YouTube
This site leans hard on your data.
3/5 checks · 6 third parties · 1 cookies · capped at D
YouTube's parent Alphabet earns about 77% of its revenue from advertising, including YouTube ads. A clean marketing site can’t change that — and a homepage scan can’t see what the app does once you log in — so this grade can’t rise above a D.
Why this grade is capped · sourced, not vibes
Google and YouTube paid a record $170 million in 2019 for illegally collecting data from children to target them with ads, without parental consent.
Source: FTC and New York AG settlement with Google/YouTube (COPPA), Sept 2019
Owner Google's core business is tracking what you watch and do online to sell finely targeted advertising.
Source: Alphabet SEC 10-K filings (advertising = vast majority of revenue)
What YouTube does with your data
A crowd of outside companies loads with the page — each one can log that you showed up.
Contacts 6 third-party domains on load
It drops third-party cookies that can trail you from one site to the next.
Sets 1 third-party cookie
Your connection is encrypted, so others on your network can’t read what you send.
Serves over HTTPS and enforces it (HSTS)
None of the trackers it contacts are on our high-risk watchlist.
Contacts no high-risk / adversarial-state domains
It isn’t a registered data broker.
Not a registered data broker
Last scored 6/3/2026
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