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YouTube looks to be testing server-side ad injection to counter ad blockers (9to5google.com)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology

234 comments fedilink hide all child comments

YouTube is testing server-side ad injection to counter ad blockers, integrating ads directly into videos to make them indistinguishable from the main content.
This new method complicates ad blocking, including tools like SponsorBlock, which now face challenges in accurately identifying and skipping sponsored segments.
The feature is currently in testing and not widely rolled out, with YouTube encouraging users to subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Next up: all web pages are full resolution bitmap files.

[–] tomalley8342 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Here's an image viewer example with 0 exposed HTML elements (all UI rendered through a single canvas) and 0 human readable code (all client side code compiled to webassembly bytecode). Trying to block unwanted content in this kind of site would be closer to cracking a video game or patching an android app.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Nah, computer vision for standalone image processing (I mean, not batch processing dozens to thousands of files at the same time) today is pretty lightweight and can be done easily on consumer laptops and smartphones. It is just a different technique and takes people with different skills to do it, but completely doable. Gor example, even face detection AI models can run on your laptop, if AI can learn to classify faces, objects and animals it can learn to classify ads.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (2 children)

I'm surprised DRM'd webpages haven't been a thing until now.

[–] Desistance 12 points 6 months ago

They're trying. Give them some time. Users will lap it up like idiots instead of just saying no.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Google was working on a feature that would do just that, but I can't recall the name of it.

They backed down for now due to public outcry, but I expect they're just biding their time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Web environment integrity

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Thank you! I was struggling to remember the proposal name.