I’m sure they are tracking this kind of thing. Marketing types never throw away data, never skip an opportunity to collect data. A friend verified to me that YouTube tracks not only if you like/dislike a video, but how long into it you click the up/down button. Early “votes” don’t weigh as much in their algorithms - I guess assumed to be automatic, people liking it based on the channel or the premise not really the content. Votes near the end count for more, assumed to be based on what you saw.
I think they know what’s going on.
But to the Left, what grownups do really doesn’t matter all that much, they know they are a lost cause. This is about indoctrinating children.
I never vote for or against videos. It’s never been a “thing” for me. And being in IT and spending a few of those years working with Law Enforcement Relations regarding data, I learned just how easy it is to grab all sorts of data.
Heck, I have on Beta tape a PBS show from around 1980 called “the public eye” that showed how they were able to focus on particular words used by Reagan during a speech to determine what people liked and didn’t like. I remember watching that and thinking, “Where will that lead us in ten or twenty years?” Well, it’s been 40 years. I’m sure it’s improved. ;)