YouTube looks to be testing server-side ad injection to counter ad blockers
9to5google.com
- YouTube is testing server-side ad injection to counter ad blockers, integrating ads directly into videos to make them indistinguishable from the main content.
- This new method complicates ad blocking, including tools like SponsorBlock, which now face challenges in accurately identifying and skipping sponsored segments.
- The feature is currently in testing and not widely rolled out, with YouTube encouraging users to subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.
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It might take a lot more effort, but I don't think this will be the end. Google is required by law to label ads as such, giving these tools an opportunity to detect and skip them.
Is there a loophole where they could delay the ad marking like 5 seconds into a longer ad so you'd have to watch at least 5 seconds before an extension can detect it? Is the law specific about it having to be marked as an ad for the entire duration?
It will be after the inevitable lawsuit happens about 0.0002 seconds after they fully roll this out.
That would mean running an unmarked ad for five seconds, which would create an interesting legal question. But YouTube also buffers a good chunk of upcoming content, so there's enough upcoming video material to check.
What law (and jurisdiction) are you thinking of?
My understanding is that this would be covered with a blanket note on the page if it detects you aren't running Premium.
In Germany, you can't just show advertisement in a YouTube video without marking it. Same rules for sponsorship...
At the very least I'd say that UK/Germany would be a good bet. Though the idea of just plastering the note over the whole video might do the trick, considering that's what some German channels already do if they are sponsored to stay on the safe side.
You still aren't referencing a law. You are just saying you don't like it.
I ANAL and am not a lawyer but: There ARE laws about saying if a video contains paid advertisement. That is why basically every single video on youtube has the "contains sponsored content" tag.
There is no law saying that the specific seconds of the video need to be tagged. Which makes sense. It has been a minute since I watched network TV but I don't recall giant "AD" on my screen any time Hikaru Shida wasn't.
Germany has the "Medienstaatsvertrag" ยง8.3, which requires advertisements to be easily recognizable as such and also adequately separated through audio or visual cues.
I do recall a giant "Werbung" screen ahead of all a-blocs on TV.
Maybe not skip them, but instead play something else over top of them like another video you like, a music segment, or cat videos.