UPDATE 2 It seems that starting today, uBlock Origin is working to combat this Youtube Block. Mine started working again! Lets all thank the devs of UBO for fighting this fight!

UPDATE So as new info comes out, I'll be posting it here. It seems as if this Rollout Has Several Parts.

Part 1

You get a popup message over top of your video, blocking the screen:

  • This is the first sign. If you see this popup AND are logged into a YouTube account, your account has been selected.
  • At this stage you can likely close or block these messages with an adblocker.

Part 2

This message will change, indicating that you have 3 remaining videos to watch without ads.

Will insert photo once one has been found

  • At this stage your adblocker will imminently stop working in 3 videos time.
  • Personally using Firefox + uBlock Origin and tweaking filters and updates does not even fix it.

Part 3

None of the video loads now, everything looks blank.

  • At this stage you must tred new ground to avoid ads. I have posted methods in the comments. If you want to bypass this end page, read down there.

End of Update


YouTube has started rolling out anti-adblock to users inside the United States, which means that they are preparing to roll this out to the entire country. Personally, I have been blocked already. I want to gauge how common this occurrence is.

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 202 points 3 years ago (1 child)

I've got so many layers of adblock it's hard to know which one(s) are responsible for blocking the ads.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 164 points 3 years ago (10 children)

    Same here. Was just explaining to a coworker who was complaining about YT ads that I "just" use PiHole+Unbound for network blocking, AirVPN with DNS blocking, mullvad Private DNS on Android, and then Libretube to view my self-hosted Piped instance. As I said it I realized how ridiculous it's gotten and how deranged I probably sound.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 13 child comments
  • load more comments (7 replies)
  • [–] 120 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    The irony of the straw poll site throwing up an anti-adblock banner 🤣

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] [S] 108 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (3 children)

    I'm going to start a discussion in the comments here about methods to bypass the message. I will add suggestions here, so leave comments if you find a method!

    Methods to bypass Youtube Anti-Adblock:

    • The easiest method is simply to comply and turn off your adblock extension.

    My Method

    • My method, and the one that will likely work universally is as follows:

    Install Extension Enhancer for YouTube™

    Go to the extensions settings and ensure that under the Ads Management section, "Block Ads" is turned OFF

    Now find the Custom Script box at the very bottom and enter the following script. I did not write this code, it comes from egaudette on GitHub

    (function() {
        'use strict';
        var clickInterval = setInterval(skipAds, 5);
        var ytpAdModule;
        var miniAdd;
        var skipButton;
        var currentVideo;
    
        function skipAds() {
            ytpAdModule = document.querySelector('.ytp-ad-module');
            skipButton = document.querySelector('button[class*="ad-skip"]');
            miniAdd = document.querySelector('.ytp-ad-overlay-container');
    
            if (ytpAdModule !== null && ytpAdModule.innerHTML !== '') {
                ytpAdModule.style.display = 'none';
            }
    
            if (skipButton !== null) {
                skipButton.click();
                return;
            }
    
            currentVideo = document.querySelector('video[class*="main-video"]')
            if (currentVideo !== null && currentVideo.duration <= 5) {
                currentVideo.muted = true;
                currentVideo.play();
                currentVideo.currentTime = currentVideo.duration;
            }
        }
    })();
    

    Lastly, ensure the "Automatically execute the script when YouTube is loaded in a tab" box is checked, and press Save


    I'll add more methods as they are discovered!

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 22 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Why would this work when others get blocked? Is it a novel way to block YT ads that's not popular? Because I think YT isn't looking for specific extensions but looking for certain kinds of behavior.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (1 reply)
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 105 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    I genuinely think that advertising should be illegal at this point. It's a ridiculous concept.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 101 points 3 years ago (8 children)

    For those who don't know: VLC also takes a YouTube video address as input (in the menu: Media | Open Network Stream...).

  • source
  • hideshow 9 child comments
  • load more comments (7 replies)
    [–] 95 points 3 years ago (16 children)

    This is such a better use of their time and dollars versus improving their service to make it more attractive to customers.

    If this is the change that really sets them financially straight, then I would say they have a failing business model.

  • source
  • hideshow 18 child comments
  • [–] 55 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    This is such a better use of their time and dollars versus improving their service to make it more attractive to customers.

    Making their service more attractive to customers is precicesly what they're trying to do.

    It's just that an advertising agency's customers are not the folk who watch, read or hear the ads, it's the folk who pay for the ads.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
  • load more comments (14 replies)
    [–] 82 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    I'll just stop using YouTube like I've stopped using Reddit.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 81 points 3 years ago* (7 children)

    Remember when some people said we're nuts thinking Google will try to ban ad blockers with manifest v3? Yeah.

  • source
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • load more comments (6 replies)
    [–] 72 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Youtube's use of A/B testing is very smart in that it's actually nothing about testing user response and all about limiting the number of people they piss off at once with their god awful changes.

    The day I can't block ads on the internet is the day I stop using the internet.

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [+] 65 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)
  • [–] 22 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Admiral is the worst kind of anti adblock there is.

    They buy thousands of domains at a time, with individually corresponding Google Cloud IPs to evade adblock lists. Real pain in the ass to block them, they also DMCA community blocklists containing their domains

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 55 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (11 children)

    Here's a rule for uBlock Origin.

    Credit: https://lemmy.one/comment/597479 && original link: https://lemmy.nz/comment/446556

    ! Anti-Youtube Anti-Adblocker https://lemmy.one/comment/597479

    youtube.com##+js(set, yt.config_.openPopupConfig.supportedPopups.adBlockMessageViewModel, false)

    youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.adBlocksFound, 0)

    youtube.com##+js(set, ytplayer.config.args.raw_player_response.adPlacements, [])

    youtube.com##+js(set, Object.prototype.hasAllowedInstreamAd, true)

  • source
  • hideshow 11 child comments
  • load more comments (11 replies)
    [–] 44 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (2 children)

    I haven't used youtube.com to watch YouTube in years. NewPipe x SponsorBlock (polymorphicshade) on mobile, SmartTubeNext on TV, Invidious, Piped, or FreeTube on desktop.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 40 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    The irony of this poll blocking access from users with a VPN.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 38 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    What happens to me now with Firefox and ublock origin is if i leave a video paused in the background for a long time and then it unloads it and then I click it to continue watching so it loads back up, then it plays an ad. I was legit like cat-confused because I haven't seen an ad on the internet in years.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 37 points 3 years ago

    There's constant fixes for it btw from the ublockorigin team now! :D

  • source
  • [–] 33 points 3 years ago (8 children)

    I've started to just download videos with yt-dlp after grabbing links via Invidious. Using Invidious itself has become somewhat unreliable lately, and this way I don't have to put up with buffering and can watch in good quality. Cut out the middle men

  • source
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • load more comments (8 replies)
    [–] 30 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    Just a tip for those of you that do cave to pressure and go with the paid premium option. or already have one but dont want to pay for more accounts or a family account.

    You can set up channels or brand accounts as sub-accounts on a premium subscription and they will act like separate accounts with the advantages of premium, so if you have a large family and don't want to pay for the full family subscription (which only has 5 slots anyway) you can set up a few sub-accounts that each get their own subscriptions, recommendations, settings and all have the premium features.

    So if you want to make a premium account for a parent or child, you can do that with one single subscription if you can take the caveat of them being brand accounts rather than fully their own thing.

    This works on things like Android TV or Google TV, but you need to log into the main account then switch to a sub account in the app, however, there is no authentication to switch between channel accounts this way, so it's really only useable for families only. I use this at home to run 4 separate nvidia shield youtube apps with their own subscriptions and recommendations on one single premium payment.

    I expect they will change how that works in the future to remove the loophole, probably by charging for channel accounts or having it locked behind some kind of overpriced professional usage tier, but for now, it might be a good option for some.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 30 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    I got it once on Chrome. Haven't used Chrome for YT since. No trouble with FF and UBlock Origin.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 29 points 3 years ago (4 children)

    Same. If I really need the website, I now use https://yewtu.be

  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • load more comments (4 replies)
    [–] 28 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (3 children)

    I wonder if the people having this issue are using chrome. On FF it has never been an issue for me.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 26 points 3 years ago* (6 children)

    Today I started getting ads with no video just audio. I didn't get the adblocker message yet. Firefox ESR+ublock origin

  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • load more comments (6 replies)
    [+] 24 points 3 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)
    load more comments (2 replies)
    [–] 23 points 3 years ago

    It'll be a shame if I have to ditch YouTube. There's only 2 or 3 channels I would even consider paying for and they don't have Patreon or anything. I'm less than interested in giving Google a cut.

  • source
  • [–] 22 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    Does NewPipe count as an adblocker? Not yet but I fear its days are numbered.

  • source
  • hideshow 7 child comments
  • load more comments (7 replies)
    [–] 21 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    YouTube algorithm has been garbage for months now. There's literally no good content.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 20 points 3 years ago

    well, I will stop to use YouTube, and that will solve 2 problems

  • source
  • load more comments
    view more: next ›