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.
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!
It’s all about boiling the frog slowly. People will put up with almost anything if it creeps up on them slowly enough, and these companies know it, as do authoritarian governments. We always say we’ll kick up a stink if the next step happens, but then hardly anyone else does, so we stay quiet too. And this happens again and again.
That’s the scary part about Twitter.
Most companies turn the burn up slowly. Musk took one look at the frogs, then turned the stove up to max, hired a technician to hold a welding torch up to the base of the pot, hired a chemist find an additive for the water to increase its boiling point and heat retention, pissed in the pot, and is actively pouring gasoline all over the kitchen with one hand while flipping the frogs off with the other.
And the frogs are just taking it.
What message does that send to YouTube?
To be fair, I don’t think much has changed for small time twitter users.
He turned off the like and retweet numbers. He filled everyone’s feed with ads that don’t say ads. He bans everyone he disagrees with about anything, as soon as he notices them.
wait, did he actually turn them off???
It also hasn’t changed much for the porn/adult content side, though a lot of those users are slowly migrating to other places, especially bsky.
Well… The government’s coming for those people, trying to scan everyone’s face before they can view anything.
Random question because of your username: are you the one behind the YUP for New Vegas?
That’s me, yeah. Though these days it’s handled by sandbox6, who took over for me when RL intruded.
But yeah, hi!
I still get the FNV itch from time to time, so I recognized the name and wanted to express my thanks for your work, it’s much appreciated.
Hey thanks. Just wanted to make a great game even better.
twitter’s not meant to be an experiment. Musk is just really stupid. But other platforms are learning from it anyway
Seriously though, what does it say about people that still think he’s a genius and secretly has a plan he’s working on? Those guys are reaching levels of stupid I struggle to comprehend
Yo dude, Facebook has been doing this for a decade or more. They intentionally break parts of their website and then track how often someone will come back and try to use it, assuming they ever left in the first place. Now they’re about 99% absolute dog shit, and people still go there. It’s actually kind of amazing.
I wonder if long ads across all videos while they scroll content will make the kids of non tech savvy parents get fed up and turn to other entertainment (games, streaming… books?). I’m sure a not insignificant portion of yt views are tablet addicted children mindlessly scrolling all day, so I’ll be curious if there’ll be any drop in traffic from this.
I mean, GI Joe and He-Man had a lot of ads back in the day, but not nearly to the extent yt does.
GI Joe and He-man were ads, but they were enjoyable ads. Advertising has gone from a masterful creative craft, to an industry where they just shove the cheapest shit they can produce in front of your face as many times as possible, while loudly screaming their name. It’s pretty pathetic that it still works.