The actual ‘video ID’ is the random string after:
youtube.com/watch?v=
If there is a “&” or “?” with another random string that is the tracker
You can delete everything after the after the first random string starting with the “&”
Or don’t use #YouTube!
@stux I wrote an iOS shortcut to strip out the spyware from YouTube links, and it works super well!
@stux It's annoying how they put it everywhere, I need to delete it by hand everytime I share a youtube video >.<
@stux
I tell my friends all the time. But, apparently, its so hard, so inconvenient. They even share Facebook and other meta product trackers the same way. Neoliberalism is good and right, and best for society. We should accept our corporate overlords.
I got my husband trained to do this for *all* links, and if you knew my husband, you'd understand what an accomplishment that was lol.
@IAmDannyBoling :clapping:
@stux :keanu_thanks:
@stux Also applies to Amazon links for anything after "/dp/[random string]"
@stux but every single content creator is on youtube? /s, ig
Oct 6, 2026, 1:13 AM@stux@mstdn.social My favorite part is they've started switching it up with ?is= sometimes instead of ?si= and this is apparently enough for my less technically literate friends to not realize they need to pull that nonsense off as well.
Thankfully most of the ones who continue to put up with my bullshit listen when I gently remind them, but people who are friends of friends get irritated with me for pushing back on this capitalistic surveillance state. :blobbee_upside_down:
@stux To save looking for the ? Or & in the address I find it’s quicker just to copy the page address from the address bar of your browser and paste that directly into your message. Never use the ‘Share’ button below the video.
@stux I prefer this version.
@stux And here is an iphone shortcut I made that strips these URL queries from a string in your clipboard and adds the clean URL to your clipboard.
I keep the shortcut on my home screen and click it before sending links. Lots of sites include user ID for shareable links.
https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ae4f884d93a44906ad14c078cbf97542
I have been absolutely religious stripping off any tracking tags on YouTube links.
I stripped those sorts of things off of regular Web URL because they come loaded with them as well.
To hell with it all
Oct 6, 2026, 4:11 AM@stux I do the same.
@stux I routinely remove it too and it's funny, I didn't know it was a tracker, I just thought it was messy unnecessary junk and I didn't trust it. Which, I mean, yeah
Oct 6, 2026, 4:32 AM@stux People dont listen Stux I told them a bazillion times I also shared 4 to 5 cross platform & cross browser, ways to tell them and yet still I see them sharing the tracking URLs.
@stux Or you can use https://invidious.nerdvpn.de/watch?v=42iVcEg5SOM
@stux hidden rickroll spotted👀
@stux people who refuse to get it 💩
Oct 6, 2026, 7:38 AM@stux
Weirdly, when I copy a Youtube link from my browser it doesn't have those. Do they only get added if you click some "share" button?
@stux what is that compression? blurry red over black... not ideal to be read
also we need more usless back margin on top
:thonking:
Does this help?
@stux if you’re a Mac user I heartily recommend “Pure Paste”. I got it primarily for stripping formatting when I copy and paste from MS apps, but it also has a feature to strip tracking from URLs.
An absolute bargain at $4
@stux > XcQ
@stux Just noting that your example link isn't one that uses "?v=", which could conceivably confuse someone. (Hopefully it won't, but there are a surprising number of ways in which people can be confused.)
@timtfj That’s true!
The shortened url is really crappy from YT, maybe I’ll should add an extra explainer
@stux I wonder if that's part of the issue. A shortened link that's that long doesn't look shortened, just different. So people are even more unsure about what can be safely cut out.
@stux
"Source identifier"… So *that's* what that is. 🤔
@stux I usually find it easiest and quickest to just remove the tracking stuff by hand, but there's also apps that do it for you. One I can recommend is "Léon - The URL Cleaner". You either copy-paste the link into it, or you choose it in the share menu, and it gives you the same link without all the junk.
Here's a link: https://github.com/leon-cleaning-services/leon
(Download links to both F-Droid and Google Play Store are a bit down the page.)
@stux https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.zhanghai.android.untracker
I use this for Android.
@stux not always actually. it can be filters and pagination parameters too. It applies for all websites but most of the case you are right.
@stux is it possible to put fake source id's?
@stux you can also replace e.g.\&
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dS3bVuCOA9Y
↓
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS3bVuCOA9Y
… to get the less sucky user interface.