TechAltar18h ago

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.

Show threadThibaultmol 🌈18h 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 threadTechAltar18h 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 threadjack
@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"
Apr 7 at 10:33amWeb
Show threadSiddharth S17h 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.

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