Hm I don't understand how they are tracking you in this case. I'm gonna ask a question that may seem stupid, but since you didn't mention it, you aren't logged into google/youtube are you?

I browse YouTube on brave browser with VPN and not logged in. The YT front page is blank until I start watching videos, then I get recommendations based on what I've watched during that session.

Browser Fingerprinting. You must configure your browser to lie about what it is and change the lie repeatedly. Simplest way is plugin to change your browsers User-Agent. This will be a big deal on mobile because mobile browsers will actually report the device model in the UA. Be prepared to see lots of captchas if you do this though.

Maybe you can check https://privacyterminal.com/ and https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ to see what may be being used to track you.

I've seen a handful of your posts before. I don't think Google is still tracking you.

If you were to open YouTube in one tab, and Invidious in another, Google could maybe correlate the two (realistically, even that is enough seperation) but you wouldn't notice anything. Invidious uses one token for multiple users, so if YouTube is recommending something to you, it's recommending it to everyone using the instance. That only really applies to the frontpage though, when you watch a video, those recommendations are based on the video you're watching.

You describe using a lot of services that help protect your privacy, but you don't seem to understand when, why, and how to use them properly (e.g. Qubes is security focused, and incidentally good for privacy, while Tails is privacy focused and decent for security). I'd suggest taking a look at privacyguides.org (not affiliated) for a more in depth explanation of various services.

I asked if you were actually clearing your cache in the other thread.

In this one I’ll try something different: have you considered logging in?

You are, based on two threads full of replies from you, incapable of avoiding “google” “tracking”.

It could be that you’re running android, that your google access point is sending telemetry or that you simply don’t have enough understanding of how the web works to effectively avoid being tracked no matter what operating system or software package is in use. That last part isn’t meant as an insult, web browsers are basically their own os and extremely complex.

Have you considered using a sandbox setup like Firefox’s container tabs and logging into google on a particular container?

That avoids the need for you to avoid tracking by saying to google “I’m me!” While also presenting them an empty browser cache and cookie sandbox to play in.

Can't say I'm knowledgeable, so I'm throwing some words i heard around. Did you change the DNS for your ISP each time you made a new connection?

This is just my thought, but since you're still using youtube under the hood, Google still can link you to thr other data thats already been tracked before in their database, like how Google can still know it you even after you factory reset on stock ROM android

ps im not asking a question specfically about how to stop google from tracking me in invidious only, i use invidious to check if google can still track me (they can :(

I'm not sure you can completely stop it when using their services.

This might be a silly question since you say you're using vpns, whonix, and quad9 but are you signed in to google? Every time my computer reboots, youtube on my browser (librewolf) shows no recommendations

Edit: seems like you aren't signed in. Maybe try firefox.