YouTube is blocking ad blockers to push Premium subscription

Interesting note from the ghacks article... "You could use a system-wide ad blocker like NextDNS or AdGuard to deal with the problem, but not everyone is going to resort to such measures."

 

nice try

 

Apparently AdGuard just learned of this um, "ad innovation" and promises to do something about it. But dunno what the future holds.

https://twitter.com/AdGuard/status/1656424308246282240

 

I guess I'll be spending more time on Rumble, Odysee, etc.

 

Thanks. I was on YouTube for a bit last night to see if I would get blocked and did not so we'll see how it goes and what is needed if/when it does happen.

 

Yes, what else can you do but watchful waiting? Here is more from AdGuard . It says YouTube Premium is 12 USD...per month. Whoa.

https://adguard.com/en/blog/youtube-ad-blocking-ban.html

 

I rarely use Youtube, if I have to watch ads I'll use it even less.

 

I applied these four filters in the uBO dashboard. Not waiting around until it actually happens.

 

I added those filters to my Grayware Blocklist today because I consider YT's behavior within the scope of "aggressive ad reinsertion."

 

I have not seen any ads or prompts on YouTube at all, surprisingly. Maybe BlackFog Privacy has taken care of the ads / prompts for me.

 

Comment
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/05/12/how-to-bypass-youtubes-anti-ad-blocker-prompt/#comment-4565997

FanboyNZ said on May 13, 2023 at 5:52 am

 

The problem just came up--where Fanboy said at least two of those ghacks filters don't work. Stupendous Man's post #13--thank you for this important update.

 

More precisely: "These filters may not work (2 users confirmed it hasn’t worked)," [...]

 

Even if I disable those four filters in uBO, I don't see any blocked videos or prompts in YT. Being in Canada, I would have thought we'd be targeted by Google sooner than most other countries.

 

Actually, what I'm seeing an uptick in now is segments embedded in YouTube videos where the content creator is pausing for a minute or two to plug whatever vendor is sponsoring the video. Like for example: Gamers Nexus will pause in the middle of "Brand xyz is being a scumbag" in order to extol the virtues of the Brand abc cpu cooler--like several times thru-out the 30 min. video. Just like TV in the olden days.

I don't mind this method--it seems to be a fair compromise as I think YouTube gets a cut of the revenue (as it should, imo). I can also skip past the "commercial" if you will.

But ads you can't avoid and can't escape--that's where I draw the line. And I'm concerned this is where it's heading eventually. Hope I'm wrong.

 

Ah, I found this post by Yuki2718, where those three filters were mentioned, 2 days ago:
https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/issues/7636#issuecomment-1545746572

More filters to test, in this more recent post by Yuki2718:
https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uAssets/issues/7636#issuecomment-1546823522

A thread to keep an eye on.

 

YouTube ReVanced also comes handy

 

I haven't noticed it myself, but if it affects you, you're gonna have to get a YouTube ad blocker blocker.

 

Me either, when it does * them. Don t use it enough, to pay.
In these times, got to be kidding.

 

Thanks for the info! Glad to know Gorhill's team is working on it.

 

I use it quite a lot on my smart TV, not so much on my PC. I use it mostly to watch free movies, and you can get rid of ads by subscribing to YouTube Premium. I'm not sure if I can use adblocking on my smart TV.

Thanks, nice find. Luckily I haven't seen any ads yet on my PC, so uBlock is still doing a good job, or Google hasn't started to show this message yet over here in Europe.

 

Ads are still blocked here.