Is YouTube Subscribing and Unsubscribing you from Channels?

The other day I wrote a little post about how to unsubscribe from all channels on Youtube. I shared that because I wanted to reset my youtube channel to a clean slate as far as subscriptions were concerned.

It's been great so far. I am only watching Youtube videos that I search for, and mostly use my watch later playlist.

But then today I noticed something strange. I was subscribed to a channel I didn't subscribe to nor was I ever subscribed to in the past.

I've heard about something like this happening to big and medium size YouTubers, but I always thought they were just making these allegations to create some buzz around their channel and get more attention.

Some people's  claim was that there were losing subscribers, but the subscribers were not actively unsubscribing.

That seems strange, right? It's also unlikely if you've been around software development for any length of time. Software doesn't just decide to do things on its own. At least not yet.

But this morning I got notified of updated videos on my Youtube channel notifications.

I thought that's strange because I've only subscribed to 2 people since I reset all my subscriptions. And the channels I've subscribed to don't publish very often.

One is Syed Balkhi from Optinmonster, and the other is Kyle Cease, from this video I posted the other day.

By the way, don't worry, if I know you or we're friends, I'll be subscribing back to you soon, I am just doing an experiment for now.

This was concerning because it seems to support the conspiracy theory that Youtube likes to control, censor and promote (or demote) channels and content that fits their political bias.

But Youtube doesn't have a political bias, you say. Well, they do. They tend to penalize and reprimand content creators that lean right or that talk about controversial topics if their stance is right leaning or just oppose liberal perspectives.

What was interesting here is that I was automagically subscribed to a left-leaning channel.

I like to keep politics out of this blog for the most part because this blog is about technology and online marketing and business, and those topics should be indifferent to my political views, but this was concerning, or irritating, to say the least.

Don't get me wrong, I like Stephen Colbert from time to time, and I think he's funny, but that's beside the point.

Keep in mind, this is pure speculation, and I can't make an accusation because it was only one channel.

I also know that in the past week, at least three other people have used my phone for some reason or another and my kids get a hold of my phone sometimes.

They could have subscribed me to the channel by accident or even intentionally, but without my knowledge. But it does make me wonder.

Does Youtube automatically subscribe or unsubscribe people as part of their algorithm? Perhaps they do it in an effort to customize and shape your experience?

Who knows? But It's certainly an eyebrow raising experience. Have you had anything like this happen to you before? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on social media.