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.
Why isn't it?
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.
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.
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.
But no one is stopping you from turning off your monitor until the ad is over and then turning it back on.
Why would I do that when it can be automated with a script that removes HTML and scripts responsible for ads?
What do you think of privacy frontends to Youtube like Piped and Invidious, where users never have to abide by the Youtube TOS (implicitly nor explicitly). Is the complete circumvention of Youtube's UI more, or less "piracy"?
There's also the argument that adblocking but buying merch, using sponsor links and/or providing direct financial support to the channel provides significantly more income to the creator than the ads for your individual views ever would.
Personally I take a much more individualistic view of "I hate ads and can't afford YouTube's adfree offering so I use an adblocker instead" but I don't see the need to defend my choice to starve the creator of the $0.05 in ad revenue I might have generated them otherwise
That's not the only way ads are shown to you, though. For example, some youtube content creators like Internet Comment Etiquette will include ads from their major sponsors as part of the video itself. When that happens, you trust the security and privacy of the website enough to serve you content during the non-advertising parts of it, so what changes now that the content is an ad?
As a thought experiment, imagine if you were able to ascertain with 100% accuracy that an ad was not a security or privacy violation. Would you whitelist that ad server? For example, if viewing ads on your PC had as little potential for harm as viewing ads in the newspaper did, would you still block them?
Security isn't the only part of this.
I basically already do this with the radio. The moment an ad plays, the radio gets shut off. I turn it back on at the next 0 or 5 minute mark and it's over.
Advertisers do not have a right to force me to listen. The same applies for internet ad blocking. One of these is just automated.
Then for you, it's not just about security and privacy, I guess
I updated my original comment to make it more clear.
Couldn't Google say you don't have the right to listen/watch for free and you can't force them to serve content for nothing in return? Advertising is just a means to an end.
Sure they could. But that's not going to stop me from circumventing their attempts if it is reasonably possible.
I feel like if you don't agree or trust the content a website loads, dont visit it. I use ad blockers, and I think what I do is the same as piracy, especially if sites rely on ad revenue to run. I don't like this business model, but it's not like I'm paying for youtube alternatives either, not yet at least.
All websites are unable to be trusted.
Google has already been caught serving ads that inject malware on multiple occasions. It's literally googles ad service that can't be trusted. If they don't even have the decency to vet the ads that they're serving (which they clearly don't) then I'm definitely blocking the damn things.