YouTube has once again figured out how to stop some of your favorite ways to block ads
Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
- YouTube has strengthened its defence against ad blockers.
- Free users are in uproar that their ad blockers are no longer working on the site.
YouTube has long been cracking down on viewers who use ad blockers on its site. If you try to watch a video with an ad blocker on, playback won’t be enabled until you turn the extension off. Although the platform is pretty effective at stopping most ad blockers, there are a few options that do still work. However, it appears YouTube has found a way to close some of those remaining gaps in its defense.
In the latest chapter of this long-running ad blocker saga, a growing number of free users are showing frustration over not being able to use YouTube’s service without having to sit through ads. Reports on Reddit claim that some previous workarounds, like uBlock Origin and AdBlock, are no longer working. As a result, these users are starting to see warnings, like the one in the image below. In other cases, the home page on YouTube is completely blank.
As you can probably imagine, this development has led to the creation of various threads bashing Google for its stance against ad blockers. To play devil’s advocate for a second, it’s important to note that the revenue drawn from ads also helps the creators of the videos you’re trying to watch.
A new solution will likely pop up at some point to replace these previous workarounds. At the same time, YouTube will also probably find a way to further improve its defense. It seems like YouTube is just as stubborn about its anti-ad blocker stance as users are about refusing to pay for Premium or Premium Lite.
