This is a key reason behind my discomfort with social media. The algorithms that seem unresponsive to clear signals of intent was the last straw. Ended up leaving YouTube over the incessant push to new channels and ragebait shit.
Anyway, lemmy might be a cesspit at times, but its a cesspit I can choose/not choose, to engage with, and thats some nice anti-monopolisation of my online experience in the design.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the case, but since we are using YT to start with (I do use Peertube, but it’s a lot smaller), this is a good baseline approach IMO.
Use YT as hosting/player service, not as a discovery/library management service.