I mean, Firefox + uBlock Origin + SponsorBlock makes YouTube usable without giving Google more money
YouTube just quietly blocked Adblock Plus — the internet hasn't noticed yet, but I've found a workaround
Submitted 8 months ago by moe90@feddit.nl to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
lightnegative@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Dremor@lemmy.world 7 months ago
To my knowledge, sponsors do not give money to Google, just to the creator. So SponsorBlock isn’t needed.
But I have to admit that some sponsored segments can be obnoxious as hell, so I can understand why one would use it.moopet@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
When I’m using sponsorblock, I sometimes just stop watching if I see a long sponsor section, regardless. If the poster has like 20% of their video used to talk about shilling something, then they’re probably not someone I trust.
lightnegative@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Ah, yes, you’re right. If the focus is just on not giving money to Google then SponsorBlock is unnecessary.
However, I also find most sponsored segments obnoxious as hell so SponsorBlock still helps with making the YouTube experience better in general
finitebanjo@lemmy.world 7 months ago
rdri@lemmy.world 7 months ago
“I’ve found a workaround”
Workaround (according to article): “First of all, YouTube Premium”
The actual workaround (according to article): “Two words: uBlock Origin. Yes, I know that Google has blocked it from its Chrome Extension store, but there is still a way to get uBlock Origin on Chrome”
Seems like they are being paid by Google. Actual workaround should be to drop Chrome.
viking@infosec.pub 7 months ago
My thoughts exactly, what a heap of crap. Tom’s Guide used to be one of the good ones out there, real shame.
What I was wondering though is if they detect browser plugins through some public ID - how difficult is it to change those? In Firefox it’s absolutely trivial, you can simply download the extension, open it as a zip file, and then edit the files inside with a text editor and change the ID.
Haven’t used chrome for years, but extensions used to be javascript files just as well, so I doubt they are that hard to edit. Unless they found a way to block installations from local files and enforce their shop, no idea if that’s a thing.
rdri@lemmy.world 7 months ago
if they detect browser plugins through some public ID - how difficult is it to change those?
I actually dismissed that one from the get go since there is not confirmation of any mechanism they described in the article. Not going to spend time on technical-looking explanations from someone who calls a whole another extension a “workaround”. Might as well be the case of broken or outdated filters in ABP.
I’m sure if some major site will find a way to know your extensions we’ll see some major unsolvable issues.
cley_faye@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Imagine using Adblock/Adblock plus in 2025.
frozenpopsicle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Article wasted my time. I want it back moe90.
obrien_must_suffer@lemmy.world 7 months ago
[deleted]Wispy2891@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Hence the part “nobody noticed” in the headline
Sunflier@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Oh thank god: its only on Chrome
Bloomcole@lemmy.world 7 months ago
lol chrome
kahnclusions@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
Stop using Adblock Plus and start using Firefox with uBlock Origin.
If you’re on iOS, swallow your pride and install Brave and just turn off the crypto features. You’ll thank me later.
Octagon9561@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
Fyi uBlock Origin Lite was recently released on iOS
muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
AdGuard and SponsorBlock work fine on Safari on iOS.
ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Stop using youtube and start using peertube. WE DONT FUCKING NEED GOOGLE!
cley_faye@lemmy.world 7 months ago
WE DONT FUCKING NEED GOOGLE!
Unless you make extremely popular video with hundred thousands views in the first day, in which case, yeah, good luck with peertube.
Zubby@lemmus.org 7 months ago
Many iOS workarounds. I’m using Vinegar extension and also the newly released uBlock Origin for iOS. Chefs kiss
altphoto@lemmy.today 7 months ago
You could just use plain vinegar.
Nindelofocho@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Where do you get ublock for ios? Its not mentioned on github or on the site
Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 7 months ago
So my parents use chrome even though I constantly install Firefox and hide chrome. Problem there is they end up with Edge so I stopped doing that. (Didn’t windows get in trouble for this kind of market control in the 90’s?)
So I had Ublock origin on chrome for them but it’s “not supported” anymore and my usual method of ignoring what it says and turning it back on are now failing.
Any help?
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 7 months ago
You can disable Edge if you don’t want people launching it… “accidentally.” There are a myriad of ways. Most recently I’ve used Edge Blocker, which does what it says on the label. Note that this will cause the opening of any file types associated with Edge by default to silently fail if you don’t reassign them to some other program.
The install Firefox and uBlock origin. Unless your parents deliberately go out of their way to download and install Chrome (and depending how heavy-handed you want to get you could even prevent this by busting them down to a limited user account) they won’t have any choice but to use the correct browser installed on their system. That is to say, the only one.
cley_faye@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Beside a big whack behind the head, Ublock Origin Lite is supported on chrome. You lose some features, and it is slower to update, but should still mostly work. Unfortunately, the youtube/ublock fight move quite fast, so results won’t be as good on that front.
lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
If they are technically inept, reduce their accounts to limited and lock down the admin account. That will prevent them from installing Chrome, and if the admin sets a shortcut on their desktop/s, they won’t be able to remove it. Install the necessary extensions, then change the desktop icon and text to “Chrome”.
Problem solved.
Electricd@lemmybefree.net 7 months ago
Change default browser to Firefox
Change file type associations
y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Setup a firewall and black access to websites where they’re able to download other browsers. Then change the icon for Firefox to Chrome’s icon. For bonus points, you can probably find a firefox theme to make it look more like chrome.
W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
I noticed yesterday and it’s also affecting other sites where Google serves ads, like Reddit.
W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
I don’t use Chrome so whatever they did is affecting Adblock elsewhere too.
sexy_peach@feddit.org 7 months ago
Everyone else has switched to Ublock Origin adblocker years ago :) Try it, it’s the only real one
Oberyn@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Is the fact it’s impossible for me to play any thing in (PipePipe|Outertune) these past few days connected to this ?
Kolanaki@pawb.social 8 months ago
The workaround: Switch from Adblock Plus to uBlock Origin.
W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
No uBlock on my phone. :(
JackbyDev@programming.dev 7 months ago
kahnclusions@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
As much as I hate to say it, if on iOS use Brave. You can disable the crypto shit, but it’s got the best adblocking on iOS, and paywall bypass built in.
Blackmist@feddit.uk 7 months ago
Firefox on Android has it.
But if you’re on iOS you’d better speak to Tim Apple about it, assuming he’s finished noshing off Trump.
zqps@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
ABP has also been owned and run by a shady investment firm for the past decade.
ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
The workaround
Quit using YouTube directly and proxy your request through an Invidious instance.
Your requests are mixed in with everyone else’s, only 1 machine touches YouTube directly and that’s the server hosting Invidious.
Wispy2891@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Unless the instance owner is a network god, they blacklist the IP address almost immediately (they see thousands of videos watched at the same time from the same IP address, trivial to detect)
nasi_goreng@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
Not a solution for most people, unfortunately…
madcaesar@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Wasn’t adblock plus bought by some ad agency? I thought they were long gone…
FauxLiving@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I don’t know about that but they do have a program where advertisers can pay them in exchange for their ads being allowed past the block.
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
FreeTube with an ipv6 rotator and Invidious will make sure you never have to deal with this.
swelter_spark@reddthat.com 8 months ago
You can also use Freetube with tor/socks5 proxy, and every time you open it, you automatically get a new IP.
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
This is true, but I try not to put such a heavy load on the TOR network personally. Its always good to have folks using it for clearweb stuff like this though, keeps the network legitimate.
ArcticPrincess@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Please elaborate…
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
FreeTube is a FOSS youtube frontend.
FreeTube occasionally has issues on videos with preroll ads where the video fails to play because the ad won’t be fetched. This can sometimes be mitigated by running an ipv6 rotator script and blocking freetubes access to ipv4. The one I run reassigns my ipv6 address once every 5 peels to a new randomly generated valid address.
Sometimes even this doesn’t block the ads (again causing the video to fail to play) in which case selecting the share icon from the freetube interface and clicking “open invidious link” will open a web browser pointed to whichever invidious instance is set to your default.
The freetube folks are working on implementing DASH, which should eliminate the need for these workarounds once successful.
NoodlePoint@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Damn sure was clickbaity.
I stopped using ABP years ago and switched to uBlock Origin. That and some *Monkey scripts.
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Bah, This is just an add for a YouTube premium subscription
Pamasich@kbin.earth 8 months ago
YouTube just quietly blocked Adblock Plus
They've been A/B testing anti-adblock attempts for months or even years now, idk exactly with my sense of time. Sometimes adblocker A doesn't work, sometimes adblocker B doesn't work. Sometimes switching browser makes the same adblocker work, sometimes clearing cookies helps, sometimes its dependent on your account. Different users at the same time report different experiences with different adblockers. Sometimes watching a single non-blocked ad restores adblocker functionality magically for a few days.
What I'm trying to say is, this didn't "just" happen, and it's specifically the author's current experience. I myself use Adblock Plus on Edge and Youtube works perfectly fine currently. This has been happening for a long time, and I'm sure there's uBlock Origin users currently who have the same experience while Adblock Plus works for them. Since that's how it's been the last times I've seen people talk about this, everyone talking about different experiences.
barnaclebutt@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Ublock was leading to errors when a YouTube link was clicked for me, but refreshing the page just loaded the video. It seems that doesn’t happen anymore today. Am I the only one?
Psythik@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Ublock Origin and NextDNS FTW.
SpaceCadet@feddit.nl 8 months ago
DNS does nothing for youtube.
Psythik@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Never claimed it did. I have YouTube ReVanced on mobile, and SmartTubeNext for the TV.
(But TBF, Ublock Origin does in fact block YT ads on the desktop.)
madcaesar@lemmy.world 8 months ago
This is correct, even pihole is helpless against YouTube’s fuckery
thesohoriots@lemmy.world 8 months ago
iOS and Mac users have Vinegar, if you want to spend like $2 and support an indie developer.
DJDarren@sopuli.xyz 8 months ago
When I had an iPhone, Vinegar was the best few quid I ever spent. Between that and the adblocker I used, I got ad free YouTube with the default iOS video player. Glorious.
zerofk@lemmy.zip 8 months ago
there is one ad blocker that still works. Two words: uBlock Origin.
Vivaldi without any plugins also works. No ads. And I’m sure there are many more possible configurations. This article reads like the author thinks there’s only two browsers and two ad blockers.
Mubelotix@jlai.lu 8 months ago
Not sure about vivaldi but braves actually pulls its filters from ublock origin
projektilski@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
Who uses Adblock Plus? Isn’t uBlock Origin (Lite) the shit to go to?
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
ublock origin non-lite is the shit to go to
projektilski@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Lite was delibaretly in brackets :)
Kissaki@feddit.org 8 months ago
Yes, and it has been for many many years. In 2011 Adblock Plus deemed some ads acceptable, no longer blocking them categorically. Following that controversity, uBlock Origin became the popular standard.
Honestly, given that Adblock Plus has always had an “acceptable ads” system - I guess they simply decided now YouTube ads are acceptable. Not really surprising then.
Pamasich@kbin.earth 8 months ago
I'm using Adblock Plus, because of their Acceptable Ads system. Imo it's far more ethical to regulate ads than to ban them entirely. Websites have to make money to sustain themselves, and ads are the least intrusive way this can be done besides donations (and let's be honest, most websites can't support themselves on donations alone). I'd rather have an ad or two at the end of an article than a paywall.
I would love to switch to a different adblocker, ABP has quite enshittified over the years imo. But it would have to be one with Acceptable Ads support.
jim3692@discuss.online 8 months ago
If you want to support a webpage, then donate to it. This ad-based business model should die.
TORFdot0@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Tom’s Hardware, Ad Block Plus, paying for YouTube Premium as a “work around”?
Guys this content was by boomers for boomers
SpaceCadet@feddit.nl 8 months ago
Guys this content was by boomers for boomers
Tom’s Hardware sold out looong ago, sold in 2007 to some faceless consortium. The original “Tom”, Thomas Pabst, who is GenX and not a boomer btw, has had nothing to do with the site since.
The editor of this article looks to be a millennial btw.
RickyRigatoni@retrolemmy.com 7 months ago
boomer is a state of mind
FauxLiving@lemmy.world 7 months ago
To gen z, a boomer is anybody older than them
z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml 8 months ago
Just use LibRedirect extension to redirect to an invidious instance. Take the URL of the video you want to watch and download the video using yt-dlp. Watch it on your desktop using mpv.
On Android, use Newpipe or Tubular Fork of Newpipe to download video. Better yet, use Seal with Sponsorblock flags to download and watch without sponsor mentions. Watch using mpv.
On iOS, use Brave browser…
fin@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Brave browser is a affiliated shit. Should rather use Orion Browser with uBO. But since Tim Apple recently gave the rapist a chunk of gold, the best option is switch to Android phone with a custom ROM
LettyWhiterock@lemmy.world 8 months ago
No, author of this article, paying for premium is not a workaround.
misteloct@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
It has some real “Ukraine should just stop fighting a losing war” vibes.
fin@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
more like walking in
callouscomic@lemmy.zip 8 months ago
The internet hasn’t noticed yet
Says article on the internet shared with others on the internet and linked to from many internet places.
Article titles are fucking garbage. At least it didn’t pul the “Here’s why” bullshit.
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Based on the other comments, the article itself is as garbage as the title.
reddig33@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It’s strange that they go to this much effort to ban ad blockers. What’s the percentage of their user base watching on devices with ad blockers? I bet it’s low — especially when including smart tv viewers in those numbers.
3dcadmin@lemmy.relayeasy.com 8 months ago
I’m gonna get a load of grief for this but Brave works fine…
fin@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Brave is not a privacy company. They are affiliated.
But I don’t think switching to Firefox is good enough, since Mozilla is adding bloats to it. Use forks.
3dcadmin@lemmy.relayeasy.com 8 months ago
matters little to many people they just want to see less ads
chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Same for Firefox.
84615_on_resu@lemmy.world 8 months ago
If someone is fixated on using chrome, so far there is still a workaround:
neowin.net/…/you-can-still-enable-ublock-origin-i…
Other than that, just switch to Firefox.
fin@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
someone fixated on using chrome
should quit using the Internet at all
artyom@piefed.social 8 months ago
Oh yeah, well ublock blocks the blocking of their blocks!
imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
I got a question in my head just now.
DNS sinkhole doesnt help with youtube ads but UBO does. DNS doesn’t help with twitch ads and neither UBO does. Why is that youtube doesn’t do the same what twitch does?
On a side note, my ads on twitch are basically “ad is in progress” screen and not an actual ad. And lately YT has couple of seconds with no video in the beginning as if it loads (1Gbit connection) but eventually loads up and plays with no interruptions after.
bossjack@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I don’t work on uBlock or even webdev but it doesn’t take much of a stretch to think YouTube’s servers will refuse to immediately transmit a video stream after the webpage is requested; probably waiting for a typical user to skip 2 30-sec ads.