YouTube runs experiment addressing users with ad blocker

[NiHaoMike]

I doubt very many would have unlimited mobile data to run it on, probably the most accessible CGNAT that's not mobile or a VPN would be a public hotspot.

[peter-h]

I must have missed this but is there any way to block YT adverts with a VPN terminating somewhere?

YT is now serving absolutely banal brainless crap (like Hero Wars) every four minutes!

[Karel]

One solution is to use a commandline video downloader like yt-dlp:

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp

and watch the video locally with your favorite mediaplayer (VLC).

[peter-h]

I did think that should still work. I've used many GUI downloaders over the years.

That also means it could be automated.

[tom66]

uBlock Origin still working with latest update but looks like this cat-and-mouse game will go on for some time.  I guess YT has internal metrics to decide how much programmer resource to throw at it - eventually enough will get PO'd and either stop using it or move to Premium.

[tycz]

I'm running Ublock Origin with lots of different filter lists installed. For the past few months I've found that every week or so I have a few days in a row where Youtube works normally, then a few days when Youtube pops up the message that says an ad blocker has been detected and won't play any videos. I read somewhere that Ublock Origin is only guaranteed to block Youtube ads with the default filter list set. I suspect one of my lists is slow to update and Google is detecting it.

I've also been using some Youtube 'client' software called Freetube that works pretty well. It seems to be Youtube-dl with a GUI that looks similar to the Youtube website. It handles subscriptions, history, playlists, remembers watched videos, etc. locally without needing a Google account. It has no ads and somehow bypasses the age verification that some videos require.

[peter-h]

You are right - it does work!

[Bicurico]

Wow.

Now Youtube blocked my main computer completely.

Not even refresh got around it.

Guess I am staying off Youtube for a while.

[MK14]

"Facebook and Instagram launch ad-free subscription tier in EU".

Apparently related to this thread.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67226394

They seem to be doing it ONLY, in the EU, and because of a huge fine the EU has imposed on them.

[PlainName]

"Facebook and Instagram launch ad-free subscription tier in EU".

They seem to be doing it ONLY, in the EU, and because of a huge fine the EU has imposed on them.

They say:

"The option for people to purchase a subscription for no ads balances the requirements of European regulators while giving users choice and allowing Meta to continue serving all people in the EU, EEA and Switzerland.

Bullshit. Pay the premium, get no ads, but they still scoop up your data and use it to push on users, track users, know who talks to who, etc. The ads thing is just distraction to make them look good, but behind that there will be no change.

[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.

[aeberbach]

I wonder how difficult it would be to just generate lots (hundreds to thousands per minute) of fake ad views using a script. Would be fun to run that on a CGNAT address, then they can't just filter by IP address without losing legitimate views.

Like this? https://adnauseam.io/

[NiHaoMike]

Like this? https://adnauseam.io/

That doesn't flood them with fake ad views, just generate some when it sees the opportunity. I'm thinking a script that just generates an absurd number of ad "views" as a form of protest.

[wilfred]

For a time before the axe fell and Youtube completely stopped playing the video I had a blank silent view window before the actual video started. So I got to thinking if only the adblocker could just blank and silence the screen for ads up to 30 seconds. Id still be downloading them and they'd still play but I would neither see nor hear them. I'd take that.

I didn't think this was an original idea of mine and it turns out it wasn't.

One place that came up in my search was this one
https://blog.adblockplus.org/blog/whats-happening-with-youtube-ads

Reading that blog I saw this post 

typical user · 2023-10-15 01:26 · #

When I can no longer block youtube ads, I will never view a youtube video again. Very simple. 99.99% of youtube videos are complete waste of time garbage anyway.

And this one looked worth keeping in mind although I haven't yet tried it.

Steven · 2023-10-14 12:34 · #

The anti-ad blocking seems to be related to the user who’s logged in to the YouTube website. By right-clicking on the video you want to play and opening it in a Private session (as a logged-out user), doesn’t seem to activate the anti-ad block script and allows for playing the video without ads (for now).

The first one sounds a bit dogmatic and makes me wonder why they bother to sift through the 99.99% of dross to find the pearls.  But a number of comment shared the way I'm thinking and it might be time to shake of the pandemic induced viewing binge I fell into. I had 121 subscriptions and several more unsubscribed channels I still haven't stopped manually checking periodically. I arbitrarily cut the subscriptions in half and kept those the post very infrequently like Applied Science and Smarter Everyday and Technology Connections.

I even started watching  American news and comment channels explaining the various trials of former President Chump. WTF? I'm not even an American.
I could definitely benefit from reducing screen time.

[MK14]

That doesn't flood them with fake ad views, just generate some when it sees the opportunity. I'm thinking a script that just generates an absurd number of ad "views" as a form of protest.

Well, adverts of some sort or other, have probably been around for centuries, or longer.

There is an imaginary red line in the sand, and if you cross it.  You could be deemed a harmful hacker, and possibly be open to being prosecuted.  If your activities, go too far.

Blocking adverts, or pretending to watch ones (adverts, on videos, you are actually watching) they tried to give you, via software/techniques, is one thing.

But, to specifically on purpose, activate a huge number of adverts, to play a game of poke the (Google) bear.  Could end up with winning unwanted, stupid prizes.  Such as visits, at 4:00 AM, by teams of men, in blue or black uniforms, then having your life turned upside down, and losing access to most things, not only YouTube.

[NiHaoMike]

But, to specifically on purpose, activate a huge number of adverts, to play a game of poke the (Google) bear.  Could end up with winning unwanted, stupid prizes.  Such as visits, at 4:00 AM, by teams of men, in blue or black uniforms, then having your life turned upside down, and losing access to most things, not only YouTube.

Good thing there's not just one country in the world. Do it in one that could care less about it.

[MK14]

Good thing there's not just one country in the world. Do it in one that could care less about it.

Well, it would be a bit like a car driver or motorcyclist, driving at 100+ MPH, zigzagging like crazy through traffic. (I.e. playing a stupid game).  Then on returning to a country that does worry about rules and the law.  Fractionally, hitting a black pick-up truck, and then almost getting run over by the wheels, of a massive 18 wheel (or similar),  presumably weighing many tens of tons, truck.  Then surviving, for people to say, "win stupid prizes".

Yes, you *could* do it.  But it might not be a good idea, and it could go horribly wrong.

[NiHaoMike]

Well, it would be a bit like a car driver or motorcyclist, driving at 100+ MPH, zigzagging like crazy through traffic. (I.e. playing a stupid game).  Then on returning to a country that does worry about rules and the law.  Fractionally, hitting a black pick-up truck, and then almost getting run over by the wheels, of a massive 18 wheel (or similar),  presumably weighing many tens of tons, truck.  Then surviving, for people to say, "win stupid prizes".

Presumably, it would be done by someone who lives in that country. It would be quite uneconomical to travel just to work around a law, even though the statute of limitations could theoretically be used to make it actually work. (Just very impractical.)

[JoeRoy]

I use uBlock Origin and today I got the first Youtube message complaining that it is not allowed to use ad blocker.

I can click the X on the message box (instead of the two buttons, one to switch off ad blocker, the other to subscribe to Youtube Premium) and the video is shown.

But the next video shows the message again...

Screw Youtube, I will significantly reduce my Youtube usage, which mainly consists in using it for playing background music, by listening to online radio or my own playlists for my own music collection.

Anyone using a "better" Ad Blocker, which is not recognized by Youtube?

uBlock Origin is working perfectly, you just need to update it by "Purge all caches", when Youtube blocked it, they fixed it in a few minutes.

[MK14]

Presumably, it would be done by someone who lives in that country. It would be quite uneconomical to travel just to work around a law, even though the statute of limitations could theoretically be used to make it actually work. (Just very impractical.)

Well, to give you an actual example.  In the UK, on public highways (e.g. Motorways), the maximum speed limit, can be up to 70 MPH.

But, if you are happy to holiday or something, in Germany.  You can drive from the UK to Germany (using the channel tunnel or channel crossings), and on their autobahns, go to a much higher speed.
I think it use to have unlimited (no) speed limit, but now it is more limited speed wise, in some places.  But there are still sections, with no speed limits, for some vehicle types.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn

A better solution would just be to use a test track, or just stick to sensible speed limits.  But some people, are really determined, to (legally), drive a lot faster, to see how their vehicle performs.

Back on track (pun intentional), there are probably YouTube videos, showing people doing just that.  But if YouTube insists on showing, horrible (to at least me), adverts every few minutes.  It would spoil the experience of such a video.

[PlainName]

I wonder if this 'experiment' is targetting heavy users? The thinking might be that occasional users aren't wedded to viewing Youtube (otherwise they'd be on there more often) so don't have much to lose and wouldn't put a lot of effort (that is, money) into viewing. Heavy users, on the other hand, are kind of addicted so would feel the loss more and would be much more likely to cough. Hence why some of us are getting the anti-block thing (regular viewers) and some aren't (days between viewing something).

If that's so then using the private feature of Youtube might fool the system into not realising you're a potential target because there is no history. If you're logged in then it's easy to know what your viewing habit is and whether you might be susceptible. And if you have subscriptions then I guess you would need to be logged in to view them.

So, if you're reporting that your viewing has been disrupted, perhaps it would be useful to know if you subscribe to stuff (and/or are usually logged in). For reference, I don't get ads and the only time I log in is to post a video perhaps once a decade. Also not a heavy user - can go days without watching owt, then perhaps might view a hour or so after being led down a rabbit hole.

[Bicurico]

Youtube is working again on my main computer.

Very strange.

[helius]

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?

[PlainName]

Now (mine) seem to be monetizing the email service separately, for far more than the domain itself cost.
Are others having this experience too?

No, because I wouldn't dream of having the domain registra host anything other than the DNS (and even then, the DNS master would be elsewhere so they would be a secondary).

[wilfred]

I wonder if this 'experiment' is targetting heavy users? The thinking might be that occasional users aren't wedded to viewing Youtube (otherwise they'd be on there more often) so don't have much to lose and wouldn't put a lot of effort (that is, money) into viewing. Heavy users, on the other hand, are kind of addicted so would feel the loss more and would be much more likely to cough. Hence why some of us are getting the anti-block thing (regular viewers) and some aren't (days between viewing something).

If that's so then using the private feature of Youtube might fool the system into not realising you're a potential target because there is no history. If you're logged in then it's easy to know what your viewing habit is and whether you might be susceptible. And if you have subscriptions then I guess you would need to be logged in to view them.

So, if you're reporting that your viewing has been disrupted, perhaps it would be useful to know if you subscribe to stuff (and/or are usually logged in). For reference, I don't get ads and the only time I log in is to post a video perhaps once a decade. Also not a heavy user - can go days without watching owt, then perhaps might view a hour or so after being led down a rabbit hole.

I think Youtube would be automating the adblocking detection. They could have some threshold but I would doubt it. Not getting ad revenue for one user missing a thousand ads is the same as a thousand small time viewers missing one ad each.

Better to sell premium to those one thousand lightweight resource demanding users than a single heavy bandwidth user.

I tried the private browser feature (Edge) and got ads regardless of whether logged in or not.

One of my alternative viewing option is my Android media box with an app called Smarttube  which is not available (strangely) on the google play store. Yesterday it got signed out, don't know why. However I couldn't sign back in on Youtube.com/activate with the code it displays. Because it stopped being able to display a code. Did youtube change something inadvertently or deliberately to thwart the app? Also don't know. I downloaded the latest version (i'd been using a several years old one) and it also failed to provide a code but a day later it called for an upgrade which did fix the issue and I am now viewing ad-free again.

I seems risky for youtube to alter the ability to sign on a "smart-tv" since they soon lose the ability to upgrade the viewing apps built in. Smarttube claims to be a smart-tv like experience and reportedly does not work on phones and tablets.

Switching user agents in the browser is still working with Windows phone as the agent but Firefox33 has stopped working. So it seems to me Youtube is still hard at it.

I not sure where i'll end up but I hope to be watching far fewer Youtube videos and therefore unwilling to buy premium but just being irritated by relatively few ads to match the far fewer videos. we'll see.