YouTube's anti-adblock rollout has finally arrived for Firefox users
I'm sure many of you are already aware that YouTube has been rolling out anti-adblock detection for Chrome users for a few weeks now.
Today, as a long time Firefox user with the fantastic uBlock Origin extension installed, I got my first anti-adblock popup on the platform. Note that this may not happen to you personally for a while, but it is inevitably coming for everyone.
Thankfully, the fine folks at uBlock Origin have already advised a simple workaround (on Reddit, yuck!) which I will duplicate in a simplified form below for your convenience. I have tested it on Firefox and it is working fine for me (so far).
PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THIS POST.
Update uBO to the latest version (1.52.0+) . <== The extension itself, for technical improvements. You do this in your browser.
Remove your custom config / reset to defaults. <== This means removing your custom filters (or disabling My filters) and disabling ALL additional lists you've enabled. It might be quicker to make a backup of your config and restore to defaults instead.
Force an update of your Filter Lists. <== This is within the extension. Lists are what determine what's blocked or not. How to update Filter lists: Click 🛡️ uBO's icon > the ⚙ Dashboard button > the Filter lists pane > the 🕘 Purge all caches button > the 🔃 Update now button.
Disable all other extensions AND your browser's built-in blockers. <== No need to uninstall, just disable them. They might interfere with our solutions.
Make sure you follow all 4 points above. If you're seeing the message, it's likely due to your custom config (either additional lists or separate filters in My filters).
Restarting your browser afterwards may help too.
Once you've gotten rid of the issue on default settings, you can slowly start restoring your config (if you really need it). Do it gradually, to easier find out what was causing the issue in the first place. Once you find the culprit, simply skip it in your config.
If you want to use Enhancer for YouTube*, you have to* disable its adblocking*.*
May the force uBlock Origin be with you!
Update
Just wanted to mention a few things that have been pointed out in the comments:
- There are quite a few projects that provide an alternative ad-free front end to YouTube. These include Invidious, FreeTube, LibreTube, Newpipe, Revanced, and I'm sure there are several more options I've missed. I don't have any particular preference really but I routinely use NewPipe on my cellphone just because I tried it once and couldn't be bothered trying all the others.
- In step 4 listed above, to clarify, afaik you only need to remove adblocker extensions (if you have more than one installed) that might conflict with the uBlock Origin rules and trigger the anti-adblock, not all extensions.
- If you hate non-stop ads but want to support your favorite content creators then be sure to give them some love on Patreon or whatever alternative options they provide. Creators typically make only a tiny, tiny fraction of what YouTube makes in ad revenue, assuming YouTube doesn't just outright steal the lot, and it's a shitty business model that's ruining the internet. Even if you watch the ads, you're only supporting YouTube most of the time, not the creators.
I see a lot of people saying "but that's how creators get paid".
Listen: I didn't put ads on my video. YouTube did. I can't take them off and I don't see a cent from them. Block away.
Except they don't. They get demonetization from literally breathing from Google who treats them like shit, so it's best to donate to their patreons anyway.
Their demonetization "policy" or lack thereof is a major reason why I block ads. I don't believe that Alphabet operates in good faith in this matter.
The RIAA and MPAA are the driving force behind the copystrike behavior. I do think Alphabet has the resources and standing to resist and battle it in court, but that's clearly not their business model. Alphabet is not invested in protecting content generators, only in what metrics they can sell to ad agencies.
It's not a copyright problem. You get demonitized for saying "suicide" for example. They want an artificial happy place where no bad things happen and we can all have fun watching ads forever.
.. and rape and sexual assault and pedophile.. some videos (like on cults) are really weird to watch cus so many words are bleeped out.
That's not even always the issue though - like recently Veritasium had an ancient video demonitized for mentioning that the subject of the video committed suicide, so now their most recent video is a censored re-upload of it. They include a new segment talking about the frustrating demonitization scheme Youtube has.
Those aren’t this only things that cause you to be demonetised though. Having the wrong opinion is enough.
And not the usual "wrong opinion". Some platforms demonetise you for the wrong opinion "hitler had the right idea" but youtube demonetises you for the wrong opinion "right to repair"
In the words of TomSka: "Ayy it's Youtube. We're going to demonetize and age restrict this video." "WHY?!" "Ohoho we ain't gonna tell you. But don't do it again."
I have so little sympathy for Google.
Alphabet doesn't have to battle it.
If they just had copyright owners use the DMCA process, creators could counterclaim illegitimate takedowns and Google would have no liability for leaving the content up as proscribed by the claim process.
They choose to do their far more aggressive alternate system instead. It's not out of any obligation or legal exposure.
Next step from Google will be to make creators that have Patreon set up be ineligible for ad revenue or ban linking/mentioning Patreon outright.
Not even, though. Practically all the YouTube "creators" these days have [this part of the video is brought to you by scandanavian interwebz to keep out teh hax0rs] sponsored segments that are [Have you shaved your fuckin' nutsack lately bro? Check out this ball hair trimmer from clipyerjunk dot com] littered throughout [zzzzzzzzzip ... ^reecrootah ] their videos.
That being said, some of them at least put effort into finding and vetting content-relevant sponsors that can actually be helpful. I can kinda just barely tolerate those.
I can strongly recommend the SponsorBlock extention (also available in revanched).
And they're not wrong. But they put themselves in this position when they uploaded their videos to servers owned by one of the worst corporations in the world, with massive privacy implications, and no alternatives.
I watch them on other platforms when they make it available.
Creators are victims here too. For most of them YouTube was a very different place when they were beginning their careers on the platform.
Not that it changes your point, I just feel it's important to keep in mind that the process of "Enshittification" sucks for everyone (well, except shareholders).
They are wrong. Most creators don't get paid from ads.
But it wasn't always that way. Creators had to survive multiple crises as Youtube made sudden changes that impacted their livelihoods.
Those that survived rely on merch, patronage platforms, paid promotions, and promoting their content on other paid platforms.
Yeah, Nebula is an alternative that's trying to grow. Think it's creator owned too which is nice. I haven't made the switch yet, but if I wanted to support creators directly I'd choose Nebula over YouTube. And if I could, I'd send money straight to them via Patreon or PayPal or other.
I have a note in the description of every video that say “seeing ads on my videos? Use ublock origin!”
That's a really good idea!
I think that's how some creators do get paid. Large enough channels will get some form of revenue sharing from YouTube. That's why when a video is demonetised the creators get very upset. As is when YT does some fuckery with their algorithms and their views plummet.
Mind, the rates keep getting worse, from what I hear. Hence more and more pateron and in-video promos, it's a better and more stable source of income.
I'm sure some do, but I also don't hang out to watch "10 most fatal crashes (#2 will amaze you)" and "here's a 10-minute SEO-optimized video to tell you something that would otherwise take 20 seconds to read" videos, which are probably typical "creators".
Not to mention a majority of those channels are content/ad farms that probably deserve to die anyway. AKA you should block their ads or better yet avoid watching them entirely because they are leeching off the platform and hurting legitimate creators because those channels are run by companies who pump out highly produced videos faster than any legitimate creator could to rake in money from ads and sponsorships, their videos are also often filled with disinformation.
I'm talking about channels like TroomTroom, 5 minute crafts, etc. but there are also others out there centered around subjects outside of DIY.
The criteria for getting monetized really aren't that big. They don't have to be that large, and most small to medium sized channels will usually make more from direct sponsors and supporters. But also, those are the creators working on the thinnest margins, and they definitely feel the loss of the YouTube ad money.
But the bigger issue is that demonitized videos just don't get promoted as heavily. The reduction in reach is a major blow to small and medium sized channels, as reach is how creators find new supporters, and it has an impact on future direct sponsorship potential. Plus if you have multiple videos demonitized, you can get your whole channel demonitized.
Edit: Autocorrect believes "deminitized" is a word.
Genuine question:
Do you host your content on other platforms (like lbry/odysee) as well?
To add, you have to become a partner before ever seeing a penny, which means you've fronted all the start up costs.
Use adblock, then work an extra 3 minutes and donate your salary to the creator.
Alternatively, some folks can also try Freetube for an ad free youtube experience as a desktop app
Not sure what site that is you've linked, but the official site seems to be this one: https://freetubeapp.io/
It works perfectly with Libredirect. Thank you!
It's the flathub repo, which is also listed on their official website! But your link is valid too
And for those of you on Android, there's always SmartTubeNext and NewPipe.
If you're on Android I'm actually going to recommend a new app from Futo called GrayJay. It's cross-platform so you can watch videos from YouTube, Twitch, PeerTube, Rumble, Kick, etc. all from a single app.
Thank you! I didn't know they also made an app that does this. For anyone looking for the link it's the following: https://grayjay.app/
I'd also recommend looking into their other projects such as their Android voice input app: https://voiceinput.futo.org/
Or other projects: https://futo.org/projects/
Can I watch livestreams in freetube?
Yes
I was worried we'd be seeing waves of this kind of anti-user aggression from large websites. My hypothesis is that twitter is running an active experiment to see just how user-unfriendly you can make something with an established userbase / what level of profitability corresponds with what level of fuckiness.
YouTube n' friends have been watching from the sidelines and picking their own jaw up off the floor after seeing just how much the average user will bend over and take.
...which all makes me absolutely LOVE to see communities like this. Yo ho, motherfuckers!
It's all about boiling the frog slowly. People will put up with almost anything if it creeps up on them slowly enough, and these companies know it, as do authoritarian governments. We always say we'll kick up a stink if the next step happens, but then hardly anyone else does, so we stay quiet too. And this happens again and again.
That's the scary part about Twitter.
Most companies turn the burn up slowly. Musk took one look at the frogs, then turned the stove up to max, hired a technician to hold a welding torch up to the base of the pot, hired a chemist find an additive for the water to increase its boiling point and heat retention, pissed in the pot, and is actively pouring gasoline all over the kitchen with one hand while flipping the frogs off with the other.
And the frogs are just taking it.
What message does that send to YouTube?
Exactly the one you think it is
Oh fuck off!
Firefox read mode works
twitter's not meant to be an experiment. Musk is just really stupid. But other platforms are learning from it anyway
Yo dude, Facebook has been doing this for a decade or more. They intentionally break parts of their website and then track how often someone will come back and try to use it, assuming they ever left in the first place. Now they're about 99% absolute dog shit, and people still go there. It's actually kind of amazing.
I wonder if long ads across all videos while they scroll content will make the kids of non tech savvy parents get fed up and turn to other entertainment (games, streaming... books?). I'm sure a not insignificant portion of yt views are tablet addicted children mindlessly scrolling all day, so I'll be curious if there'll be any drop in traffic from this.
I mean, GI Joe and He-Man had a lot of ads back in the day, but not nearly to the extent yt does.
GI Joe and He-man were ads, but they were enjoyable ads. Advertising has gone from a masterful creative craft, to an industry where they just shove the cheapest shit they can produce in front of your face as many times as possible, while loudly screaming their name. It's pretty pathetic that it still works.
I've just noticed that this is in c/piracy. I suppose there's lots of interest in the story here and everywhere else, but I'd just like to remind you all that ad-blocking is not piracy.
c/piracy is just c/useful, the only community on lemmy where you are actually getting something useful.
People interested in piracy are also interested in ad blocking. Seems relevant to me.
To corporations, doing anything that's not they way they want you to do it is piracy.
I do think it is piracy, for me piracy is taking what you want exactly how you want it and don't ask for it, absolute freedom.
We small people don't have the possibilities as the rich to save much money with tax tricks or anything similar, so this is how we're compensating.
I rather have piracy seen more positively than distant certain areas from it. Just my opinion.
Anyone else remember the first ad-pocalypse?
Like when OG AdBlock was created and there was an all-out race between individual websites and AdBlock?
Then OG AdBlock sold out and allowed "approved" ads to still show.
We are seeing history repeat. The only reason ads survived was due to increasing number of users who weren't using adblock.
Now, with market saturation, Google is starting to fight back.
I would absolutely love to see a revitalization on proxy software specifically designed to eliminate ads and tracking. I haven't looked into this in quite some time but I think we're crossing into this territory now.
The pessimist in me says to look out for a bill authored by Google to make adblocking illegal.
But the optimist in me says "the Internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it."
If adblocking becomes illegal I'm done using the internet.
If adblocking becomes illegal people will still do it (and you should too), some really stupid article tried to claim circumventing Anti-Adblock was illegal under DMCA a while back (interestingly they took it down when people continued to block their ads) and the filter providers did it anyway. Piracy still happens in countries where it's criminalized, ad blocking will continue, though the Quorans (used them as an example because they're the biggest snobs about the law and ethics) and people like them will likely use it less, though it's not like they don't already think it's wrong (some also think it's already illegal).
To be fair I don't think it is possible to come up with a legitimate argument for making adblocking illegal. You would have to argue that people aren't allowed to own anything such as their computers.
I am going back to irc and telnet bbs
JavaScript was a mistake
There will always be a free internet. It just may not be the one currently dominated by corporate datacenters.
The current Google approach is adding attestation to Google Chrome. They claim that it is to stop bots, but it can (and will be, they are slow boiling us) also used to block adblockers.
Anyone who cares about free (as freedom) should stop using chrome and clones and switch to Firefox.
"These brave content creators, who produce such culturally significant shows as 'Ow my balls' and 'Matrix 1999 [full rip]', are being literally murdered by hackers who use adblockers. These pirates use their hacking technology to steal this content and threaten our very way of life. While we regret resorting to legislation, we are left with no choice but to show these thieves the harsh reality of the criminal justice system."
Not a lawyer, but that doesn't sound legally possible. It's like turning off the sound when the ads on TV start, you must have the right to consume the data that has been delivered to you however you desire.
Do you know what the DMCA is?
A user rights violation that caters to enterprises and claims that it protects the creators?
You're in luck because we already have several. Namely Piped and Invidious.
They're both right.
Privoxy is still being actively worked on. Not sure how well it works for YouTube though. I suppose we may see a flurry of activity on that front if they keep pushing this.
So annoyed at how all these services keep degrading for users. I was happy to pay for premium light. I don't need download/music/etc I just wanted no ads. Simple as that. The price was fairly reasonable and I would have kept paying it. Now they got rid of the premium light and I have to pay at least 50% more for additional things I don't and will not use.
Alright then, well you lost a customer and I'll just use AdBlock. And if you somehow figure out how to disable that, I'm just going to find content somewhere else. I'm fucking sick of ads. I'll pay a reasonable amount to remove them. But I will not be continually wrung out for more and more money. Just leave me alone.
The enshittification continues. Read up on Doctorow's coining of the term on Wired.
It's an ironic choice of site in my opinion, in that they used to have no reading limits and used to be in my list of daily sites to check. Now you have to JS-block if you want to use the site.
Yeah I reference that article a lot. It's happening everywhere. Feels like it's accelerated rapidly in the last few years too.
Same here. I would have been tempted to pay for premium light but they removed that, and I'm not paying extra for things I don't use.
Holy Hell, I just checked and Youtube Premium is more expensive than Disney+ here in Canada, and D+ includes STAR which is basically Hulu. Youtube Premium is a terrible deal.
Emphasis on #4 here - the anti-adblock will trigger if it detects any subpar adblocker, including e.g. Brave Browser's "Shields" thing (even if you also use uBlock Origin). Helped a friend figure this out lately and found out they were running 3 adblockers and Brave Browser. Some people are truly special.
Definitely, and note that (for me anyway) I didn't have to disable any of my other extensions. I think they are referring mainly to adblocking extensions in that step.
Does he use two condoms at the same time to avoid pregnancies? Same principle.
I use three so the middle one doesn't get dirty.
Reduce, reuse, recycle!
Front to back, back to front, inside out, then back to front and front to back again.
Two- with hot sauce in the middle, so you know which one broke.
It's more like using the pill and a condom. Different ad blockers can block different sets of ads.
What sucks about these measures (and others) is that they usually do a decent job of subverting the adblocker AdNauseam, which clicks on ads in addition to blocking them.
This forces me to us uBlock Origin, ironically causes the people who implement these countermeasures to make less money off of my visits.
Lol That's awesome, less of a workaround and more of a "we fixed it already, but whatever you're using probably hasn't caught up yet".
Alternative solution: Since YouTube disabled all ads in Russia, you can just use russian vpn/proxy for the most effective YouTube adblocking possible.
Wow! What a great idea! What could be better than routing all your traffic through a Russian VPN provider and probably bypassing sanctions? What could possibly go wrong?
Just for the sake of clarity, what exactly do you think will happen?
Might get drone stoked to protect American interests.
lol the US security apparatus is bad but it's not that bad. you might get put on a watchlist though.
Please do tell what could go wrong. Is the internet sheriff going to turn up?
Even your dog will get hacked
Thanks for a solution that nobody will ever use
Im imagining any russian person who sees this comment just smiling smugly
I'd rather deal with the ads until they make me go insane than do that.
This one's hilarious, but that one's not gonna work for long as they will axe almost all non-government approved VPNs
Nice try, Roskomnadzor
I just replace youtube.com with piped.video all the time
Nobody should ever share data with american corpos - there is no example where corporations harvested data and anyone but the shareholders benefited. So for me it feels like a win whenever they fail.
Do you know who is running piped.video?
https://github.com/FireMasterK (the piped repo admin)
"American corpos"? Are you implying that it's okay to share your data with non-American corporations, or government entities?
I just wish I could sync my history to different devices :/
Hey Google, maybe you assholes should realize that if people are willing to jump through this many hoops to not watch ads then maybe you should realize that ads are the problem, not users. Nobody wants ads shoved down their throat so kindly go fuck yourselves. Advertising is a cancer. I've been trying to convince people how dangerous attention grabbing billboards are but nobody seems to care.
I get if your position is that the ads are too intrusive, but if you don't want ads at all, you need to understand that that is not a viable solution for free services. If your position is that you feel like your use of that service should be subsidized by others, who can afford it more, I can even understand that. But they do also offer an ad free experience for a fee.
I don't love that they're doing this, but I do understand it.
I'm seeing this narrative more and more: that somehow ads are good because they allow us to consume content without paying, but I strongly disagree.
Firstly, consumers pay for ads. If advertising of any kind was outlawed tomorrow (not realistic, I know) then ultimately that's an expense that companies would not need to pay, and economic competition would result in a reduction of the cost consumers pay for those products and services.
Secondly, ads or subscription is a false dichotomy. No alternatives have been developed over the last two decades because the advertising model is the most profitable for corporations building the web.
Direct-to-content-producer funding is better for consumers and producers. Yes, no good model nor platform for this exists, because it hasn't been developed.
Sadly, haughtily state "I do understand [youtubes revenue model]" is to have swallowed the fallacious assertion that the only possible options are ads or subscription.
But hey, richest company in the world need to eat ok?
/s
Honest question. What is the consensus for how services like YouTube should be funded?
They have a paid method in place.
YouTube Premium.
Free access you pay with ads.
All of us cheapskates have been using adblock or YouTube vanced to get the service completely free.
I'm not going to curse them for making efforts to stop us leaching their service for free.
The problem with this is that Alphabet already collects and sells your usage data. When you use any of Alphabet's "free services" you are the product. What they're doing is double dipping. Not only that, but they're getting very intrusive with the ads.
I can remember a time not long ago when the only ads on the platform were in the form of banner ads placed in the bottom of the video and off to the side next to recommended. There were no ads in the player. If they went back to that, I would not mind disabling my ad blocker.
I pay for streaming services where I don't want to see the ads - which is to say, every streaming service I use at any given moment. I hate ads.
If I can't get media ad-free, to the high seas it is.
Website ads, though, can go to hell in my opinion. There's no good way to let a tasteful amount through with negligible impact on pageload speed. I subscribe to a few newspapers, but for everything else there's uBO.
I consider myself lucky to be able to pay my way out of the problem right now. Until I was in my early 30s, I never paid for a single piece of software or media, simply because I couldn't afford it. I did FOSS where I could, but, still...
Now that I can afford to pay for the things I use (and frequently write the expense off to my business), I haven't ventured into international waters for years. Hopefully, "voting with my wallet" and financially supporting the software and media I use can go some distance to preventing more draconian DRM from being imposed.
Although everyone needs to get paid for their work, I'll never begrudge anyone pirating something because they can't afford it. I've been there, and wouldn't have been able to advance in my field without doing so.
There's no fucking way I gonna watch a 20 seconds ad for a 10 seconds video.
Maybe it is time that we start to write our favourite youtubers to start developing alternative means of distributing their videos. Patreon and so on.
I feel there will be a lot less people watching YouTube in the future and as a whole many youtubers will see their revenue drop significantly. Watching YouTube as a whole will become less and less bearable. I watch videos without ads on my pc, but on mobile i use the app and endure the videos (for now) as the app is just nicer to use compared to the browser.
But if I have to see ads all the time (also these unskippable 20s ads) I think I'll simply stop using YouTube all together. about 90% ofy YouTube use isn't neccessary at all. I'll just watch it, because I'm too lazy to do anything else.
I could be should read a book instead. Maybe others will do that too in the future?
That's called nebula.tv
Must I pay to watch content on the Nebula Platform?
So, you won't even click a link and glance at a platform unless it's free (/ has ads that you can bypass with a blocker)?
Here's the important bits...
Obviously yes I will click & check out the different channels, etc. For me the name is new, so I had to ask. I am used to ads being shown such as in YouTube.
Yep, that's the whole point of Nebula
Yes. Making videos is a job and the creators need money to eat and remain housed, it's reasonable for them to want to be compensated for their work.
Too much use of patroeon would be awful. I dont want cable 3.0 where I'm forced to pay for every Chanel
It also sucks if all the content is exclusively paywalled. I wouldn't know what is or isn't good without potentially wasting my hard earned money. I can't even afford rent let alone a series of patreon services. I support creators when I can, but I refuse to be a fucking product for simply being poor.
Get fdroid and download newpipe or alternative if you want to keep an app for YouTube without ads.
Alternative web front ends also exist if you are okay with watching videos in a mobile browser. I use an invidious instance, pick one that's close to you here. Other front ends also exist.
Alternative video platforms such as LBRY also exist and I've found a few youtubers I watched on it.
Absolutely take it as an opportunity to reduce your video content consumption. I like the invidious solution because I don't get notifications and it takes a bit more effort to manually open the link in the web client so I tend not to watch videos I'm only half interested in.
Edit: froid => fdroid
Haha yah right. Most people just watch the ads or pay for premium. And it has been shown again and again most people don't want to pay for anything.
Since RIF went down I've read a lot more. Some dry history stuff, a few thrillers, a re-read of a book I initially read in High School and now The Hobbit for the first time.
If anyone here doesn't know your local library probably has access to different ebook apps. Mine mainly does libby and a few others too. Anyway it helps your library, and you get to read all kinds of stuff for free.
Floatplane perhaps.
Thank god we have people working tirelessly to prevent Google’s greed
PSA: skirting their attempts to block ad blockers if you have a Google account you would rather keep may be unwise.
Google has been known for banning people for stupid crap, and this checks all the boxes.
While they were silent on this topic there was a gentlemen's agreement that you could block ads. But now that they have voiced their opinion the jig is up.
I'd recommend people to use an alternative account if they are going to block anyway and they want to keep their gmail.
https://takeout.google.com
Download your data while you still can.
For things like ReVanced, they have been disabling Youtube per account. So what you are saying may have some weight if they feel like that's the next logical step
They have?
Also please note that just using an incognito window or different container may not cut it. Google is not above using your IP or browser fingerprinting to identify you.
If you have Google on your phone (and you probably do) and both your phone and your PC are connecting from the same IP that already narrows it down for them considerably.
You don't even have to access youtube on the phone. Google Services Framework reports everything about your phone all the time even if you don't actually do anything on it to do with Google. Simply having an Android phone at home and connected to the internet at the same time as your PC will identify you.
I'm not saying resistance is futile... but Google is one of the largest privacy predators out there and this thing will get worse before it will get better. Expect some fallout.
I wouldn't even mind giving some money to youtube if it was asking for donations or keep the the prices low and accessible, like $4 max per month to support the up keep)
YouTube could be one of the wonders of the world of we are looking at it at a content perspective.
It should be almost protected by UNESCO, if you ask me.. yes even the stupid stuff as it is a record of mankind.
But google instead of recognising the value, they got greedy.
humankin created a massive information library which google at some point decided to monetize.
We all know what happened to unity right, just as a recent example ? it doesn't take much to turn the users away, and I truly believe, even youtube can fail
They even had a semi reasonable premium tier that was just "no ads, that's all" for something like $7. Now they're kicking everyone off that plan and removing it and your next option is to pay 50+% more and you get a bunch of additional crap that I didn't ask for. I just wanted no ads.
These people seem to adamantly not want me as a customer.
platform capitalism
Unity has competition. That's why people could leave.
YouTube will (unfortunately) not fail, because there is no viable competition. I was subscribed to Nebula for a while, but obviously that doesn't have nearly the amount of content YT has.
exactly, they're being so obnoxious and arrogant and they act like they just get to do it
YouTube, Gmail, Google search, and more are all really utilities and should be run like them. Google tried/is trying to do that by living off ads but the privacy problems are catching up to them. The service degradation in the name of profit problems are already caught up to them.
"What just happened?"
"War were declared."
Going to be following these threads closely as I'll be damned if my students are going to put up with adverts from a file hosting service.
Enrol today!
Would you like to know more?
I'm doing my part!
The Adblock Wars continues...
Grandpa, did you fight in the Adblock Wars?
That's way too much hassle. I guess, when the anti-adblock kicks in on my devices, I'll just stop watching YouTube. I have tons of better stuff to do anyway.
I made a user script that will make a button on each video which jump you to piped, that way you can continue to use YT to manage your subscriptions and see your feed, but you never have to watch to video there
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/477267-youtube-add-watch-on-piped-button-to-each-video
you excluded an important piece - YT has been updating their script (idk terminology) several times a day. so the instructions may not work. see the below -
I followed the 4 steps, but I'm still experiencing issues The latest fix for anti-adblock was made on Oct 12, 2023 and currently corresponds to ID cc87ee3e *.
For example, in https://www.youtube.com/s/desktop/c97476a7/jsbin/desktop_polymer_enable_wil_icons.vflset/desktop_polymer_enable_wil_icons.js, the c97476a7 part is the ID.
If the latest ID (the last line) does NOT match the current one written above, it means YT has updated it recently and you may encounter anti-adblock again. PLEASE DO NOT REPORT IN THIS CASE.
If the ID does match and you still get anti-adblock, kindly repeat the 4 steps above. Thank you.
Uninstalling + reinstalling uBO, then force updating all your filter lists like in step #3 may also help.
I wonder what made youTube decide to fix this loophole? These days the vast majority of people use phone apps or smart TVs to watch. The number of people using Firefox plus ad blockers must be quite small and it'll be a constant effort to keep updating their anti ad block algorithms.
They're probably just trying to prevent any user momentum away from Chrome from gaining traction. Ensure there remains no better options for the people who don't care about privacy or ethics (which sadly is the bulk of ppl)
A LOT of companies have pushed hard on the enshittification pedal lately, apparently it has to do with interest rates or something like that, i guess it also affects Google
I started using freetube for linux a month or so ago. This is so much better than native youtube. The entire interface is smoother, I get less "loading" moments (none really) and it does not try and constantly reduce my resolution by "auto adjusting". No ads, no BS. Just better all around.
Thanks for the heads up, I'm going to check it out. For anyone else that bites; there are windows and mac versions as well.
They're just being dicks considering how tiny the Firefox userbase is
I fully expect to have to be fingeprinted, DNA tested and retinal scanned to access cOnTenT in a year or two
They already requested my ID a couple of years ago, because for some reason they classified some RDR2 channel I was watching to be 18+. I literally blacked out EVERYTHING besides my name and date of birth and they accepted it lol.
Decided to start using Freetube on desktop, Newpipe on mobile. It works!
So, Youtube's dying.
Maybe not right now. Maybe not next year. But they've decided to make everybody miserable, for a "business" that still won't cause enough misery to turn a profit.
Meanwhile creators are censored worse than broadcast TV. Nevermind the effective ban on swearing - they can't even reference concepts without a surveillance program declaring that their latest video doesn't count, even though they'll still slap ads all over that bitch.
Those people have things they want to share with an audience that wants to see. Any middleman can either help, or become irrelevant. Bandwidth is cheap. Some creators are just in it for the money... but the money is bad, on Youtube, and it's getting worse. Patreon is more direct and far less stupid. As with all these lumbering ruins of 2010s internet media, the network effect of being the default will keep them relevant for a while, no matter what they do. Twitter's on fire and it's still not dead. But its prospects sure aren't getting better... and not because people changed.
People are sadly predictable. These idiot robots exploit that masterfully, to a point, and then act bewildered when more pressure stops making more money. Like they forgot we can just leave.
And they don’t even censor the right people. They have these algorithms that keep on recommending videos designed to teach preteens that it’s “based” to:
Which then ends with them joining and donating family funds that aren’t theirs to Andrew Tate’s little incel cult, blasting the soviet anthem on the bus and then getting mad when nobody laughs and/or with gay kids bullied to the point of suicide.
For those using Safari, a simple custom browser stylesheet with a few styles is all you need, and is undetectable, as anti-adblock works with javascript, so no pesky “Why you blocking the ads? Mimimimimi…”
Go on..... As an avid non-apple\mac household I would install safari pretty quickly just to watch ad-less YouTube.
I think this should work with any browser that allows you to apply a custom user stylesheet. This used to be normal in the past, but Chrome took it away, and I don’t know if Firefox still allows it. Copied from a reply I put in another post:
Ok, do this: download this stylesheet: http://damianvila.com/external/fuckyoutube/hider.css Save it somewhere where you can find it easily. Open Safari and go to Safari > Settings > Advanced. In the "Style sheet" dropdown, select "Other" and navigate to the style sheet. For maximum effect, do this while you have YouTube open... :D
The stylesheet is organized in a way that you can comment/uncomment blocks to customize what you want/don't want to see on YouTube. Right now it has my preferences, but if you want to keep something, or hide something I had viewable, just comment/uncomment as you wish. The ads part is clearly marked, and the rest is menu things and navigation elements (I don't need most of those). I also hate Shorts with a passion, so I hide those too. Keep in mind that this can only be used in the desktop version. It doesn't work for mobile or any of the apps. Sadly, you'll have to suffer with the shitty ads there. But at least, you can have a decent experience while watching on your Mac. And since it's a user stylesheet, and has no Javascript whatsoever, YT has no way ob detecting or blocking it, so they can do nothing (other than changing the names of the titles, but that is easily fixed).
Have fun.
P.S: you'll notice that sometimes, where there should be an ad, you'll see like a blink in the video. Don't worry, it's normal. The video will continue without problems, and you won't see the ad.
P.S.2: This stylesheet sometimes blocks shitty Google (or other sites) pages (because people are assholes and put things there that shouldn't be there). If you happen to find yourself in this situation (a page that is suspiciously blank, or don't allow to scroll, or behaves oddly) you can temporarily change the sylesheet to "None Selected", and see if the problem is fixed. When you're finished, remember to switch back to the stylesheet, or you'll have a shock when you go to YouTube... XDDDDD
Genuine question, why be avid anti-apple? I’m a mac fan, but I still use Linux and windows in my daily life. I’be never understood the anti-mac hate
Not OP, but genuine answer: because I loathe being forced into their way of doing things. Every little thing on the Mac seems engineered with an "our way or the highway" mentality, that leaves no room for other (frequently, better) ways of achieving anything.
Adding to that, window/task management is an absolute nightmare (things that have worked certain ways basically since System 6 on monochrome Mac Classic machines, and haven't improved), and despite all claims to the contrary, its BSD-based underpinnings are just different enough to Linux's GNU toolset to make supposed compatibility (or the purported "develop on Mac, deploy on Linux" workflow) a gross misadventure.
I just find the experience frustrating, unpleasant, and always walk away from a Mac feeling irritated.
(For context: > 20 year exclusively Linux user. While it's definitely not always been a smooth ride, I seldom feel like I'm fighting against the computer to get it to do what I want, which is distinctly not my experience with Apple products)
Just a quick list.
That's not even including the treatment of employees or condition of the factories where Apple devices are built. I don't know as much about that. But I can definitely comment on the above after managing iPads and Macbooks in a corporate environment.
Apple is a snobby company with terrible overpriced repair. All of their products are heavily locked down wildly expensive milled aluminium.
Sure the new m1 chip is good but the amount of vendor lock in is too much and of course mac OS is a trash bsd distro. TLDR: overpriced products, trashy company.
So far, I've seen nothing on Firefox -- but I am getting some minor hiccups on ReVanced which seem to be consistent with the influence of the AdBlock detection. Stuff like playback stopping after 3 videos until I unpause it, probably coming from the pop-up appearing.
Thank the good god for the incredible folks maintaining uBlock origin.
Edit: and ReVanced, and SmartTube, and Newpipe, and everything... But especially uBlock origin. That thing is a security necessity.
Thank you for the comprehensible instructions!
Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Edge (yet?).
Me, sadly, as it is the only browser installed on my work pc. We can't install any other programs (working with highly sensitive data).
EDIT: It works now :D
If you can run EXE filles on your work PC and you just don't have administrator rights to install software, you should be able to download a portable version of your favorite browser.
I used portable Firefox, Chrome, Notepad++, Eclipse, Sysinternals stuff and many more without problems that way.
Disclaimer: Althought this probably works technically, it might still violate some company policy.
Can confirm. I did that at college. Yes, it technically violated the policy, but even though my lecturers and everyone else knew, nobody batted an eye. When OP is working with sensitive data, however, things coupd be different.
that sounds like it's going to blow up at some point
F for our brother
I watch on duckduckgo video search results (no ads, fully private) or yt-dlp if I want to watch it again later.
Good to have the ad-block instructions for using the actual YouTube site.
Also thanks other commenters for recommendations of freetube and futo, reminders of pipe. Will try em out soon!
btw its not actually fully private when watching them from DuckDuckGo, they give a warning that the video provider can still track you when watching from ddg. Likely much less, but they still have their ways
Interesting to know that it doesn't have ads from there though
invidious.io is unstoppable. unshackle yourself from the g**gle gulag
invidious and piped instances regularly get rate-limited or blocked. it's a perpetual arms race where google can decide to fight harder at any time.
Use LibRedirect too, really helpful tool that I wish I had discovered sooner.
SponserBlock and Return YouTube Dislike don’t cause any issues, btw
Is this just privacy-adjacent extensions, like privacybadger and disconnect, youtube-altering like sponsorblock and clickbait remover, all extensions, or some combination of the possibilities? All extensions seems a little extreme.
edit: May have answered my own question. Skipped step 4 and restarted my browser and no popup after loading a couple videos.
Edit The Second [Sadness Remix]: Got the popup again :( Guess it's on a timer for how often it comes up. I'll disable my youtube addons and report back. Already removed all privacy addons that aren't uBlock at recommendation of others.
I've been using the 'Open With' extension on Firefox to play video through mpv with a click
There should be a plugin that replaces the actual YouTube video with an embedded mpc or VLC player that streams the video like this on the website itself
Last I knew this worked with vlc also, no ads
I was thinking of experimenting with a Firefox extension that upon hitting a YouTube page, it just launches
yt-dlp [url] && mpv [downloaded file]. Is there any interest here in that sort of thing?@Flatworm7591 Many people will refuse to pay the high price of YouTube Premium or suffer through multiple pre and midroll adverts. It could lead to many abandoning the platform entirely.
I think the way forward is self or federated hosting. The time of YouTube may finally be coming to a close. @neil
Yes, and Reddit is dead. This is delusional, simply not happening. YouTube is huge and a self hosted or federated solution won't come even close. Lemmy instances had issues with user overload, and this is a Reddit clone. What do you think will happen with videos?
All I need from youtube are my handful of subscriptions and my watch later, so I have moved on to invidious. I'd recommend it
You can request to download your logged activity data and you will get a zip-file that will contain all the information you need in neatly separated files. Takes about a day for YT to package your data.
Why remove all the filters and not just update?
I think because people may have added additional filters manually that might trigger the ad block detection, but that's just a guess. The guide was written by the uBlock Origin developers so I assume they have a reason for that step. But you can try without that step, it might well still work, especially in stock configuration.
Thx. Yeah I figured that's the only reasonable explanation. They probably want easy instructions so it works for every messed up configuration without them getting lot's of support requests. But I like being taught what I do and why. Not just: click on this, click on that and it'll work somehow.
Got my first popup today, but apart from it being annoying literally nothing changed. Still no ads.
For me in Europe with Linux its thankfully still working with uBlock
I always try to use alternatives, but at least on desktop, it unfortunatelly often doesnt work right (freetube, piped)
But theres of also youtube-dl, hope at least this stays an option!
youtube seems to be making changes as fast as the ublock people are so if it doesn't seem to work you might have to wait for the ublock volunteers to catch up again.
I'd honestly just stop using YouTube rather than deal with all this crap. Fuck Google
Maybe it's for the best that YouTube gets enshittified beyond usability - I spend way too much time on there
Corpo spies lurking around open community and implement what we are doing for years. What an f'ed up world.
There's a thing still works in all browsers is search video in Bing and watch without enter in YouTube site.
I've been using ad block for years now and today I started seeing the message. I added an overlay blocker extension as per another user here and so far that's working. Didn't have to uninstall anything.
download a video and watch it - without any adverts
This is interesting: The Blocker works on Windows-x86-Firefox but NOT on my Linux-x86-Firefox or any ARM-Device. It seems Google holds back very carefully not to overblock. Can someone try if the Browser-Identifier does influence this behaviour?
Is it known whether this popup appears only in specific geographic regions, or is it worldwide?
Just got my first message here in Malaysia.
If this gets annoying it looks like I will be switching to piped
Firefox, Ublock on macOS and no adds so far. We'll see about my Linux PC when I get home. I will leave YouTube before they force mw to watch add.
Good thing I've been using LibRedirect with Invidious and Piped for a while now. YouTube really has been going downhill.
RIP I was finally getting some exposure with breadmaking shorts and now the platform's on it's knees.
Copy URL, alt+F2, mpv "paste URL", enter. Has better controls and upscaling too. And a sponsorblock extension.
Yes, i know of play-in-mpv extension. Just don't like to run a local Node server for it.
I got a notice that was closable with an upper-left corner ❎️ after which I couldn't reproduce the pop-up and watched videos unimpeded.
I'll continue to report developments.
0039 PST 2023-10-13 ETA So the last two days, I'd get the YouTube warning, close it, and do the purge-update dance on uBlock Origin, and wouldn't get the pop-up until hours later. Is that because I didn't do it right, but the pop-up is only set to appear every few hours? Or is it because YouTube keeps fighting, and uBlock Origin keeps updating? I don't know.
The pop-up warning is not appearing on any of my youtube devices, for which I've done no updates (and watch videos from Firefox for Android with uBlock. Note that I've turned off other adblockers, but not NoScript. Dunno if that makes a difference.
What can be done to strengthen peertube so that adblockers aren't needed at all?
PeerTube needs a creator monetization model if we want video creators to actually use it. Right now, most funding discussions in the fediverse revolve around covering server hosting costs. Those, too, will be considerable if PeerTube manages to achieve any kind of appreciable adoption from popular creators.
The ideal situation, from an end-user perspective, is probably creators hosting their own instances. That why they're shoulder their own costs, and have control over their own platform. But that will also likely require built-in support for donations, premium subscriptions, user access lists, etc. and even then, the push-and-mirror model of the fediverse means popular creators will create storage and bandwidth issues across the network.
It's said no one said users could move to other platforms like dailymotion - I know it's irrilevant nowadays compared to youtube, but from time to time I find good videos there
I think any popular video platform will do the same shit. It's just expensive to host on a large scale.
Realistically, we need a good P2P solution for this so everyone "pays" for the videos they watch with a bit of their own outgoing bandwidth.
Having the viewing platform paying the content creators is a bad idea. It's mostly led to the video equivalent of spam, and looking around YouTube, it doesn't stop them filling their own videos with ads for godawful exploitative mobile games anyway.
You could even have a Tubarr torrent thing that automatically downloads stuff to your Jellyfin server from your subscribed content creators.
Alternative workaround: just use Piped or Invidious.
Don't act like YouTube won't crack down on those as well. YouTube getting more aggressive about ads is bad for everyone.
Concern I'd have if I didn't use Piped:
I'm on AdNauseum and not uBO because I like the idea of actively resisting advertising culture and protesting through obfuscation, etc. So might not work for me
Adnauseum uses the same ublock engine underneath i believe...no? I is it too... I've always thought that this was the case.
I don't think Adnauseam ever registered clicks on YouTube (correct me if I'm wrong) just blocks the ads.
Following step 3 (and only step 3) so far worked for me.
The popup reappears every now and then, but updating filter lists again always fixed it. Let's see how it goes longterm.
i use ublock globally on youtube but also use youtube channel whitelist for channels i subscribe too or particular care for along with sponsorblock and it works out well
Been using Individous Instances for a while now, I feel it'll be staying that way for sometime to come.
I wonder if people would consider purchasing YouTube Premium with Turkish Liras ethical. For example - alt account buys YouTube Premium (around 59.99 TRY - 2.16 USD) and can add 4 more people to the family, so each person pays only about 54 cents per month.
It's certainly the option Google would prefer, which essentially always means it's unethical.
Fuck paying even a cent to those greedy shits. First they take all of our data and sell it off to shady organisations, then they expect us to pay for giving up all that sweet information? They can go fuck themselves. If all alternatives stop working, I'll find a different video hoster. If that doesn't work, I'll just go back to reading books. All this goddamn bullshit on the internet is messing up society anyway.
I wouldn't, regional pricing is there for a reason. If people abuse it they'll just give them the "normal" prices which I doubt many people there can afford.
Grayjay for the win! Was launched last month, Louis Rossman is a blessing.
This was the key for me.
Can youtube detect my pihole blocking ads
No. YouTube ads are servered under the same DNS record.
laughs in MPV 'url'
I just yt-dlp any videos I want to watch and copy them over to my plex server. No ads to be found and none of these bullshit games.
Check out tubearchivist. Now has Plex plugin so can grab the videos from subscribed channels automatically
they can take yt-dlp out of my cold dead hands
Invidious works for me (https://invidious.io/). It blocks ads by default but I can imagine youtube starting to integrate the ads in the videos like streaming services that you just can't skip
if its not dynamic or follows some pattern, something like sponsorblock would easily skip them
If i have adblockers enabled and pay for premium(yeah, i only do it because creators get a decent slice and i can't be arsed to chip into everyone's Patreon or whatever) will i still see the anti-adblock message?
Because I was thinking about setting up a pi-hole, I was wondering if anyone knows, the anti-adblock can also detect that?
I may be wrong, but as far as I know Pi-hole and other DNS sinks will not work for YouTube ads, because they use the same DNS address for ads and videos.
PiHole very explicitly doesn't touch Youtube ads, because at that level it cannot distinguish an ad from a video, it must be done at the client, so at a guess it will make no difference
I've just whitewashed on my main Google account. Its only a matter of time before they start ip blocking. I'll figure out an alternative soon enough.
And hows it work with a pihole?
Pihole can't block youtube ads to begin with. Or rather if you do, you have to block the actual videos as well.
Cheers, I haven't encountered it yet but good to know.
Good thing I use invidious instead of their official front-end
Just use Invidious.
Inserting another person's ad is a pathetic way to make money
Cope Goolag.
Just got my first pop-up on Linux. Interestingly on Firefox with uBlock it still plays, no ads. However, on LibreWolf with uBlock it keeps endlessly loading the video ad for Grammarly but it wont play.
Still works on my machine.
adguard for desktop with anti-adblock killer
I've been fine for a while, then as soon as I read this post, I start getting the warning. Time to move to an alternative. Might try and revitalize my old newsboat/yt-dl set up again