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How do YouTube recommendations identify my Firefox?

  • 2 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 22 views
  • Last reply by hi210

hi210
hi210
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The story is when I accidentally clicked on a sick video, YouTube start to recommend me similar sick videos.

So my question is how does YouTube get my identity?

I'm not logged in. my profile is actually a snapshot, so when I restart Firefox, it go back to the snapshot. I even restarted my ISP router to get a new IP address. This did not work.

Only when I create a new profile with "firefox -P" does YouTube start to see me as a new person.

So how does YouTube identify my Firefox profile? I don't think it's in the https request headers. Weird.

The story is when I accidentally clicked on a sick video, YouTube start to recommend me similar sick videos. So my question is how does YouTube get my identity? I'm not logged in. my profile is actually a snapshot, so when I restart Firefox, it go back to the snapshot. I even restarted my ISP router to get a new IP address. This did not work. Only when I create a new profile with "firefox -P" does YouTube start to see me as a new person. So how does YouTube identify my Firefox profile? I don't think it's in the https request headers. Weird.

Modified by hi210

Chosen solution

Hi

I think that what you are seeing is the effect of "cookies" - small files that hold preferences and site information. When you go back to a website, these files are referenced and lead to what you are experiencing.

I suggest that you have a read of this support article that will walk you through how to clear these files:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-cookies-and-site-data-firefox

Please make sure that you have website login details as clearing cookies can lead to you being logged out of websites.

I hope that this helps.

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All Replies (2)

Paul
Paul
  • Top 25 Contributor
  • Moderator
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Chosen Solution

Hi

I think that what you are seeing is the effect of "cookies" - small files that hold preferences and site information. When you go back to a website, these files are referenced and lead to what you are experiencing.

I suggest that you have a read of this support article that will walk you through how to clear these files:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-cookies-and-site-data-firefox

Please make sure that you have website login details as clearing cookies can lead to you being logged out of websites.

I hope that this helps.

hi210
hi210 Question owner
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Okay I see it's cookies. I got the cookie before profile snapshot, so it looks persistence for me. Thank you.