YouTube is making another attempt to combat ad blockers. This time, it has some success. If you're using popular add-ons like uBlock Origin or AdBlock, you might have already noticed videos refusing to play. The platform seems to have patched the popular workarounds, stopping ad blocker users from watching the content.
Over on Reddit, frustrated viewers are reporting that their blockers stopped working. Some see outright playback blocks, while others find YouTube's homepage completely blank.
This isn't YouTube's first attempt to stop the user from skipping the ads. Back in October, the service started slowing down load times for ad-block users. Then later, they rolled out those unskippable "disable your ad blocker" banners. Now, YouTube is taking it a step further by potentially injecting ads server-side, making them nearly impossible to block.
While some tech-savvy users will inevitably find new workarounds, one thing's clear: YouTube isn't going to give up. Google is interested in making you pay for Premium (which now has a load of ads on the Lite plan), or miss out on videos entirely. The cat-and-mouse game continues, but the mouse is looking a little cornered these days.
How's your YouTube experience been lately? Noticing more ads or finding clever ways around them? Share your experience in the comments.
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YT blocked video playback on Vivaldi with uBlock Origin so I temporarily use Zen with uBlock Origin. No issue so far.