Older paper about this topic: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-4082073/v1

I think I remember seeing another one too, but I can’t find it.

Sounds like most of Lemmy. Honestly sometimes I feel it’s worse than Reddit with the constant bashing on anything except Linux, Firefox, or - for some reason - Steam. Still glad I left Reddit though.

I’ve gone the opposite route. I never log in, and remove all cookies. I almost always use an incognito tab for YouTube. I’m a new visitor to them every time, in as much as that’s possible. I use bookmarks to go back to creators I want to see, and occasionally check them. No subscriptions either, which may suck for the creator, but at least they get my views.

It has worked for them for years. It’s just more targeted now.

Not with a bang, but a whimper.