YouTube continues with its particular battle against users who use ad blockers. They have not stopped thinking of ways to combat it and after testing a function that prevents the playback of a video when it detects an AdBlock-type extension, they have decided to implement a stricter measure: disable the player after viewing three videos if you don't pay attention. to the warnings.
Although this measure is less aggressive than the previous test that directly prevented you from accessing the video, the objective is the same and requires users to disable the ad blocker or add YouTube to the list of allowed domains. If not, the player will crash when playing three videos.
This new way of proceeding was confirmed by YouTube to the Android Authority, and seeks to implement its 'three strikes' philosophy that it is already applying to content creators when a video violates the exhaustive rules of the platform. In this case, the use of an ad-blocker is against the Terms of Service, so the company will notify the user that they must disable it before taking action.
Oluwa Falodun, a spokesperson for YouTube, explained that "we are running a small experiment globally that encourages viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium, and failing to do so will result in the player being disabled." "Ad blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable them," Falodun explained. The latter usually happens on websites or services that prevent access to users, blocking themselves immediately when they detect that an extension blocks advertising.
As the company has explained, if users ignore it and continue with the ad blocker activated, the player will be completely disabled. Of course, the 'three strikes' policy implies that users will receive three warnings before applying the final corrective.
The idea of disabling the video player is one of YouTube's most recent strategies in its war against ad blockers. Although the company makes adjustments from time to time, they have never been so aggressive as to prevent reproduction or access to the platform. YouTube is tired of losing advertising money for the millions of users who use these tools.
"We take disabling playback very seriously and will only disable playback if repeat requests to allow ads are ignored by viewers on YouTube," Falodun said. "In cases where users feel they have been falsely flagged for using an ad blocker, they can share their feedback by clicking the link in the message," he said. The blocking of the player will be temporary and will only activate until confirming that the extension has been disabled or that YouTube is in the list of allowed domains.
One of the short-term solutions would be to hire YouTube Premium, the service that removes ads on the platform after paying a monthly fee. The other is to wait for the extensions to update or for some developer to release an app to bypass the lock. The truth is that this measure is undergoing tests and its application to the entire public is not yet final.
Currently, it is possible to watch YouTube without ads through applications such as NewPipe or LibreTube for Android. If you have a television with Android TV, SmartTubeNext blocks advertising and allows you to play content in 4K at 60 frames per second. On computers, Brave and Firefox are good alternatives to bypass the mandatory ads.
