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*.*
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?
They also do periodic specials where it’s a free bundle with Curiosity Stream. When I signed up, the bundle was less expensive than the standalone Nebula subscription. I haven’t gotten much mileage out of Curiosity Stream. If it wasn’t less expensive, I’d just get Nebula.
Well, the alternative would be it is free, but we’re the product and we’d cry for another more honest and credible services like we’re doing right now.
I think Nebula is only $3 a month? So, you’re only paying €36 per year which is inexpensive compared to other subscription services. There is a once off payment of $300 and you have a lifetime subscription. The price is cheap for a lifetime subscription assuming Nebula, you and I will be around for more decades to make it worthwhile.
Nebula also have promo codes to tie the subscription prices with other streaming services like Curiosity Stream and other classroom/tutorial websites. I think I am paying $15 per year for both Nebula and Curiosity Stream.
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…
How do the creators get paid?
Nebula profit is divided 50/50 between the creators and Standard. The creator pool is paid out based on watch time.
Who owns Nebula?
Nebula is owned and operated by Standard and the creators, with Curiosity Inc (CuriosityStream) holding a minority stake and a board seat. There are no plans to bring in additional investment.
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.
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.
I like my Kobo combined with Calibre. I’ve ever replaced the default software, just modded it. But you can completely change the software on it if you want.
i have a kobo libra 2. it can read pretty much any e-book file out of the box. though it has pretty limited storage at 8gb. enough for text only, but good luck building up a manga collection.
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.
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.
Don’t know how it is elsewhere, but in Germany there’s a lot of podcasts that are donation bashed. There are some that have their “basic”-content (their main podcast for example) free and additional stuff behind a paywall.
The most famous one that does it like this in the US would be Chapo Trap House.
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
I already do this whenever I’m not on my phone. The problem is that Google has already started taking action against Invidious on Github and that they appear to be blocking and/or rate limiting Piped servers periodically. I don’t think they’ll just leave us be if we fully migrate over there
I was getting the banner and eventually it just stopped me watching. Clearing the filter cache and then updating them again worked for me. It took a browser restart though.
Same here. Not sure why you got downvoted for posting your personal experience.
Like others have said already, this is not going to effect everyone, everywhere at the same time. YMMV
I use linux and brave together without any cryptocurrency adds and I don’t give a fck about opinion of others about Brave. I know about controversy and it always was better option for me than any other browser. Especially Firefox, which has more telemetry than Brave. If you use Firefox and say to me that Brave is worse, you’re as naive as people trusting in their government.
If you want true control use Librewolf and tor, no google, apple, use Graphene os, don’t subscribe to anything, pay in crypto prepaid by atms, turn on airplane mode after every call/sms, don’t turn on gps and even better use wifi only or god damned stupid phone. This is for disidents and people in oppression… Don’t be stupid and don’t exaggerate.
Ironically, you need to always allow cookies and let all sites have your browsing data and build a profile on you. Then you will get ads tailored to you. The fact that you don’t, points in the direction that websites don’t have much data on you…
Even though pi hole doesn’t work with YouTube ads, I highly recommend trying it out. It’s a really nice “always on” layer of protection that blocks a lot of trackers and shit, and if you set it up correctly it does it for your whole home network. When people come to my house and surf the web on their phones & tablets, they’re amazed how much better the experience is without constant obnoxious ads popping up all over the pages. Pi Hole by itself is not sufficient security but it’s a nice layer to add to add to whatever else you’re using.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.
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?
Yes. $5/$50 mo/year
https://nebula.tv/
They also do periodic specials where it’s a free bundle with Curiosity Stream. When I signed up, the bundle was less expensive than the standalone Nebula subscription. I haven’t gotten much mileage out of Curiosity Stream. If it wasn’t less expensive, I’d just get 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.
Well, the alternative would be it is free, but we’re the product and we’d cry for another more honest and credible services like we’re doing right now.
I think Nebula is only $3 a month? So, you’re only paying €36 per year which is inexpensive compared to other subscription services. There is a once off payment of $300 and you have a lifetime subscription. The price is cheap for a lifetime subscription assuming Nebula, you and I will be around for more decades to make it worthwhile.
Nebula also have promo codes to tie the subscription prices with other streaming services like Curiosity Stream and other classroom/tutorial websites. I think I am paying $15 per year for both Nebula and Curiosity Stream.
Appreciate the info you provided.
Yep, that’s the whole point of Nebula
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.
removed by mod
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.
reading is definetely fun too. bought myself a nice little piracy friendly e-reader but if you’re on android, consider installing youtube revanced.
Any recommendations on a piracy-friendly e-reader? I don’t want to go around the world to get root access either if I can help it.
I like my Kobo combined with Calibre. I’ve ever replaced the default software, just modded it. But you can completely change the software on it if you want.
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kobo_eReader_hacks
i have a kobo libra 2. it can read pretty much any e-book file out of the box. though it has pretty limited storage at 8gb. enough for text only, but good luck building up a manga collection.
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
FDroid
It was a froidian slip
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.
or lbry/odyssey
Floatplane perhaps.
Too much use of patroeon would be awful. I dont want cable 3.0 where I’m forced to pay for every Chanel
True. I just used it as a stand-in for other ways of making content + earning something while doing it.
If everytthing is on Patreon it might be slightly better, but not good
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.
Don’t know how it is elsewhere, but in Germany there’s a lot of podcasts that are donation bashed. There are some that have their “basic”-content (their main podcast for example) free and additional stuff behind a paywall.
The most famous one that does it like this in the US would be Chapo Trap House.
There’s a thing still works in all browsers is search video in Bing and watch without enter in YouTube site.
Grayjay for the win! Was launched last month, Louis Rossman is a blessing.
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
Decided to start using Freetube on desktop, Newpipe on mobile. It works!
Also try yewtu.be (Invidious instance)
Does noscript block the anti adblock rollout?
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They probably don’t care as they weren’t making money off you anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
That’s what they want. Consume ads, pay or stop using bandwidth.
I am unsure how much they care about views when so many have adblockers. It will be a useful metric when the huge majority can not block ads.
Inserting another person’s ad is a pathetic way to make money
Looking at you, Brave.
Gotta pay the bills somehow
The Adblock Wars continues…
Grandpa, did you fight in the Adblock Wars?
Alternative workaround: just use Piped or Invidious.
I use FreeTube, it’s excellent. Alternatively download everything with yt-dlp.
Youtube controls the servers. The backend trumps all frontends.
I already do this whenever I’m not on my phone. The problem is that Google has already started taking action against Invidious on Github and that they appear to be blocking and/or rate limiting Piped servers periodically. I don’t think they’ll just leave us be if we fully migrate over there
Don’t act like YouTube won’t crack down on those as well. YouTube getting more aggressive about ads is bad for everyone.
I was getting the banner and eventually it just stopped me watching. Clearing the filter cache and then updating them again worked for me. It took a browser restart though.
No issues on Brave so far.
Same here. Not sure why you got downvoted for posting your personal experience. Like others have said already, this is not going to effect everyone, everywhere at the same time. YMMV
He got downvoted for mentioning Brave, which is like using a hardened Windows instead of Linux around these parts
I use linux and brave together without any cryptocurrency adds and I don’t give a fck about opinion of others about Brave. I know about controversy and it always was better option for me than any other browser. Especially Firefox, which has more telemetry than Brave. If you use Firefox and say to me that Brave is worse, you’re as naive as people trusting in their government.
If you want true control use Librewolf and tor, no google, apple, use Graphene os, don’t subscribe to anything, pay in crypto prepaid by atms, turn on airplane mode after every call/sms, don’t turn on gps and even better use wifi only or god damned stupid phone. This is for disidents and people in oppression… Don’t be stupid and don’t exaggerate.
These things offer like no control or customizability. Use Firefox and run the setup you want
Why the hate for Brave?
Brave is a shady company. There’s a lot of FUD around it, but I’ve done extensive research and mostly come to the conclusion people are overreacting.
Some things you should know, however (in case you don’t already):
Brave is a better “out of the box” experience for most normal privacy focused users, but a tinkered Firefox will almost always be better.
I might almost consider watching the ads if they were ever for things I’d want to use/buy in the first place…
Ironically, you need to always allow cookies and let all sites have your browsing data and build a profile on you. Then you will get ads tailored to you. The fact that you don’t, points in the direction that websites don’t have much data on you…
Or they could just enable settings to let you pick options, or just base it on your YouTube history
What about pi-hole? I’ve been thinking about setting one up, will that get my account banned?
Even though pi hole doesn’t work with YouTube ads, I highly recommend trying it out. It’s a really nice “always on” layer of protection that blocks a lot of trackers and shit, and if you set it up correctly it does it for your whole home network. When people come to my house and surf the web on their phones & tablets, they’re amazed how much better the experience is without constant obnoxious ads popping up all over the pages. Pi Hole by itself is not sufficient security but it’s a nice layer to add to add to whatever else you’re using.
It doesn’t work for YouTube ads
pihole does not block YouTube ads since they are delivered from the same DNS as the video.
I’m running it at home won’t affect YouTube as they are serving it from their own domain, and pi-hole just blocks domains.
Pi-hole doesn’t work for blocking youtube ads, it is the weak part of dns adblocking, since you’d have to block youtube itself
I’m feeling very lucky Brave seems to have been able to work around this for now. Wonder how long that’ll last.
Gone as of 8pm time
I just got the prompt in Brave today. Whomp.