this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
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YouTube is cracking down on consumers’ favorite loophole - Adblockers::undefined

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[–] [email protected] 172 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (13 children)

I can really understand YT wanting to push ads because I know how expensive their servers are and all that, but I just can't get over how many ads there are. Two ads before the video starts is already pushing it, and having ads in the middle (which can be many times depending on the video) is far too much. If they crack down on adblockers I'll likely use alternative frontends like piped. No way I'm watching 6+ ads in one sitting.

[–] Evilcoleslaw 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think when they were trying to push the YouTube Red streaming shows there were a few times where they put in full episodes of shows as pre-roll ads. They were skippable but an hour long TV show as a pre-roll is just obnoxious.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Same. If it wasn't for my adblockers, I'd have stopped using youtube long ago.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm in the same camp. I was generally fine when it was an occasional skippable pre-roll ad before some videos. But the last time I watched a video without a blocker, there were two unskippable ads at the start plus two more each at the 7 and 14 minute mark of a 20 minute video.

This hour has 22 minutes indeed.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Holy crap. I had no idea YouTube was that bad. I guess my ad blockers work better than I thought.

It's going to be a never-ending cat-and-mouse game from here, I guess. And then eventually Google will make Chrome required with their trusted platform bs.

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[–] [email protected] 115 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

update your rules, made the popup go away on my ubloick origin <3

addendum: a how to:

  • left click ublock origin
  • click the three interlocking cogs
  • select the filter lists tab at the top
  • click purge all caches
  • click update now
  • refresh your youtube tab you just encoutered the popup in and press f5 or refresh the site otherwise

before i had the popup on each video, after no more.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Can confirm, this advice came direct from the developers of UBO and it does work.

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[–] [email protected] 68 points 1 year ago (6 children)

if the forcr me to watch ads i will finaly leave that platform

[–] kokesh 5 points 1 year ago (5 children)
[–] thisisawayoflife 19 points 1 year ago

Peertube has a great import feature.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

nowhere, starting to think this shit is toxic af

here hoping youtube goes under

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[–] TropicalDingdong 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Bruh, your not gonna believe this, but the ducks at the park are free. if you use one of these, you can download all the ducks you want. I downloaded 9000 ducks so far.

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[–] killeronthecorner 10 points 1 year ago

I heard there's this stuff outside called grass.

I intend to touch it.

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[–] MrFlamey 47 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As far as I can tell, they aren't doing a very good job. I've seen the notice that an ad blocker is not allowed, and even without upgrading the ad blocker I use I can still just click the close button on the notice and it goes away and I can continue to watch uninterrupted.

If Google does figure out how to prevent people from using ad blockers on YouTube, I think it will help me break my honestly unhealthy habit and reduce the amount I watch, or perhaps even quit entirely, since there are far more ads on YouTube than there were in the past - especially if you also include sponsor ads that are embedded in videos.

[–] BombOmOm 19 points 1 year ago

I have been enjoying Nebula. If Google manages to kill ad blockers, I will probably just go live over there.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they are using the information recorded from people who click the close button to better train their algorithm for detecting adblockers.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I feel like i would hate ad less if they let the creator know when and ad was comming. It would be kind of like TV was; "and I'll tell you this after the break". Because those midrolls usually just break a sentence in half!

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago

Loophole? Piss off with that language, I control this machine and what is shown on it.

[–] Usernameblankface 28 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So far, I can dismiss the popup in Firefox and keep watching, but I dread the day that this doesn't work anymore.

[–] Evilcoleslaw 29 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's a fairly straightforward cat and mouse game. The only thing that has the potential to make it complicated soon is Google's Web Environment Integrity API.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As long as Firefox keeps doing their thing and doesn't adopt Google's bullshit....

[–] Zak 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Then YouTube refuses to serve Firefox users. Eventually the EU punishes them for it. Not sure what's after that.

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[–] bappity 27 points 1 year ago (1 children)

YouTube is fighting a losing battle

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago

That really depends on what their goal is.

From a business perspective it's not worth fighting to eliminate 100% of ad block uses. The investment is too high. But if they can eliminate 50% or 70% or 90% of ad block uses with youtube? That could be worth the effort for them. If they can "win" for Chrome and make it a bit annoying for Firefox that would likely be enough for Google to declare it a huge success.

People willing to really dig all the way in to get a solution they desire are not the norm. Google can be OK with the 1% of us out there as long as we aren't also making it possible for another huge chunk of people to piggyback off it effortlessly.

[–] dezmd 25 points 1 year ago

It's not a loophole, it's a necessary security function.

[–] Companion1666 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

havent seen this popup on Youtube. currently using librewolf with ublock origin. maybe i'm not logged in.

[–] killeronthecorner 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

An updated uBlock Origin will remove the popup

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you only use uBlock default blocking lists then it won't come up. If you use any other list, like Easylist or Adguard then it comes up immediately

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[–] jwagner7813 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

These ad block users should be considered the cost of doing business and they should be careful with targeting them.

This kind of thing springs users into action to either find or use work arounds or create a alternative platform.

[–] echo64 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

No one can create an alternative platform. Youtube costs far far, far too much to run. This is why everyone failed. Google subsidised it for what, 15 years? Before it got any level of profitability and even then, nof really. Google derives other value from it, like feeding data into their ad profiles, but no one else needs that.

It's also clear that workarounds will stop soon as Google has installed Web drm directly into chrome

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

People are already leaving chrome just for that reason. Google underestimates just how fast people will bail on a platform that goes off the rails.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Anyone like me who haven't even seen this ad block warning?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Still nothing. Firefox with ublock origin and ghostery running in parallel.

On my phone I'm using newpipe, on my tv smart tube next, so those are clean by default.

[–] micka190 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's been hit-or-miss for me (Firefox w/ uBlock). It seems like Google's pushing updates at irregular intervals. Clearing the uBlock cache and forcing an update usually does the trick for me, though. I'm guessing they'll burn the volunteers out eventually, though.

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[–] JewGoblin 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

we will win, sail the high seas

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Pretty sure most YouTube videos will be hard to pirate. Big creators sure... But most others I doubt.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It is trivial to download youtube videos.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Yup, and thats why im leaving YouTube indefinitely

[–] AlmightySnoo 7 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I'm using Firefox with uBlock Origin and I have yet to see that popup

[–] DietBajaBlast 6 points 1 year ago

You will. I didn’t start getting it until three days ago.

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