This is a great question and I have no idea why. But if I liked the video, I'm afraid to click "not interested" because I don't want Youtube to not recommend similar content in the future.
If you do, you can select a reason from “I already watched the video” or “I don’t like the video”. In theory that should help signal it. It hasn’t ruined my recs yet (afaik)
My problem with that is marketers understand that disliking something can be a strong signal to make you watch more of the same, because social media sites like to rile you up. Engagement is engagement, and I suspect YouTube often feeds me things I don’t like for that reason.
You're absolutely right. They're trying to get clicks and engagement, not the best possible curated experience.
They DGAF if you like what you see, only that they can hit you with more targeted ads from paying customers -- and boy howdy does the rile-em-up lobby pay big money.
As mentioned in a previous thread: you're the product, not the customer.
