Search is a joke. Whenever I want to search some conference videos on a topic I get trash after 2-3 results which is totally unrelated with "You may like" nonsense.
I, for one, appreciate all the video recommendations for local news stations in a country I don't live in.
I've had crypto scams in my recommendations everyday for more than a year now. It's like they just don't care anymore.
Correct. They don't care. I'm not sure if it is because of their culture or if it is a financial decision. Likely it is both.
My conclusion is based on my experience being a content consuner. A quick DuckDuckGo search will show you thousands upon thousands of horror stories that content creators have posted about YT doing them wrong.