Independent academic research project

YouTube recommendation study — participant page

Thank you for considering taking part. This page explains how the study works, how to install the small browser extension that runs it, and what data we collect. Please read it before you begin. There is no time pressure.

This is a research portal operated by an independent academic researcher. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or run by YouTube or its parent company.

Important: the extension only works in Chromium-based browsers — Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, or Arc (on both Windows and macOS). It will not work in Firefox or Safari.

Why this study exists — see for yourself

Before reading further, try this. Open YouTube in another tab and run two searches, one after the other:

  1. how to start a family — the English version
  2. как создать семью — the Russian translation of the same phrase

Look at the videos YouTube shows you in each language. The lineup is often strikingly different — same topic, very different worldview, very different recommended speakers, very different framing.

That difference is what this study measures, systematically, across ~12 topics in politics and society. The goal is to map how YouTube's recommendation system shapes what people see depending on the language they use.

Installation and setup instructions

The study runs through a small browser extension. You install it once, complete the survey, and remove it at the end. It only operates on YouTube. You will need:

1. Download the extension

A small ZIP file (~120 KB) downloads to your computer. No installer, no account, no email signup.

Download yt-polscrape-extension.zip

Visual walkthrough (4 screens)

After you download and unzip the extension — follow these 4 steps in your Chromium browser:

⚠️ First: unzip the ZIP file!Find yt-polscrape-extension.zip in your Downloads folder. Windows: right-click → Extract All. macOS: double-click. You'll get a folder with the same name. Don't try to load the .zip file directly — the browser will reject it.
1. Open the extensions pageIn a new tab, paste chrome://extensions into the address bar and press Enter.
2. Turn on Developer modeTop-right corner of the extensions page. Three new buttons appear afterwards.
3. Click Load unpackedPick the unzipped folder (not the .zip file). Select the folder itself, not a file inside it.Microsoft Edge: in some versions this button shows as a small box icon without text — same function.
4. Pin the iconClick the puzzle icon next to the address bar. A list opens → find YT-polScrape → click the pin icon next to it.

Need more detail? Expand the detailed text instructions below.

Detailed text walkthrough (click to expand)

2. Unzip the file

Find yt-polscrape-extension.zip in your Downloads folder. Right-click and choose Extract All (Windows) or double-click (macOS). You will get a folder called yt-polscrape-extension with files like manifest.json inside it. Keep this folder where it is — moving or deleting it later will break the extension.

3. Open the extensions page

Open a new tab and paste this in the address bar, then press Enter: chrome://extensions.

In Microsoft Edge use edge://extensions; in Brave use brave://extensions.

4. Turn on Developer mode

In the top-right corner of the extensions page, flip the Developer mode toggle on. Three buttons appear at the top-left.

5. Load the extension

Click Load unpacked. In the file picker, find the yt-polscrape-extension folder you unzipped in step 2. Select the folder itself (not a file inside it) and click Select Folder. A new card called YT-polScrape appears in the list — the extension is now installed.

6. Pin the extension icon

Click the puzzle-piece icon next to your browser address bar. Find YT-polScrape in the dropdown and click the pin icon next to it. The icon now stays visible — that is how you open the side panel.

7. Open the side panel and start

With this consent page still open as the active tab, click the YT-polScrape icon. A side panel opens on the right edge of your browser and stays open while you complete the study. In the side panel, click Import session from current tab. The survey starts.

Removing the extension

The side panel has a Remove extension button you can click at any time. Or open chrome://extensions, find YT-polScrape, and click Remove.

Preview: what you will be asked and what will be searched (click to expand)

Full transparency: this is the entire content of the study. There are no hidden questions, no hidden searches, and nothing happens beyond what is listed here.

Survey questions you will be asked

The substantive items below sit between two short setup questions at the start (whether you are logged into YouTube, and your preferred YouTube language) and four optional demographic questions at the end.

  1. Latvia should make its own decisions on most political issues, even when this conflicts with EU policy.
  2. My race has many superior qualities compared with other races.
  3. Religion is an important source of moral guidance in my life.
  4. Same-sex couples should be allowed to…
  5. There is a small group of elites who really decide world affairs, despite what democratic institutions appear to do.
  6. Who should take care of the children?
  7. Protecting the environment should be given priority, even at the cost of slower economic growth.
  8. I generally trust the recommendations of public-health institutions (WHO, ECDC, SPKC) on matters such as vaccines and pandemic response.
  9. Pick the cell that best matches your political position. Horizontal axis: economic. Vertical axis: social.
  10. Which party would you vote for if elections were held this Sunday?
  11. How often do you follow political news?
  12. I feel that the way YouTube and similar platforms collect data about me violates my privacy.
  13. I feel that I, rather than the platform, decide what I see on YouTube.

YouTube actions that will run on your account

For each step the extension opens YouTube on your account and either runs the listed search or shows your homepage feed. You then scroll, click a video you would actually want to watch, and return to the extension. The extension records the visible results and your selection.

  • YouTube search: European Union (English) / Европейский союз (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube search: immigration (English) / иммиграция (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube search: religion (English) / религия (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube search: how to start a family (English) / как создать семью (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube search: globalism (English) / глобализм (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube search: feminism (English) / феминизм (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube search: green deal (English) / зелёный курс (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube search: vaccines (English) / вакцины (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube search: Ukraine war (English) / Война Украина (Russian)
    The extension picks one of these based on the YouTube language you select at the start.
  • YouTube homepage snapshot — no search; the extension simply opens youtube.com and records the videos you see in your normal home feed.

Each search is the same for every participant. The list above is the full set; nothing else is searched or visited on your behalf.

You may proceed at any time, but ticking this box explicitly records your agreement.

Data Processing & Privacy Notice (GDPR) — click to expand

This study captures (a) what YouTube shows you when you search for specific topics, (b) which video you choose from each set of results, and (c) your answers to a short political and social survey. The goal is to understand how YouTube's recommendation system shows different content to people with different views.

About this website and the install download

This site is a small research portal. It does not run Google Analytics, Plausible, Facebook Pixel, advertising trackers, heatmap tools, or any third-party tracking SDK. There are no external scripts loaded from outside our research server, no embedded social-media widgets, and no ad networks anywhere on the page.

Downloading the extension installer is a normal file download. You are not asked for an account, email address, or any personal information to install or use the extension. We do not register you with any service.

Once installed, the extension only contacts two places: youtube.com (the platform you are researching, where the survey directs you to search) and this research server (where your completed session is uploaded at the end). It never contacts a third party.

Honest caveat about hosting: the research server is hosted on Google Cloud, which automatically writes operational logs of incoming HTTP requests (IP address, User-Agent string, URL path, response code) for the purposes of platform monitoring. These logs are kept for 7 days and are not used for research purposes. They are also not part of the dataset described below — your IP address and User-Agent never enter the study file.

What this extension records

For every search you do during the study, the extension records:

  • The list of videos YouTube showed you on the results page (titles, channel names, view counts, upload dates, durations, thumbnails, and the YouTube video IDs).
  • Which video, if any, you clicked.
  • How long you took before clicking and the position of the video in the list.
  • The same kind of data for one snapshot of your YouTube homepage.
  • The page URLs you were on (always on youtube.com; nothing from any other site).
  • Timestamps of when each step happened.

What this extension does NOT record

  • Your YouTube account name, email, channel name, or profile photo — none of these are read by the extension.
  • Your real name, address, phone number, or any other personal contact detail.
  • Your watch history, subscriptions, playlists, or any data stored inside your YouTube account.
  • Anything from any tab that is not on youtube.com.
  • Cookies, browser fingerprint, device ID, or any tracking identifier from your browser.
  • Your geographic location (no GPS, no IP geolocation lookup).
  • Any data after you uninstall the extension.

About the session ID

Each session is given a random number that the research server generates fresh for you (called the "participant ID" in our records). This number is what lets us group your survey answers with the videos you saw during the same session — without it the data would be unsorted and useless. It is not derived from your YouTube account, your email, or any personal information; it is just a random identifier we make up for sorting purposes.

Because nothing in the recorded data identifies you personally, we have no way to trace any particular session back to you as an individual after the fact. If you later want your data deleted (see "Your rights" below), you will need to remember and provide the participant ID we show you at the end of the session.

About the demographic questions

At the end of the survey we ask four optional demographic questions: income band, age band, gender, and nationality. These help us see whether YouTube's recommendations differ across groups. Each one is optional — you can skip any of them by leaving the dropdown blank. If you skip all four, the data still works for the analysis; it just contributes less to the demographic breakdowns.

Purpose, controller, and storage

Purpose: academic research on YouTube recommendation behaviour, conducted as part of a bachelor's thesis. Data controller: Ēriks Ralfs Vanags (vanags.er@proton.me). Storage: pseudonymised on Google Cloud infrastructure inside the European Union, deleted 180 days after your session ends.

Recipients

Aggregated, anonymised results will be used only in the data controller's bachelor's thesis and related academic work. The raw data is not sold, not shared with advertisers, not shared with YouTube, and not used for any commercial purpose.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you have the right to request access to, correction of, or erasure of your personal data. To exercise these rights, contact the data controller at vanags.er@proton.me and provide the participant ID shown to you at the end of the session.

How to stop or remove the extension

You can end the session at any time. The extension's side panel has an End session early button on every screen — clicking it asks whether you want to upload what was captured so far or discard everything and exit. There is also a Remove extension button that uninstalls the extension immediately (Chrome will ask you to confirm).

By proceeding, you confirm that you have read this notice and consent to the processing of your data under these terms.

Optional: get a copy of the finished thesis

If you would like to receive the final paper by email when it is published, leave your email here. This is entirely separate from the study data — your email is stored in a different table with no link to your participant ID, your survey responses, or any captured videos. We use it only to send you the paper. You can skip this section and your study data will be unaffected.

Start — get your session ID

Click below to create your unique session ID. It will be added to this page's URL, and the extension will use it automatically when you click "Import session from current tab".