YouTube runs experiment addressing users with ad blocker

[tszaboo]

Youtube is working again on my main computer.

Very strange.

It's working on and off. I think it's account related. I just open the video in incognito mode and watch it there. Adblock and sponsorblock still works there, it's just annoying.

[metrologist]

I read in the news that a record hundreds of thousands of users are uninstalling adblockers as a result of YT expanding their experiment. That's disappointing.

[SiliconWizard]

Exactly.

And the subscription-everything for what used to be free online services is a new trend, as I mentioned before. It's going to be the new normal. Both to milk the cow further, and also, arguably, because most online services were just not sustainable businesses (shaky business models), so they need to make a predictable stream of revenue. Subscriptions are a fully predictable revenue, selling ads or data is not (even though it can make a lot of money).

In any case, that won't stop them from still selling your data behind your back as before, as PlainName said.

I'm seeing some of this trend with domain registrars. It used to be that many of them provided free email services with the price of a domain name. Now (mine) seem to be monetizing the email service separately, for far more than the domain itself cost.
Are others having this experience too?

Yep. Mine just did as well. Are you by any chance using Gandi as well?

[nctnico]

I read in the news that a record hundreds of thousands of users are uninstalling adblockers as a result of YT expanding their experiment. That's disappointing.

Maybe they are switching to different ones. But there is a simple workaround: click the 'share' button and then choose 'embed' and there is the video ready to play.

[MT]

Not an single anti-ad for past 7-8 days. uBlock Origin enabled since years past including Vivaldis own inbuilt ad blocker! UA Chrome spoofer plug in works on anti ad crap.

[Karel]

No ads here on Linux with Firefox + uBlock Origin + Privacy Badger + Cookie AutoDelete + CanvasBlocker + Bypass Paywalls Clean.
I don't have a google/youtube account and I have never seen a warning that I must disable the adblocker.

[wilfred]

Thanks to the Youtube suggestions I came across this short video


By following the suggestions to install uBlock Origins https://ublockorigin.com/
and after installing it to open the dashboard in the browser (Edge/Win10 for me) clear the filter cache and then update the filters (two buttons to press)

It didn't work.

So I continued on to the URL in Github for a website to test if it should work. Apparently this test bypasses all local browser config, extensions etc. ie should it work.
https://drhyperion451.github.io/does-uBO-bypass-yt/

Since I was still having problems I clicked on the link to the reddit group and went to this thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/17j6ygs/youtube_antiadblock_and_ads_october_29_2023_mega/

In there I scrolled down to a comment about Edge browser and followed this suggestion for the Youtube Tab
Edge: Click the 🔒 "lock" icon on the left of URL bar -> Turn off Tracking Prevention
And I also disabled other browser extensions I had installed and enabled. Which was Adblock which was my (now former) adblocker and "Print Friendly & PDF" (which I recommend for printing web sites in a neat formated PDF, as well as User Agent Switcher which I installed a week or so back as an attempt to view YT vids.

I don't know which, or if any, had to be disabled but Print friendly is the only one i'd want now anyway.

So that's my experience. I still have other options including YT-DLP to download Youtube videos. YT-DLP is a fork from the old YT-download. Recommended
I also still have an android media box with Smarttube app installed for watching on the couch. Also recommended.
But I'll press on even if it is only out of curiosity to see how the ebb-and-flow of restrictions and countermeasures plays out.

Not a lot of success with watching fewer YT videos as yet but not giving up on that either.

[Bicurico]

At this point, I think Youtube is just randomly experimenting to harrass users to either switch off adblocker or buy a subscription.

I have not changed anything on my main computer and in the last days, I am using Youtube as I always did: without any ads or subscription. I use uBlock Origin. I have not gotten any messages from Youtube.

I think they cannot afford to just close out users who insist in using adblockers, so they annoy them.

The last times that happen on my main computer, I either did a refresh on the page or closed the browser and reopened it. I have not been unable to use Youtube and the annoyance of having to do a refresh or reopening the browser is much less than having to endure the ads.

[Karel]

Youtube’s Anti-adblock and uBlock Origin

https://andadinosaur.com/youtube-s-anti-adblock-and-ublock-origin

[madires]

YouTube's anti ad-blocker campaign has a noticeable impact: YouTube’s Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls of Ad Blockers (https://www.wired.com/story/youtubes-ad-blocker-crackdown-spurs-record-uninstalls)

[PlainName]

Read that and below the headline it says there was a record number of installs too. The implication is that users were dumping failing blockers and instead installing other ones. Doesn't say (which the headline implies) that users were succumbing to pay for premium.

But as at Ghostery, installations also surged as others looked for relief, reaching about 60,000 installations on Chrome on October 18 and 27. Subscribers grew as people realized AdGuard’s paid tools remained unaffected by YouTube’s clampdown.

[RoGeorge]

YouTube's anti ad-blocker campaign has a noticeable impact: YouTube’s Crackdown Spurs Record Uninstalls of Ad Blockers (https://www.wired.com/story/youtubes-ad-blocker-crackdown-spurs-record-uninstalls)

I wouldn't trust Wired, they changed.  Nowadays everything mainstream media is propaganda.  That article is a suspiciously TL;DR to be considered good journalism style.  Not to say a tech magazine shouldn't have any political bias in the first place:
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/wired-magazine/

[NiHaoMike]

Now let's see how much increased ad revenue, if any, do the content creators report.

[madires]

Video from Louis Rossmann:
 YouTube's adblock war is backfiring in the worst way possible https://odysee.com/@rossmanngroup:a/youtube's-adblock-war-is-backfiring-in:c

[PlainName]

It would backfire much better if Odysee would get around to having captions.

[CJay]

Now let's see how much increased ad revenue, if any, do the content creators report.

I'm gonna guess nada, zero, zilch, nothing.

But I bet Alphagoo post increased profits.

[SiliconWizard]

Subscriptions are key to making a predictable revenue, which shareholders love. They are also key to making users even more captive than they already were. If you pay a subscription, all the more if it's paid yearly / has a yearly commitment, you're more likely to stay on the platform and use it, rather than go see elsewhere.

Whether it's going to "work" for YT, I don't know. We'll see. You'd think it would backfire and drive users away, but "unfortunately", I'm not too sure about that. People are already hooked, and alternatives are few and not quite up to par. A minority will leave, a majority will pay. Probably.

OTOH, if say people buy subscriptions, that allow bypassing all ads, en masse, then it will drastically decrease the ad revenue. And drive advertisers away. Fun shit. So the question is, how can they screw up both sides as much as possible in order to maximize profits? That'll take a few MBAs to figure that out.

[peter-h]

Ublock stopped working tonight. YT detects it.

[SiliconWizard]

Ublock stopped working tonight. YT detects it.

Don't use ublock, use something else. I don't use it and haven't seen any ad nor any change on YT. It looks like most "complaints" about ad blockers being detected revolve around ublock, yet people keep using it?

[ataradov]

This is a perfect example why "works for me" does not apply here at all. You hear the most about uBlock because it is the most popular. YT and adblockers are in a daily battle to fix and break things depending on which side you are looking from. This goes for every adblocker, or at least the most popular ones. And at the same time, YT enforces blocking not for everyone. So, if it works for you, be glad it still does, you or your adblocker may be next.

For popular adblockers, the best thing you can do is wait for a few hours until they fix it again. You can jump between them too, but I doubt it is a good long term solution.

[Ian.M]

uBlock sold out back in 2019:

Code: [Select]

https://web.archive.org/web/20191130155329/https://ublock.org/blog/ublock-incorporates-acceptable-ads/ (this forum breaks Wayback Machine links).
Many users dropped it right then.

uBlock Origin is a fork, pre-sellout, maintained by a small team led by the original developer,  who punch far above their weight in the continuous war against adblocker detection and contravention scripts.

[peter-h]

It was uBlock Origin which I have.

[wilfred]

It was uBlock Origin which I have.

I have Ublock Origin and it is working for me. I'm new to it and I posted a link a few days ago to a website that displays a test to validate it. Just click that link and it will tell you right away if you're current.

I had to do a few other things in Edge/Win10 to get it to work but really easy never-the-less.
Basically disable tracking prevention (in Edge) for Youtube.com by right clicking the lock next to the URL, Disabling other adblockers I had before and purging the filters in UBO and refreshing them. The latter may be needed from time-to-time but I've only ben using UBO less than a week.

[thm_w]

I doubt anyone here is actually using ublock, we are using ublock origin and just call it "ublock". I guess that does cause confusion.

Anyway, please read Karels link above before commenting on why something will or won't work...

[peter-h]

Yes; cleared cache etc, updated it, and it is running again.