YouTube Is Waging War Against Ad Blockers

Vanessa Esguerra

Published: Oct 20, 2023 05:03 am

YouTube is putting its foot down. Users are being urged, and in some cases forced, to turn off their ad blockers to continue streaming videos without having to pay fees. The only simple way to get rid of the ads now is to pay for YouTube Premium, which many have dubbed a “premium ad blocker” produced by the platform itself.

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It’s clear that people are not taking kindly to this forceful policy—some have even reported receiving the pop-up to turn off their ad blockers after they already turned them off. For those who choose to ignore YouTube’s pop-up requests, their video players are blocked until they allow YouTube to feature ads.

So #YouTube is now forcing people to either turn off their ad blocker or not watch any more videos.. maybe if YouTube didn't use such predatory monitory ads we wouldn't need an ad blocker now would we? pic.twitter.com/IdjlYd3EDa
— foxu (@foxu621) October 13, 2023

People hate the ads because they appear too frequently in the videos they watch, and some think YouTube’s ads are predatory and inappropriate. The gripe most people have with the system concerns the nature of the ads, as well as their frequency in a video. Many users feel that this move is driven by the platform’s greed. Some people claimed that if YouTube didn’t have ads that popped up every three minutes, they wouldn’t be installing ad blockers at all. Although people generally do not welcome this change, they’re hard-pressed to find alternatives. There are a few, but they don’t work for everybody.

Alternatives to ad blockers and YouTube Premium

The default ad blocker of Opera GX still worked at the time of writing, and it was able to prevent ads from popping up in videos. They appear at the start of the video, but they do not play and can be skipped immediately. Other users have resorted to desperate measures, such as getting rid of the ad blocker pop-up on YouTube.

Fun fact: You can use uBlock Origin's Block Element feature to block the Adblocker pop up on YouTube.

You'll need 2 layers, one to block the pop up and the other to block the interaction barrier behind it. Afterwards everything should function as normal.
— Tired Meme Clown (@TiredMemeClown) October 19, 2023

Essentially, people can view this as a blocker of the pop-up that discourages ad blockers. This idea is a bit complicated, but many report that this method works for them. Some VPN services that include ad blockers were also reported to work against even the peskiest ads on YouTube to date, so they’re worth checking out if you’re reluctant to pay $13.99 a month for YouTube Premium.

(featured image: YouTube)

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Author

Vanessa Esguerra

Vanessa Esguerra (She/They) has been a Contributing Writer for The Mary Sue since 2023. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy, she (happily) rejected law school in 2021 and has been a full-time content writer since. Vanessa is currently taking her Master's degree in Japanese Studies in hopes of deepening her understanding of the country's media culture in relation to pop culture, women, and queer people like herself. She speaks three languages but still manages to get lost in the subways of Tokyo with her clunky Japanese. Fueled by iced coffee brewed from local cafés in Metro Manila, she also regularly covers anime and video games while queuing for her next match in League of Legends.