links publicly, I strongly recommend deleting the ID unless you want to post your user profile.

9:59amWeb
Show threadMeko #nowar8h ago
@Techaltar i remember somebody sending me a few Instagram links with source identifiers and then instagram offering me to follow them basically doxing their account :)
Show threadTechAltar7h ago
@yura yeah I really don't think people realize that this makes their sending account's profile known to the recipient
Show thread• Łącze7h ago

@yura @Techaltar

https://github.com/leon-cleaning-services/leon

GitHub - leon-cleaning-services/leon: Android app for removing tracking parameters from shared URLs

Android app for removing tracking parameters from shared URLs - leon-cleaning-services/leon

GitHub
Show threadchampingsajt8h ago
@Techaltar I'm guessing if you paste the link to any chat before deleting the share id, the thumbnail loads automatically for most messaging apps you are already identified and profiled...
Show thread.MKITOS2h ago
@champingsajt @Techaltar To avoid this tracking you should check your privacy settings and turn off link preview generator. Not sure about other platforms but whatsapp and telegram both allows to turn it off.
Show threadĞÖKÜ👻👻™25m ago
@mkitos @champingsajt @Techaltar signal also have this feature to turn off preview
Show threadHenrik Amaze Amaze Amaze!8h ago

@Techaltar

Or do we know some Google execs' user ID that we could use to share stuff with? 😄

Show threadMiicat_478h ago

@Techaltar

I accidentally clicked such link sent by friend and YT showed me modal asking if I want to chat with him there

I clicked no, but I can still see his acc when I try to share new links on YT now

Also seems like that doesn't yet happen on Android, or at least didn't last week with my other friend

Show threadBastian7h ago
@Techaltar you might be forgiven to think they gave up on the social media thing.
Show threadFeng Lengshun7h ago

@Techaltar I usually always delete referers and identifiers from all my shared links, YouTube or not.

Revanced does clean up the links by default, thank god for that.

Show threadDon Hawkins - W7DAH1h ago
@fenglengshun @HistoPol @Techaltar “god” the moderator?
Show threadThibaultmol 🌈7h ago
@Techaltar while it's so much effort to remove it, I do like using
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.svenjacobs.app.leon
I share any url like a YouTube one to leon, then leon opens the share menu again and then select the app i actually wanted to share to and all tracking parameters are removed
Léon – The URL Cleaner | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

Removes tracking & other redundant parameters from web links for sharing

Show threadMatthew 🖖7h ago

@thibaultmol @Techaltar If you're comfortable with using a modded APK, #morphe automatically does that (besides the rest) - it's similar to #revanced. However I also love Léon sm. 

https://morphe.software

Show threadMarcin S-J 4h ago

@thibaultmol @Techaltar similarly, I've used Untracker (also in Google Play)

https://f-droid.org/packages/me.zhanghai.android.untracker/

Untracker | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

Remove tracking information before sharing links

Show threadThibaultmol 🌈7h ago
@Techaltar tbf, this isn't new, si has been in the URL for probably a decade now. And they've definitely been using this data before. It's only now that it's in a user visible ui item.
Edit: see my later reply, turns out that it has been a thing for a while not a decade
Show threadTechAltar7h ago
@thibaultmol It has? I haven't seen it in my shared links until about 2 weeks ago which coincides with their DM push. Maybe they are experimenting with different users differently?
Show threadjack7h ago
@Techaltar @thibaultmol there was "si" (which I didn't remove, just edit to "si=yes") that's been around a while, and recently there's "is"
Show threadSiddharth S6h ago

@thibaultmol I concur.

@Techaltar
I am surprised that you noticed it recently. I have been removing these annoying tags using URLCheck for as long as I can remember.

@neatnit 🤝
I wholeheartedly recommend URLCheck to anyone who wants to tackle these annoyances on #android.
https://github.com/TrianguloY/URLCheck

@jackeric that "is" tag is there right? I saw it once somewhere and thought either the URL was broken or I was hallucinating or something. 😅

GitHub - TrianguloY/URLCheck: Android app by TrianguloY: URLCheck

Android app by TrianguloY: URLCheck. Contribute to TrianguloY/URLCheck development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadThibaultmol 🌈6h ago
@Techaltar Just checked, I found a link of mine that has &si= at the end that I shared back in 2023.
Before that they did have &feature=share just to indicate that it was from someone who clicked the share button on a video.
So yeah, not new but also not as old as I thought it was
Show threadtehuro5h ago
@Techaltar @thibaultmol yes, for a few years at least... You can find it in almost all YT links posted online in last few years since barely anyone removes tracking parameters before sending links
Show threadClickyMcTicker2h ago

@Techaltar @thibaultmol Not sure about the over/under on a decade, but I was removing those source identifier keys back when I ran a business’ social media account back around 2018.

A lot of people bypass the issue by grabbing the URL straight out of their browser, but I sometimes use the time key to have the video start at a specific point, and using their share function is quicker than manually calculating and adding it to the URL.

Show threadNeatNit7h ago

@Techaltar On Android I use #URLCheck: https://github.com/TrianguloY/URLCheck

On desktop, with Firefox, I select the URL, right-click and choose "Copy clean link".

More convenient than doing it manually, especially when copying a link with a timestamp!

GitHub - TrianguloY/URLCheck: Android app by TrianguloY: URLCheck

Android app by TrianguloY: URLCheck. Contribute to TrianguloY/URLCheck development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadTobias 🇪🇺🇩🇪7h ago
@Techaltar It's even worse in TikTok, you get a personalized link, that the receiver can only open with the app, and (if not disabled) is prompted to follow you
Show threadJellyfriend 7h ago
@Techaltar jesus clowncar fuck
Show threadChuckles6h ago
@Techaltar Google is determined to slowly destroy the very concept of the URL. In the post-web world they want no shared views of reality, only individual servings of slop tailored to each victim.
Show threadPaul5h ago
@celeduc @Techaltar I’m actually surprised at how many sites still yield usable links when sanitized. We’re moments away from every site requiring a login to do anything, and every link being unique to the user.
Show threadAnderson Silva6h ago
@Techaltar This is the case for months, for the record
Show threadJohn Ulrik6h ago
@Techaltar It’s aways a good idea to remove tracking parameters, even if these didn’t reveal your actual profile and were only used for tracking and recording your social graph. Same goes for Meta’a "igsh" and "fbclid" and the like. And most links look much nicer that way. 😉
Show threadVolker Weber6h ago
@Techaltar why does every video render a different "User-ID"?
Show threadTechAltar5h ago
@vowe They generate a new ID for each share, but you can get the user ID by just opening a link with the mobile app. This connects you with the user who shared the link via DMs
Show threadtobadzistsini6h ago
@Techaltar I always remove that kinda crap in shared links. Let those sites wonder who is sharing stuff.
Show threadAndre Louis6h ago
@Techaltar Vibe coding crap since 2025.
They broke VoiceOver functionality on iOS for the last three four versions, yet they add stuff nobody asked for. wonderful company...
Show threadfan boy 🪭6h ago

@Techaltar
Even the tech folks I know, who I assume know how urls work, never bother to clean any of the urls which they post. Really frustrating.

I get tired of continuously pointing this out to everyone.

Show threadcamelwize6h ago
@Techaltar Does the si code on the end of Spotify shares do the same thing? I typically remove it out of habit just in case, but I always wondered if it was actually identifying/bad to share or not.
Show threadTechAltar5h ago
@camelwize yes, it also starts a DM inside Spotify usually
Show threadPetterOfCats5h ago
@Techaltar always remove query string parameters.
Show threadSpirillen Marsupilami5h ago
@Techaltar If you post links publicly, I strongly recommend deleting the ID unless you want to post your user profile.The security counsel recommand not to use youtube at anytime for privacy, democracy and free will

#privacy #privacymatters #privacyfirst #youtubefree #googlefree
Show threadMarkus Göllnitz5h ago
@Techaltar This sounds misleading. It is easily verifiable: These ids are unique per share, not per user.
I couldn't find anything on how to extract anything identifying purely from this id.
While Google certainly could and likely does track the initiating user, amongst other, since this ids introduction in 2023, I'd be surprised if any data related to the share, such as user, timestamp, device and client would be stored in this id.
That said, removing tracking parameters is good advice overall.
Show threadTechAltar5h ago
@camelCaseNick you are right, it looks like a new ID technically is generated for each share, but opening a link with the tag attached in the YT mobile app still shows you which user the share is from by asking you to start a DM with them so you can very much track who the source of the link is from even if the tag is randomized
Show threadHeals 5h ago

@Techaltar good to raise attention to this but it’s not new - they’ve done that for at least a year or two from their native apps (which doesn’t make it any better)

/cc @ainmosni

Show threadDaniël Franke 5h ago

@heals I knew it was a tracking link (so I always stripped it off), but I had no idea that it was as bad as described.

/cc @Techaltar

Show threadaptitude5h ago
@Techaltar Will the #DataMining abuses from #TechBros, ever end?..
Show threadIrom4h ago
@Techaltar or use PeerTube or any Invidious instance (e.g. https://inv.nadeko.net/search?q=)
Invidious - search

An alternative front-end to YouTube

Show threadshr4h ago
@Techaltar Last year I made this iOS shortcut that expands YouTube mobile URLs and removes the tracking bit. I use it everyday from the Share Sheet and it works pretty well.
Show threadKevin Boyd (he/him) 🇨🇦1h ago
@BasementDweller3000 @Techaltar a long long time ago I had a shortcut (possibly for Ye Olde Twitter) that would detect that the app had been switched away from & scan the clipboard for a twitter URL and strip off that sort of garbage automatically. Unsure where I got it from, but the point is, Shortcuts can be surprisingly useful.
Show threadRoss Wintle1h ago

@BasementDweller3000 @Techaltar Oh this is good.

Could you share the shortcut with us?

I made my own simpler version: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/b989d973ffde41c599a9c0569b4c78fe

Shortcuts

Show threadshr50m ago
@ross @Techaltar Sure https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ce9910754fff41ac88d1cab3faaa8ad9
Shortcuts

Show threadᴮᵉⁿ ᴿᵒʸᶜᵉVOTE IN THE PRIMARIES3h ago

@Techaltar

i agree with everything you say except the "now" part

i've been cleaning off the ?si=xxxxxx from youtube links when sharing for years

Show threadPatrick Hogenboom3h ago
@Techaltar Been removing that part for years. I just had a bad feeling about including whatever data to a link which worked fine without it...
Show threadVeza85UE3h ago

@Techaltar A normie question, if I may. I've seen recommendations to use song.link to remove ads (works wonders) like so:

https://song.link/y/qmp39zPxDGo

does it also remove YT tracking?

Idir - Né quelque part (version kabyle) (Audio) by IdirVEVO

Listen now on your favorite streaming service. Powered by Songlink/Odesli, an on-demand, customizable smart link service to help you share songs, albums, podcasts and more.

Songlink/Odesli
Show threadKevin Karhan3h ago

@Techaltar this also applies regardless if one has an account or login.

Show threadEpistomai3h ago
@Techaltar it now? I've seen that since almost forever. Because I knew, I always deleted from the ? onwards. After a ? there's always sensitive information
Show threadRiley Labrecque🎏2h ago

@epistomai @Techaltar Yeah it's been there probably 4? 5? years?

First ?si= on my discord goes back to Dec 2021.

Show threadShaun Chamberlin3h ago
@Techaltar This kind of nonsense is exactly why we moved all our org's educational videos to Peertube
Show threadchristina wizbean3h ago
@Techaltar I didn't know exactly what they were tracking, but I delete anything after a '?' from links before I share them, on principle and as a matter of course. Thanks for elucidating the matter!
Show threadWolf in PDX2h ago

@Techaltar

I've just been deleting the ? and everything after it. Still seems to work.