This is a quick little Discord Bot that is designed to remove remove the new ‘Source Identifier” added to the end of shared YouTube videos. These identifiers are long and unsightly, and do not positively effect sharing or viewing abilities. The bot will delete the message containing the shared YT link, and Direct Message the author of the original message an edited version with the indentifier removed.
Recently YouTube's links got two times longer. They added a ‘Source Identifier” in them for the sole purpose of collecting data. You can delete it, and the link will still work just fine.
In the following link, https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?si=Nb11Bgit-qHN7MoH, the first part is the actual video link (https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ). ?si= marks the beginning of the identifier, which is a string of 16 characters (?si=Nb11Bgit-qHN7MoH).
Some more ways this can look:
https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?si=Nb11Bgit-qHN7MoH&t=69, the actual video link (https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ). ?si= marks the beginning of the identifier, which is a string of 16 characters (?si=Nb11Bgit-qHN7MoH), followed by the benign Timestamp indicator (&t=69).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&si=Nb11Bgit-qHN7MoH, the actual video link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ). &si= marks the beginning of the identifier, which is a string of 16 characters (&si=Nb11Bgit-qHN7MoH)
Why should you delete this?
- If, for example, you post a link on social media, Google’s Search Crawler crawler finds it, Google’s algorithm can potentially use your other social media to collect your personal information.
- If someone else clicks on your link, Google now knows your accounts share similar interests and can use your watch histories to influence your YouTube recommendations.
- Removing it has no negative effects on your sharing or viewing abilities.