Youtube adblock blocking
I know the topic of whether adblock is piracy is debated, but I am guessing there are a lot of adblock users here and I was wondering if anyone has seen the youtube adblock warning message in the wild. I use ublock origin and still haven't seen it once.
Google must be fucking salivating at the prospect of manifest v3 going live and adblockers being gimped.
I wish more people would switch to Firefox.
Hi, could you give me a brief on how manifest v3 will help Google disable the blocking of advertisements?
It changes how extensions work in Chrome (and derived browsers), notably it modifies the API that adblockers use to block requests and dramatically restricts the number of rules they can support. It’s a change pretty clearly designed to limit the scope of adblockers and make it easier for companies like Google to work around them.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/chrome-users-beware-manifest-v3-deceitful-and-threatening
In short, Google limits extension API access, which blocks extensions like uBlock Origin from reaching their full potential. Firefox doesn't.
ReVanced and Newpipe on mobile, SmartTube on TV, uBlock origin on Vivaldi and LibreWolf (currently in the middle of switching).
Seen nothing on any of those. They're all working flawlessly, for now.
Mozilla Firefox + ublock = flawless experience.
I think it’s in A/B testing right now, maybe you haven’t gotten it?
If you use uBlock origin you would never see it. I use both PiHole + uBlock origin and I would never see it lmao.
How do you know that? I’m fairly certain that google can tell if they have served you an ad, and cutting off access to their streaming services seems like a straightforward thing from their point of view. How could ublock (or anything) prevent google from blocking the stream? It’s not about blocking ads, or blocking messages to turn your adblocker off. It’s about google acknowledging that they haven’t served you an ad. You can’t force them to serve a video, I don’t think.
This “feature” is being rolled out slowly, which probably means they are taking lots of telemetry about how users try to circumvent this. It also means that just because you or I haven’t seen it does not mean we are safe against it. I’m not saying there is no solution, but I don’t think the solution is an adblocker or a sinkhole.
Youtube's ad policy is abusive, and online ads are not always safe. Regardless of whether adblocking is legal or fair to Youtube, not doing so puts you at greater risk of malware insertion so is a necessary safety precaution.
As YouTube profits from your engagement through more than ads, YouTube still benefits even when you watch videos without ads.
I really don't see how adblockers would ever be illegal, that sounds like an absolute dystopia.
Edit: downvoted with 0 counter-arguments. Classic.
Personally, I don't see how YouTube can be abusive. It is their platform and they can do whatever they want with it. It is your choice if you use it or not. If you think the ads are out of control, you can pay for their subscription or use free services.
If content creators are uploading their videos there, it is because YouTube can pay them more than other platforms... Thanks to the ads. So it's not like there aren't other options out there, it's just that YouTube pays content creators more. Free market.
You're getting an endless amount of information backed by amazing engineers that designed a service that never goes down and loads 4K videos at incredible speeds worldwide for millions of users concurrently.... At the price of a few minutes of your life per day. Seems fair. They are not denying you the access to the information. They are using that money to pay content creators fairly so they are incentiviced to create more content that you can enjoy.
YouTube is a high quality service. Why is it bad to give them something back for the high quality service you're receiving? It's not like this is a mediocre click bait article with 50 ads attacking your screen. Plus, you're also giving back to the content creators. If you didn't like the content, you can downvote them or report them to tweak the algorithm.
It's abusive because a 2min video will have 30sec of ads its absolute bullshit and worse than even cable fuckery.
And I'm really, REALLY sick if seeing this idiotic argument of company X can do anything they want, because free market.
This isn't even youtube specific but I absolutely disagree with that line of reasoning. That same argument is used by people whenever a company does shady shit.
No company just materialized out of thin air pulling themselves out of the ether, they all exist and thrive because of the community WE all created! Our public infrastructure, education, tax codes and million other things WE contributed allows any corporation to exist at all.
So no, corporations don't get to just do whatever the fuck they want, because "market".
I personally would pay for YouTube for a reasonable price and 10$/month ain't it. I don't want youtube music or whatever shit they are bundling with it.
My guy you're posting on a piracy community.
I don’t see how YouTube can be abusive
Do you also not see how a Tyrant boss that screams and belittles their employees is being abusive? The employees are free to quit and find work elsewhere right? Oh wait, freedom to avoid abusive behaviour doesn't make that behaviour non-abusive!
I'll also add that Youtube's ads aren't the only way you 'pay' for the service. They gobble up all the data they can glean from your interactions with them. So much data most people don't even really understand how much they're giving away. This data is sold sure, but it is also used to inform the algorithm on how to make the service more addictive to the users. That is to say, some of the abuse is insidious. Are drug dealers paragons of virtue when they offer free samples?
No other service advertises as obtrusively as Youtube does. Twitch comes close. The reasons they get away with this are:
Both easily defined as abusive.
Also an unpopular opinion but I actually don't mind paying for YouTube Premium to avoid the ads. Content creators get a bigger cut from my watching habits and it comes with a music streaming platform.
We are in piracy community though so it makes sense people are against paying for content that once upon a time was completely free.
I disagree with the "it's their platform" argument, but I definitely agree with you that people should stop complaining about YouTube ads so much.
They give you an option to both remove the ads and support the creators you watch. They support billions of hours worth of content watching each year and millions of hours of content storage, across the world, for free if you so choose. Seems quite generous.
I'd bet most people watch YouTube almost as much as Netflix or Hulu, again for free, and still complain about YouTube serving ads. The solution is to just pay for premium. They even give you music streaming with it anyway.
It boggles my mind about but people are upset about blocking ads in a piracy group. Chill out everyone!!
They are so upset about this non-argument that they firigot to answer OPs question
I haven't seen it because I haven't used the default front-end in years :D
From my understanding it has only been rolled out to Chrome users so far. Anyone using adblocks with Firefox will not have seen these yet.
However to ensure you don't, I suggest beginning your transition to some of the alternatives. I have been migrating to Piped which is essentially a scraper.
Piped ftw!
We need to block the adblock blockers...
I don't even use browser to watch youtube vids anymore. Freetube -> mpv with sponsorblock plugin.
Freetube is basically another browser though (Chrome in a shell to only browse YouTube) with a few fancy plugins.
You can achieve all of that in a browser more or less.
I use Firefox with ublock origin and haven't seen it yet.
I do the same. I also run pfSense with the pfBlockerNG module pulling in lists that block ad (and a tonne of other) sources. Also have a look at pihole as it can do a similar function.
DNS blocking does not block youtube ads.
OP do you perhaps use a non-Chromium based browser? Because their adblock blocking is only active on Chromium based browsers.
Brave Browser works great
no. never seen (yet). and using adblock is perfectly fine.
I use New Pipe on my phone, I also use ublock origin on Mozilla Firefox, but recently I've been watching more using mpv, don't know if they can do something about it
I use it on iOS with uYou+ and I haven’t seen it, I also used Video Lite’s Adblock as well as on Safari with normal ublock and haven’t seen it either. Maybe it’s not on mobile yet
use Odysee or Peertube /s
Freetube is good too
havent heard of it, thanks
Adblock is piracy!
Just use Pided (https://piped.video), Invidious, Freetube or something else.
Youtube website is just trash bloated with JavaScript and trackers.
Most of YouTube viewing I do is on Roku. Are there any Roku/ATV/Tizen/webOS apps that I can use to watch videos on Piped instead?
Is it now? then I'll do it harder.
Sadly youtube has all the sweet content, all these alternatives are lacking on that main thing, content.
Nah, Invidious is just pure YouTube content.
Edit: for more context these are all alternative front-ends. Not replacement services.
Its not debated. Its bullshit.
flat earthers existing doesnt put the earth's sensual curves up for debate either.
It's Cybersecurity.
100%
Absolutely.
Adblocking is good cybersecurity practice. It puts into stark relief how much of Marketing is actually just manipulation and malware.
Don't give them any ideas. lol Otherwise, cable boxes around the world are likely to receive a firmware update that blocks you from changing channels during commercials.
Please drink verification can.
Exactly. You’re being fed HTML etc and then deciding how to render it (or part of it in the case of ad blocking). This isn’t piracy. There’s no rules that come with the HTML in terms of how to render it. Different browsers can render it a number of different ways so how is not rendering part of it any different?
It is indeed a ludicrous idea.
Agreed. People need to stop giving that ridiculous idea market share in their head.
It's one of Lienus's L takes. People are giving it the benefit of a doubt because he has a huge following.
I started parroting "using a VPN to bypass region block is privateering" in response. LMG taking any VPN sponsorships after that L take is hypocrisy in my book.
Yeah it's even more ridiculous when you apply this logic to sponsored segments.
It's an ad, I skip it by seeking in the video, therefore it is piracy?
Also, people get arrested and fined for piracy where I live (because it is, well, illegal), so people blocking ads should go to prison?
When the face of LMG talks about things like this in a main channel video they should look into the consequences of the opinion they present.
Excuse the language, but what the actual fuck was Linus thinking?
Like what is the actual end goal here?
Linus says people should be punished for blocking ads, and the best way he thinks it should be executed is by law enforcement? Last time I checked that is how illegal actions are usually handled.
Why hyprocisy? It's a fair point to say circumventing paying in some way is piracy. It's possible, so anyone can decide for themselves.
I agree that it isn't but I didn't want an argument in the comments.
But it is you are using the service without "paying" for it. What would you rather call?
Another issue which is connected to labeling users “pirates” is the data caps and bandwidth throttling by mobile carriers and ISPs. Users make agreements with carriers for data and bandwidth for x.x price, but YouTube “steals” data limits and bandwidth by ads. Shouldn’t we expect them to pay us for our lost bandwidth and data caps?
It can’t be a one way street for a corporation to label users as unethical reprobates or “pirates” while he steals my paid for data limits and bandwidth.
I won’t use the term “piracy”. Just because the man says “up is down” doesn’t make it so. Piracy, historically is using threat of force and/or harm to force capitulation. In history past, pirates would fire across the bow to allow the target to choose to fight/flee or capitulate and pay the pirates, which is extortion. Technically, ransomware hackers are, by the historical definition, the true pirates. Individuals watching videos without ads is, by definition, individuals watching videos without ads.
People typically associate piracy with actions that can land individuals in legal trouble due to it being law breaking. I don't know that there is a country yet that sentences people for using Adblocker. Even the FBI recommends it.
Like I can see how companies don't like people consuming their service without seeing ads, but this isn't people copying or cracking and stealing account credentials to get access to something that is paywalled like some Netflix account. This is a flaw on their end and people are accessing it legally.
It's like some drive in theater getting mad someone who lives across from there can just watch movies from their backyard without paying and then saying they are committing piracy. They aren't sneaking into a theater.
Service is still paid for with user's data, including the datapoint: is intolerant of ads.