If this design really isn't asshole design, then why are they still doing it like this? It's pretty obviously supposed to look like it has more content than it does rn; and even if you do realize what's going on, this makes it way harder to guess the amount of the contents. A number for gram amount is ok, but your brain really guesses by looking at the content, not the number.

I feel like that defeats the purpose of automated recommendations, since you can still search for the videos (that you want to watch) and create playlists either way.

I think it's pretty obviously the horse meat. A lot of people have problems with that.