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Google confirms YouTube Music issue with Premium users hearing surprise ads (www.androidauthority.com)

submitted 4 days ago by ryujin470@fedia.io to c/technology@lemmy.world

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[-] LifeLikeLady@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Soon as they start playing a mili second of ads on premium I'm fucking gone. Ill just use Ublock and tell Google to go fuck themselves.

I pay out of convenience as it is, as soon as they make my experience even slightly more shitty I'm out.

I will deal with the headache of ad blockers. And I'll just pay for a better music service .

Your move Sundar.

[-] eightys3v3n@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 day ago

They also for a long while showed ads in the interface despite premium. I confirmed with support thes cancelled.

[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 144 points 4 days ago

“Surprise”

[-] digitalFatteh@lemmy.ca 44 points 4 days ago

It’s a ‘Feature’ 😏

[-] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 32 points 4 days ago

Oops, that test hit 80% of customers, was supposed to be 20%.

[-] percent@infosec.pub 5 points 2 days ago

I remember noticing YouTube's software quality taking a nosedive when they shoved Shorts into the app. At the time, it seemed like it was hastily done as a reaction to TikTok's explosion, but it's still a buggy POS , even after all these years.

[-] unphazed@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Paramount gets confused about who is ad free too. You have to restart the app to fix it. I just got the ad version cause why bother if I get ads and can't fast forward or rewind anyhow?

[-] mechoman444@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago

"accidently on purpose"

[-] MushuChupacabra@piefed.world 78 points 4 days ago

Google confirms YouTube Music Issue with Premium users getting angry at their advertising injection attempt.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago

prenium was originally to get people off of using adblockers, nothing more it was always going to come down to forced ads one way or another.

[-] 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world 64 points 4 days ago

Give it six months, maybe a year. There WILL be ads in YouTube premium and you’ll have to pay another premium on top of that for ad free.

[-] TheSeveralJourneysOfReemus@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Like the stupid duolingo pro and the pro max thing...and the pro max is just an extra fee to talk to an AI.

[-] iamthetot@piefed.ca 17 points 4 days ago

Premium Lite is already a thing.

[-] REDACTED@infosec.pub 1 points 2 days ago

Premium Pro

[-] jivandabeast@lemmy.browntown.dev 6 points 4 days ago

This only makes sense if watching for free with ads wasnt an option, if they wanted more money they would just raise the cost of premium

[-] 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago

I mean, this exact thing has already happened with other services. Hulu used to have a free ad supported tier and a paid ad free tier, for example

[-] jivandabeast@lemmy.browntown.dev 3 points 3 days ago

I guess the other difference is that YouTube isn't traditional media, the content you consume on there has no exclusivity or anything. And the creators producing it are incentivized to go where the biggest audience is (which will always be something free) to maintain relevance and gain bigger sponsorships

Something like Netflix, Hulu, Prime, etc. pays for the content in advance with MAYBE some royalties (and never a lot) and they own the media produced. YouTube doesn't pay for production (they tried this and it failed horrifically) they pay a portion of the revenue that gets generated from viewership

[-] LodeMike@lemmy.today 3 points 4 days ago

"No midrolls"

[-] datavoid@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

Don't even say that

[-] baconsunday@lemmy.zip 36 points 3 days ago

Gemini was crashing for days, YouTube went down, Youtube music Premium is playing ads, sheesh. Guess vibe coding isn't working

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 38 points 4 days ago

Lol, there should be a law that if you pay for a service advertised as ad free, they have to refund you a month of service for each ad they show you.

[-] bryndos@fedia.io 15 points 4 days ago

Consumer protection laws probably do apply. Ask for a refund and cite whatever laws apply to 'product not as described'.

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago

I live in the US, what are consumer protection laws?

[-] Doomsider@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

Trump says consumer protection laws cost us money silly, we don't need them.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/research/2026/02/estimating-the-cost-of-the-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-to-consumers/

[-] roofuskit@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Let's not pretend that the US' lax consumer protection laws have anything to do with Trump. The political elites have been helping the wealthy and corporations hinder those long before that dumbass ever ran for office.

[-] Doomsider@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

I don't know, I am going to have to call BS on the idea that Kamala Harris would have dismantled the consumer protection bureau. On the other hand the Republicans have been trying to hamper it for awhile.

I agree that ultimately corporations are going to call the shots and they wanted it gone.

[-] IratePirate@feddit.org 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

With billionaires now openly buying politicians (instead of greasing their palms under the counter), I'd say the odds of such a law have become even worse.

[-] Geologist@lemmy.zip 24 points 3 days ago

No joke, this is exactly why I cancelled Spotify and went back to piracy!

They “”accidentally“” started playing ads one night, didn’t apologize or offer any refunds, and it was the easiest decision ever to dust off my pirate hat and not look back.

No regrets!

[-] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 6 points 3 days ago

So much better listening to music I chose and actually enjoy.

[-] winkerjadams@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 3 days ago

And the app had so much garbage and bullshit put in it that it was slow and horrible to use. I downloaded musicolet and its miles faster than Spotify aids

[-] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

First time seeing musicolet mentioned in the wild, cool!

[-] ieatpwns@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

Google stealthing premium users lol

[-] tyler@programming.dev 28 points 4 days ago

Now could they please fix the blatant advertisements disguised as “Featured” bullshit? I have zero interest in football, I’ve marked it as don’t show me a billion times.

[-] bryndos@fedia.io 10 points 4 days ago

I'm sorry you're upset at the recommendation , perhaps you could listen to something to relax and calm down. 84% of our users like you relax by listening to the following: 1.football 2.ballfoot 3.fboaoltl or if you don't like those, have you considered soccer?

[-] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

How else are football people going to advertise to people that don't like football and hope to convert them? Send ads specifically to people who try to opt out!

[-] Brewchin@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

So what you're saying is that you've engaged with football content a billion times.

Did Facebook's shift to emojis teach us nothing? Engagement > Preference. You're the product.

[-] tyler@programming.dev 4 points 3 days ago

That’s not how it works with the rest of YouTube menus. You click the three dots, choose “not interested” and I never see those things again, including those channels. But for the YouTube Featured section it’s just a disguised ad roll. It doesn’t matter if you interact with it or not because they show it for whoever is paying them the most at that moment. Right now it’s Olympics, a few weeks ago it was Super Bowl, before that it was some games.

[-] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 18 points 3 days ago

Oops, we accidentally ripped you off, again.

[-] FerretyFever0@fedia.io 12 points 4 days ago

Don't use Youtube if you're going to be giving them a cent. Ublock Origin on PC works well enough, Newpipe is good for Android devices. Newpipe has every single feature that I ever had to see a Youtube premium ad for, and I'm not exaggerating in the slightest.

[-] IratePirate@feddit.org 6 points 4 days ago

This. Big tech is complicit in the fascist takeover of the U.S. Ditch their services where you can, and where you can't leech and starve them using tech like this.

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[-] Petter1@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 4 days ago

https://grayjay.app/

[-] GreenCrunch@piefed.blahaj.zone 5 points 4 days ago

Yeah, but not truly free software (FUTO invented their own definition and license) which is frustrating. In comparison, NewPipe is actually free software (GPLv3)

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[-] Steve@startrek.website 7 points 3 days ago

Suckers

[-] murmelade@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 days ago

Huh, never had that problem with the cracked apk I use.

[-] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Sounds like affected users should be paid whatever Google got paid to play the ad instead, plus a inconvenience penalty.

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

Is the issue that there are people paying for YouTube Premium?

[-] KaChilde@sh.itjust.works 6 points 4 days ago

The amount of people who suggest YouTube Music when asked for alternatives to Spotify is absolutely mind boggling. Legitimately feels like some people have no self-preservation skills.

[-] RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 days ago

YouTube music premium has gotta be like, 90% people who have YouTube premium and got music along with it.

[-] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

Closed as WAI. They were testing the waters.

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this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2026

352 points (99.4% liked)

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