{
  "id": 14620852,
  "title": "3 hidden YouTube settings you should change right now to protect your privacy",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/15/3-hidden-youtube-settings-you-should-change-right-now-to-protect-your",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-15T05:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Tom's Guide",
    "slug": "tom-s-guide",
    "url": "https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/3-hidden-youtube-settings-you-should-change-right-now-to-protect-your-privacy"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Three often overlooked YouTube settings can help safeguard your privacy. First, adjust the length of time YouTube retains your viewing history. Older accounts keep this data permanently, while newer accounts delete it after three years. You can shorten this period to just three or 18 months via your Google My Activity page. Alternatively, using Incognito mode in the mobile app while searching can prevent history logging. Second, check that your subscriptions and saved playlists are set to private. Newer accounts have subscriptions set to private automatically, but older accounts and manually created playlists remain visible. Desktop users can ensure private subscriptions under Settings > Privacy, while playlists visibility can be adjusted in the Profile tab. Lastly, disable personalized ads across all Google services. Although ads won't disappear entirely, this stops YouTube from tracking your habits for targeted promotions. Disabling personalized ads can be done in the mobile app's Settings > Privacy > My Ad Center.",
  "summary": "Protect your digital footprint on YouTube. Learn how to auto-delete watch history, hide your playlists, and disable personalized ad tracking.",
  "key_points": [
    "Adjust YouTube's retention period for viewing history to 3 or 18 months via Google My Activity.",
    "Set subscriptions and saved playlists to private under Settings Privacy on desktop.",
    "Disable personalized ads across all Google services to prevent habit tracking for targeted ads."
  ],
  "editors_take": "Manually adjusting these overlooked privacy controls allows long-term users to reclaim data autonomy and limit the extent to which Google tracks their viewing habits and personal preferences.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}