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.

@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’s "igsh" and "fbclid" and the like. And most links look much nicer that way. 😉