Business YouTube viewers outraged after site ‘tests’ banning ad blockers - A chronically incompetent site with a history of making bad decisions makes yet another bad decision


Virginia Glaze ❘ Published: May 10, 2023, 18:22 ❘ Updated: May 10, 2023, 18:22

YouTube viewers are raising alarm bells after being greeted with a message saying the site is now banning ad blockers.

YouTube is one of the most popular video-sharing platforms on the internet, boasting an active user base of over 2.5 billion monthly users as of February 2023.

A large number of content creators have made careers for themselves by uploading videos to the site, ringing in a new era of entertainment far ahead of the curve of other influencers on sites like Instagram and TikTok.

Over the course of the site’s existence, advertisements have played a major part in revenue for both the platform itself and its massive catalog of creators. However, many users have complained about the length and frequency of the ads they’ve been seeing — some of which last 30 seconds and are completely unskippable.

YouTube reportedly “experimenting” with banning ad blockers​

Many viewers have found a way to get around ads on YouTube by using ad blockers. Unfortunately, it looks like this method might be going in the bin soon, according to some users who’ve encountered a new feature that the platform is purportedly testing.

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In early May, users posted a message they’d allegedly received while attempting to use YouTube with an ad blocker. The message reads: “Ad blockers are not allowed on YouTube.”

“It looks like you may be using an ad blocker,” the message continues. “Ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide.”

The message then prompts users to switch to YouTube Premium, a service it officially launched in 2015 that allows users to bypass ads and even watch with their phones locked in exchange for a monthly fee.

Users aren’t happy with this purported change and took to social media to warn others about the possibility of being unable to watch YouTube with an ad blocker.

“One ad before each video was fine, but they got greedy and started playing multiple unskippable 30-second ads,” one user said on Reddit. “That’s when I went for adblock. There is zero chance I am ever deactivating it or paying for premium now, that ship has sailed.”

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“If there’s SO MANY ads that your users are going out of their way to download and use ad blockers, maybe [it’s] YOU’RE the problem, not the people using them,” another said on Twitter.

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According to a moderator on the YouTube subreddit, a YouTube employee allegedly confirmed that this is an “experiment” the website is currently running, and has not been rolled out to all users at the time of writing.

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Dexerto has reached out to YouTube for comment. For more entertainment news and coverage, check out our page here.
 
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Blood Bath & Beyond said:
Just like every other time any other site has tried to implement one of these "anti-adblock" measures there will be a workaround to keep the adblockers running flawlessly within days. Twitch regularly tweaks their anti-adblock and ads will suddenly start to get through, but then as if by magic they completely disappear merely hours later when I update the extension I use to block them.
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Can you recommend an adblock for Twitch? Mine used to work but nowadays it seems to cause a lot of freezing/lag of Twitch when ads run to the point where it's unwatchable or even stops the stream completely.
 
YouTube is the reason I developed a deep hatred for ads. I get autisticly angry when I see ads and tell everybody to use Ublock or Adnauseum. It goes so far that I will take a mental note of the company that tries to sell me something and I will actively avoid buying from them. Fuck ads and fuck the people involved in this business. I will do everything I can to avoid ads.

The funny thing is that I had Premium for like a year or two but they decided to keep cencoring things I enjoy. I would still have premium if the censorship wasn't so bad and if they wouldn't push for all the tranny and nigger stuff all the time.
 
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Anti adblock adblock/bypasses will probably work still.

I wouldn't mind ads if
A) they were shorter
B) they didn't ban everyone for hating troons.

I'm sure there will be a work around either way.
 
Equal Rights for Androids said:
Can you recommend an adblock for Twitch? Mine used to work but nowadays it seems to cause a lot of freezing/lag of Twitch when ads run to the point where it's unwatchable or even stops the stream completely.
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I use Unwanted Twitch to blacklist categories I'm not interested in (no trans, lgbt or "British" streams appearing anywhere on the site for me, no thank you) and a mix of Alternative Player for Twitch.tv and UBlock Origin to get rid of the ads.
 
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Null said:
Nonsense. I have sponsorblock and adnauseum and I never see ads. If for whatever reason I disable my extensions and forget to re-enable them, it is genuinely appalling how bad the modern browsing experience is.
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If you want a real horror show remember that the majority of people browse the Internet without adblockers thanks to them only using smartphones.
 
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If you guys think this is bad, just wait until they decide to copy that horror show Sony patent from a few years ago. They'll require a camera turned on just to access the site. You'll have to stand up and shout "McDonalds, I'm loving it!" or "Built Ford Tough!" into the camera to even watch your video. And then every two minutes, you'll see those same two ads again. And again. And again. And so on, forever, until you die.
 
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ShitLurker said:
Seeing how this seems on topic enough. Anyway to avoid fucking ads in my LG smart TV? On desktop and phone I know all the tricks, but have been unable to figure out anything for the tv and the ads are getting drastically worse.
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Disconnect it from the network entirely, then connect a small form factor PC (or even an ODROID running Kodi) to it via HDMI and use that instead. Use it as a dumb TV because it won't behave itself.

Bog-standard Poster said:
It's interesting to see Youtube clamping down on adblockers, Netflix stopping password sharing and Disney+ merging with Hulu. They're all trying to boost/retain their numbers, while laying off 10,000's of staff.
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They see the writing on the wall. Like everything else in the universe, the torrent of cash and investment eventually dries up as industries realize they're not actually getting a good enough ROI to make it worth subsidizing further.

Clamping down on customer behavior amid layoffs is the death knell of any business. Youtube especially is running out of friends. Laying people off amid record profits announcements from the parent company creates enemies out of former employees. Viewers hate the ads, algorithm and ever-slowing UI. Channel users hate the monetization and censorship policies. Advertisers hate Youtube for being the biggest (only) game in town and for denying them ever-tighter control over where their precious ads can be shown.

Copyright holders hate everyone, but especially hate Youtube for facilitating widespread copyright infringement. Competitors hate Youtube for coasting on inertia and sheer size, and crushing them with both. The media (press and entertainment) both hate Youtube for daring to allow people to talk back.

Backbone providers hate Youtube for the monstrous bandwidth demands the site generates. This isn't a joke -- Youtube singlehandedly forced many shit-tier ISPs to upgrade their raw capacity and their equipment to handle it in order to accommodate customer demand for reliable Youtube performance. Netflix hit the same issue too, and partially solved it by co-locating their own gear at popular ISP data centers to relieve backbone congestion.

On the darker side of things, propagandists and scammers are starting to realize Youtube isn't the avenue of guaranteed success it once was. Youtube does censor critics of "mainstream narratives" for various governments and do their part to hide inconvenient information (they immediately caved to New Zealand's takedown demand following the Christchurch shooting), but every slug along that disinformation flow understands Youtube can't completely ban all unapproved messages without it becoming obvious, because that's one of the few things that would lead to a pretty quick exodus. Nobody wants to use government-operated or government-sponsored social media.

The "backroom" deals are drying up because Youtube's becoming progressively less useful as a propaganda tool, marketing platform or as a means of pushing social change.

Can't wait to watch them die.
 
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@moocow

Great post and very informative. I never thought about the wider issues/hate facing Youtube outside of viewers and creators. I will be right there with you laughing while it crashes and burns itself into irrelevance when a scrappy new-comer managers to break through to the mainstream.

Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are all coasting on inertia but will inevitably meet their end like Myspace, Friends-Reunited and Zoosk did.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Porn Hosting sites makes their own video content platform, under a new name and disconnected from the porn-side of things, of course. They seem to have the infrastructure set up, ready to go.
 
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Prohibition only increases the demand. If they'll actually start banning and blocking access because of the use of an adblock, it'll only be like poking a technophile beehive. Within few days there will be dozens of new extensions that circumvent whatever they'll put up.
 
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Bog-standard Poster said:
I wouldn't be surprised if one of the Porn Hosting sites makes their own video content platform, under a new name and disconnected from the porn-side of things, of course. They seem to have the infrastructure set up, ready to go.
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The tech part of it isn't hard anymore. It's still expensive, but getting cheaper all the time. The real challenges are political and social now. Finding bandwidth providers that won't just shut you off when a troon complains (see Long-Gone Dong's attacks against the Farms) is the real challenge, along with pushing through the usual media attacks ("oh it's an alt-right nazi hate speech site muh phobia") to gain a foothold with the public.
 
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