There's something not quite right with YouTube. Those who generate legitimate content aren't recognized as they deserve, while major media outlets exert their enormous influence over results, backed by commenters who seem crawled out of a septic tank. One of the most effective ways to combat this is not to be part of its validation cycle, and for that we have two extensions compatible with Google Chrome.
The classic strategy to avoid unwanted material on YouTube is to quickly customize subscriptions, avoid the "generic versions" of the service (i.e., without login), and as always, think twice before clicking. However, in many cases that's not enough. In October last year, Mozilla shared some stories related to YouTube's algorithm and its awful recommendations. Add to that pressure from various media outlets, and the constant battalion of trolls that "injects relevance" into fake news or low-quality content.
The "nuclear option" would be to abandon YouTube, but there are many coherent and objective channels worth following, and they definitely deserve our support. Some users take the route of downloading for offline playback, which goes against the terms of use and is heavily penalized by Google (unless it's an official tool). So what can we do? Our suggestion focuses on installing two Chrome-compatible extensions.
De-Mainstream YouTube
The first is De-Mainstream YouTube (Chrome/Firefox), and as its name suggests, it hides results from channels considered "mainstream". ABC, BBC, CBS, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox, ESPN, HBO, The Guardian, fashion, celebrity gossip, reality shows... on average, 200 channels whose content should stay off your screen. You don't need to configure anything: once installed, all those sources are filtered out of the box. If you want to unblock a channel, just click its icon.
To add other channels, you must submit it as an "issue" on their GitHub profile (which is tedious), and the function that loads specific blocks seems to be broken at the moment. The underlying problem with De-Mainstream YouTube is that it's a double-edged sword. There are many people out there asking for exactly the opposite of what this extension does, that is, blocking everything except "trusted sources". That's why I insist you customize its settings. Another detail worth noting is that its blocking isn't perfect. For example, "History" is part of the filter, but "History Latinoamérica" isn't.
Toogles
The second extension has been around for several years, and it has managed to survive all platform changes: I'm talking about Toogles (Chrome only). Technically, Toogles is a minimalist replacement for the YouTube interface. Main videos, trends, search button, and nothing else. When you click a video, Toogles presents it in a very lightweight environment, without "like-dislike" buttons, without autoplay support, and most importantly, without a comments section.
The exact job of the extension is to enable the redirect of all videos from the standard YouTube interface to Toogles. It has a dark mode, and as far as I've noticed, it doesn't conflict with other extensions like the speed change. Want to go back to a video with its normal interface? Just click on its title.
I hope one of these extensions helps you make YouTube a less toxic and more personal experience. Would you like to recommend others? The comments are open. Good luck!
