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.

  1. Update uBO to the latest version (1.52.0+) . <== The extension itself, for technical improvements. You do this in your browser.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.
  • RandomPancake@lemmy.worldEnglish
    12·
    1 year ago

    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.

    • TwoGems@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        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.

        • iforgotmyinstance@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          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.

          • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
            1·
            1 year ago

            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.

          • AggressivelyPassive@feddit.deEnglish
            0·
            1 year ago

            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.

            • aceshigh@lemmy.worldEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              … and rape and sexual assault and pedophile… some videos (like on cults) are really weird to watch cus so many words are bleeped out.

      • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        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.

    • RagingNerdoholic@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • jochem@lemmy.mlEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        I can strongly recommend the SponsorBlock extention (also available in revanched).

    • LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      9 months ago

      Blah blah blah blah.

      I don’t care who does and who doesn’t get paid, and I’ll come up with every excuse to ignore that pesky creator income.

      The mental hoops you all go through is insane. It’s on par with Trumpers, just less damaging.

    • HughJanus@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      I see a lot of people saying “but that’s how creators get paid”

      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.

      • Corgana@startrek.websiteEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        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).

        • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          Creators are victims here too.

          Eeeeh that’s wildly arguable. It costs marginally $0 for a creator to upload their content to some other platform besides (not instead of) Youtube. If they don’t, and then they complain that people don’t Monetize Them, to me it feels like they are trying to, in ethical terms, make bystanders feel guilty that they (creators) are whoring out in public.

          • XiELEd@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            11 months ago

            Their content has better reach on Youtube, though. And has a better comment section which would be relevant to the video (which Oddysee has a problem with)

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    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!

  • bruhSoulz@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    thankfully i already stopped watching youtube thru the website and now use freetube on pc and grayjayy on android

  • LarmyOfLone@lemm.eeEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I switched to FreeTube and it’s pretty good so far. I’m missing a few things and better browser integration but it’s great.

  • Nommer@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    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.

  • CosmicTurtle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    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.”

        • DarkenLM@kbin.social
          1·
          1 year ago

          Without JS, you wouldn’t have ad blockers and youtube could just bake their ads on the videos themselves while streaming them. Thinking about it, I don’t think it’s off the table for them.

  • JustCopyingOthers@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    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.

  • khorovodoved@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Alternative solution: Since YouTube disabled all ads in Russia, you can just use russian vpn/proxy for the most effective YouTube adblocking possible.

      • khorovodoved@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Ukraine use ads for anti-putin propaganda. So the russian goverment told Google to moderate ads, or all Google services will be banned. Google decided to just disable ads in Russia completely.

    • Golther@infosec.pubEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      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?

  • sculd@beehaw.orgEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    Thank god we have people working tirelessly to prevent Google’s greed

    • Critical_Insight@feddit.ukEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      While I’m thankful for the team at uBlock Origin, I still wouldn’t call it greedy that a company that provides a quite excellent free video streaming platform, would also like to make a little profit from it too or at the very least to cover the expenses.

      • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        They already do make more than “a little profit” from YouTube. The shareholders demand infinite growth tho, so Google has to nickle and dime their users for even more profit. The bane of any publicly traded company.

  • jsdz@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    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.

      • Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.websiteEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        Because ad blocking is a security and privacy feature. We have the right to choose what HTML and scripts are loaded into our browser. Without that right, we have no web security or privacy.

        We also have the right to not listen to ads, turning off the radio the moment they come on. Internet ad blocking is effectively the same thing, just automated. Piracy is completely different, because it is the unlawful copying of digital data.

        • projectilecomet@lemmy.zipEnglish
          0·
          1 year ago

          While that may be the case, when by terms of service the “fee” you pay to consume YouTube content is adverts, by blocking those adverts you are not paying the “fee” therefore it kinda is piracy. The argument about adverts with malicious intent or ones that are specifically designed to be deceptive is a different argument, though relevent for why said piracy occurs.

          YouTube is free to you because you watch adverts. Otherwise you pay for YouTube premium. By using ad-blockers you circumvent these agreements.

          I wholly support ad-blocking for the record, literally used ad-blockers my entire life and have absolutely no qualms with usage.

          • Olgratin_Magmatoe@startrek.websiteEnglish
            1·
            1 year ago

            therefore it kinda is piracy.

            It’s not an illegal form or copying though. It’s the equivalent or turning off the radio when an ad comes on, then turning it back on once it’s over.