Is YouTube's recommendations algorithm broken? Complaints over irrelevant, old, and repetitive videos surface

If you’ve been scrolling through YouTube lately and feeling like something’s off with your recommendations, you’re definitely not the only one. Tech creator Aaron Zollo recently took to X to ask a simple question that clearly struck a nerve with many viewers.

“Is it me or have YouTube video suggestions been terrible lately? They are either all of the same creator or things that are months to years old,” Zollo wrote. The post quickly racked up over 12,000 views, with users taking to the replies to share their own frustrations.

Matt Wolfe, another popular creator, responded saying he’s been spending way less time on YouTube because of how annoying the recommendations have become. He also pointed out that refreshing doesn’t seem to give new suggestions either.

Lately, I’ve also noticed the same issues with my recommendation feed. The worst part is that even after refreshing with hopes to bring up new videos, I still see a ton of the same videos that previously showed up.

But it’s not just X where people are suddenly talking about the problem. A little digging on Reddit also reveals that people have been discussing the issue lately.

One user mentioned how watching a single tech review suddenly floods their entire feed with nothing but tech content for days. “YouTube used to feel like a whole world of content to explore and discover but now I feel stuck in whatever bubble the algorithm has decided for me,” they wrote.

Another thread saw one user complaining about only seeing 20 videos before the feed stops loading, with the same handful of channels appearing on repeat.

Multiple other discussions (1,2,3,4) have popped up asking what’s going on with the YouTube algorithm. Some users are blaming AI-driven recommendations for the mess. One X user complained about getting MKBHD videos from 2012 showing up randomly.

For smaller creators, this could spell real trouble. One user noted that the algorithm seems to be favoring “safe” recommendations, making discoverability harder for newer voices trying to grow their channels.

A few workarounds have been floating around. Creator Roberto Blake suggested turning off your watch history for a few days as an algorithmic reset method. Others have started relying on their subscriptions page instead of the home feed altogether.

YouTube hasn’t publicly addressed these complaints yet. But with so many users reporting the same problems across multiple platforms, it’s getting hard to ignore that something feels off. Whether this is a bug, an intentional change, or aggressive A/B testing remains unclear.