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YouTube adds new hurdles for ad blockers, and there's currently no way around it

⁨572⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ardi60@reddthat.com⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-ad-blocker-comments-turned-off-3641167/

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Comments

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  • THX1138@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    No issues ublock and FF.

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    • 7101334@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yeah uBlock Origin has worked fine through every single one of these “adblockers are broken!” articles I’ve seen

      I don’t mind, it’s still good to raise awareness about Youtube’s bullshit - especially since I’m getting ads for Border Patrol, OpenAI, and the fucking Melania movie now when I do see them (when I am lazy and using my Roku TV instead of HDMI). But it hasn’t been a problem for me yet.

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      • Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Could just be because they address it rather fast.

        It could also be due to chrome limiting what uBlock can do.

        UBlock + Firefox seems like the ideal combo.

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    • 1984@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Dont let them know… They probably never even tested on Firefox. :)

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    • stochasticity@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      You ever get the “You are disconnected from the internet” screen? It goes away with a refresh so it’s not a big deal, but it would be even cooler if it didn’t happen.

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      • THX1138@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Only when there’s actual issues with YT servers.

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    • PattyMcB@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Same here

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    • aceshigh@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      A new issue for me is the video sometimes skips/very slow while the audio is fine. Restarting the browser and pc doesn’t change anything.

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  • remon@ani.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    So my adblocker now also removes comments? That’s more of a feature than a hurdle!

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    • helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      When adblox inevitably fixes this, you block comments, and a bunch of other crap, on purpose with Unhooked

      addons.mozilla.org/…/youtube-recommended-videos/

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      • wuzzlewoggle@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I love unhook so much. Using Youtube without recommended videos is a blessing. I only see what I wanna see, not a single thing the algorithm wants me to watch.

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    • RobotToaster@mander.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I usually find the comments more useful than the video, sometimes more entertaining too.

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      • remon@ani.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Then you really should watch better videos.

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    • ProfThadBach@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
      [deleted]
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      • remon@ani.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        uBlock Origin (I’m still seeing the comments, though).

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    • Rawrosaurus@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I recall having some firefox addon once upon a time to specifically remove youtube comments.

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  • kilgore_trout@feddit.it ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    uBlock Origin on Firefox with default settings and filterlists still works successfully on Youtube.

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    • Stitch0815@feddit.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Raymond Hill is the absolut GOAT

      “No way around it” always ends the same After 2 days uBlock just works.

      Taking no donations, just maintaining out of pure spite

      Love to see it

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      • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Spite is a form of currency. lol

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      • rumba@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I’m still waiting for them to just to implement Wildvine. It has to happen at some point.

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    • rumba@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Works on my machine fails to account for A/B testing. Everytime someone says something’s not working, they also mean it’s not working on my machine/account.

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      • kilgore_trout@feddit.it ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        uBlock origin is the same code on mine or yours machine. It does not need a graphics card, nor uses some particular instuctions of the CPU.
        On Firefox Stable on Flathub at the time of writing, with default settings and default lists, it will work as expected on Youtube.

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    • daannii@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yep. Still working on mine. I also use windows 10. Dunno if that matters or not.

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    • StinkyRedMan@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Stopped working for me last weekend if i’m logged in. Youtube deploy this kind of things in waves usually.

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    • glitchdx@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      So seamless that I didn’t even notice

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    • LordPassionFruit@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Mine isn’t working flawlessly with this exact set up, but it’s just forcing me to refresh the page every time I load a new video. Still no ads.

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      • kilgore_trout@feddit.it ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Are you using other add-ons?

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  • chasteinsect@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    “Based on these reports, users see a message stating “Comments are turned off,” which appears across a wide range of videos”

    Seems like a win to me.

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    • samus12345@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      “Comments are turned off”

      Image

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    • FreddiesLantern@leminal.space ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Damn, they’re really upping their game.

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    • StinkyRedMan@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Comments can be useful to know if what you are watchin contains the information you’re looking for

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  • RejZoR@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    There is no fucking way in hell I’ll ever a) watch ads b) pay for Youtube Premium. They created this monopoly with no alternative option and now we’re suppose to just get fucked while they get even more obscenely rich beyond all tasteful levels. Yeah, I don’t think so. And given how I ditched everything Google, if it ever comes to it, I’ll ditch Youtube too. It’s basically the only thing I still even use from Google because there’s just no alternative.

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    • turboSnail@piefed.europe.pub ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Soon will be a good time to quit YT completely. Suddenly, you’ll have lots of time to do all the things you were supposed to do long ago. You know like taking a walk, cooking nice food, reading books, getting to bed early etc.

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      • SeeMarkFly@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        My ad blocker won’t let me watch YouTube. I didn’t know there was a problem. Good ad blocker.

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    • U7826391786239@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      you can kind of ungoogle youtube by using invidious invidious.io

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      • RejZoR@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I just use it without account and subscribe to my favorite channels using external RSS feed reader. This way I still keep track of my fav content and doing it entirely outside of Google. If they track me as guest, I really don’t care that much.

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    • Brewchin@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Don’t forget the phone. Almost everyone with a smartphone is either an Apple or Google user via it, and everyone seems to forget that.

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      • RejZoR@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        The main issue with phones are fucking banks. Their bullshit insisting on phones having to have locked bootloader is so fucking annoying. I used phone with LineageOS but it was nightmare to work with my bank and they all do this shit to “protect the user”. Yeah right.

        Yes, I do use Android phone, but I used ADB AppControl and just deleted and disabled all the Google shit on it (easier on Samsung since they have their own services which I prefer over Google if I have to). I also run DNS level filtering using Hagezi Ultimate list which filters so much shit. Not ideal still, but it works.

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  • pleaseletmein@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’ve stopped using YouTube for the most part. Cut down a lot once they broke the search function and I could no longer find what I was looking for because every result would be flooded with random shorts and other irrelevant content.

    Then, my account, which was made in either 05 or 06, got flagged as belonging to a minor and they asked me to verify my age with an ID. Why this even happened when the account itself is over 18 now, and I’m not in the US (which I thought was the only place their age verification BS was being implemented) is beyond me.

    I wish there were more options for long form video sharing, since YouTube seems to be the only viable platform for it at the moment.

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    • RisingSwell@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I got flagged as a minor, despite an old account. They would not accept my card that I pay for premium with as a valid card. It’s valid enough to pay them the stupid fucks.

      You can do the selfie thing, except use a 4k video of someone talking to the screen and it’ll probably work. I used an Evan Edinger video, scanned that and passed fairly easily. AI probably works if you can get a high fidelity image but all the free ones are well under 1080p and just don’t really register.

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    • maturelemontree@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I cant imagine flagging a whole account over 18 years old as attached to a minor.

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    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      alot of time its right wing shorts, or thirst traps videos. and this from not logging in.

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    • coolfission@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      YT search is completely broken. It used to be that the first 3-4 videos were relevant and the rest were YT shorts or stuff you previously watched. Now, not even the first result is related to what I search for. I have to use Google in order to get the video I actually want. Even incognito in YT doesn’t help much nowadays.

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  • fierysparrow89@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    For Android user I can recommend Newpipe. For the desktop I use FreeTube

    Both have occassional issues when YT rolls out their latest enshittification features, but the devs are quite responsive.

    Regardless, YT is a loosing battle, so prepare for the day when Google will win this arms race. That is why alternatives like PeerTube are important.

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    • BrickEater@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I was using newpipe but it wasn’t working for a bit, been having great luck with PipePipe though

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      • fierysparrow89@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Looks promising. Thanks for sharing

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    • excursion22@piefed.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      I prefer Tubular for Android. It’s a NewPipe fork to implement SponsorBlock and ReturnYoutubeDislike

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  • Iconoclast@feddit.uk ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Apparently there is a way around it as I’ve been watching YouTube all day and haven’t encountered a single ad.

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    • FG_3479@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      YouTube has been shadowbanning ad blocker users, where you comments appear to post but actually haven’t, for a while now.

      I think the issue is with the EasyPrivacy list blocking the heartbeat signals that tell YouTube you are actually someone interacting with the page and not a bot.

      Brave doesn’t seem to have this issue as they whitelist those scripts but it has other issues so I recommend keeping it as a YouTube only browser.

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      • entwine@programming.dev ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
        1. Why the fuck are you posting YouTube comments?
        2. Why the fuck are you using Brave?

        Stop using the YouTube app/website, get an alt frontend like FreeTube, Grayjay, Revanced, etc. Not only do they remove ads and make it impossible for Google to track you, they have better UX than the official apps.

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      • DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        I noticed one of my comments was shadowbanned, I thought it was the channel that did it. Hmm, I don’t comment much on YT, I guess I won’t at all now. NBD.

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      • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        Firefox extension to fix youtube comments forever

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  • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    YouTube is coming up with another infuriating way to force users to pay for Premium subscription or watch ads.

    Or to let us know its time to quit. I have narrowed down my youtube use a lot. If it is ad only I won’t bother at all.

    Won’t miss much frankly.

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    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Yes, but you are the minority.

      I dated a girl over the summer, and we were watching youtube videos in bed.

      My phone has revanced, and it kills all the ads.

      Then she shows me one of her videos.

      It was…oh my god. Do you have ANY idea how awful the vanilla youtube experience is?

      And thats just how most people watch it. They just watch youtube, with the official app. Ads and all, and are fine with it.

      So even if all the fediverse minded people quit youtube in unison, it would still be less than 1% of their viewership.

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      • NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        It often makes me wonder why you tube keeps squeezing then. If the majority don’t block ads it seems like it would be an acceptable loss.

        At this point, I am kind of done with youtube either way. The more I go on with life the more I want to actually do things instead if passively just watch things.

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      • chasteinsect@programming.dev ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

        It was…oh my god. Do you have ANY idea how awful the vanilla youtube experience is?

        Whether or not that matters depends on how much and how you watch it.

        Ads while I listen to music = annoying I want to navigate fast to different videos on PC to find something and almost every time an ad appears on a new video = annoying I’m watching some chill drive or walk while reading a book and a loud ad appears = annoying.

        But when I just go and watch 1-3 videos before bed on my ipad? I don’t care if I get those 2-4 ads, I just mute and wait those couple of seconds. I have no youtube adblockers or different clients on ipad / phone for that reason.

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    • Jeffool@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Like was already said, I’m considering cancelling YouTube Premium too but our numbers won’t really matter. The reports of worsening Firefox compatibility almost some me in and I didn’t even notice.

      I have a family plan with my brother and cousin on it. I know they’re cracking down on sharing with people who don’t live together, but if they cut them I’m done. I’ll figure it out. And I’m probably petty enough to comment about it on everyone’s videos that I follow. (Which also won’t really matter, but I’ll feel better voicing the discontent.)

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  • newaccountwhodis@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I don’t really get the sentiment here - what’s happening is the standard development if a public good (that youtube kind of was before google purchased them) gets privatized. It’s the same with communications (isn’t AT&T great?), water, electricity, rail infrastructure and trains, roads - investors are never good for the public good. They’re only good at lining their pockets.

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    • coolmojo@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

      Somebody, please, think of the shareholders /s_

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  • Tigeroovy@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They did successfully disable uBlock Origin for me on chrome but I found a workaround that so far seems to be sticking fine despite further updates. Still see comments and descriptions fine on youtube. Occasionally things take a little longer to load than I would expect but I’ll take a longer load time on a black screen over being stuck watching dogshit ads relentlessly.

    uBlock also seems to just continue to work on FireFox which also plays youtube fine.

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  • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I find getting rid of YouTube to be incredibly difficult. I use both peer-tube and odysee as much as possible, but still find myself on YouTube more than I’d like. Of course, I’m only doing YouTube through a newpipe, but it’s still accessing YouTube.

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  • bokherif@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    They will still inject ads to your home feed even if you get premium. I noticed the “Introducing” titled video recommendations which are usually 1-2 mins and they essentially place an item in your home feed. When I asked support they confirmed they were targeted ads but you don’t have to click them LMAO. Filthy lying company.

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  • vortexal@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I was wondering why I couldn’t see descriptions and comments on seemingly random videos for the past two days. Also, it’s weird because I use Ublock Origin on Firefox and it’s rare that these changes actually effect Ublock Origin. It seems like it may be fixed now though, but I haven’t been actively checking.

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  • Zwrt@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Invidious if you can host it yourself.

    Freetube if you cannot.

    Yt-dlp if all else fails.

    Same content, and besides needing an occasional update when google tries to break them again, no bullshit.

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  • REDACTED@infosec.pub ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Pretty sure this does not affect Firefox as my adblocker still does the job

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  • johncandy1812@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I realised a lot of my yt usage was for having something playing in the background. I’ve been listening to more podcasts and audiobooks instead and it’s been pretty easy to cut back.

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  • lemmydividebyzero@reddthat.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Great… Fewer humans and even more bots in the comments… That’s a genius idea.

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  • sol6_vi@lemmy.makearmy.io ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I mirror my yt channel that feeds my family to peertube for my viewers. No one watches it, but I’ll keep trying.

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  • solrize@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Newpipe working for me right now. I hope it lasts.

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  • kingshrubb@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    ReVanced seems fine

    Image

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  • cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    68% of people who responded to the poll at the link say that they are not affected. Only 10% of responders are.

    Probably A/B testing.

    I’m not lowering my security for Google.

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  • Puddinghelmet@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    download yt videos and lets reupload everything onto peertube idk

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  • BrickEater@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    PipePipe on degoogled android lol

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  • Darkcoffee@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I think GrayJay already found a way around it lol

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  • vogi@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Gonna use this thread to shout out https://github.com/YTLitePlus/YTLitePlus There more than enough options for android users out there, this one is for iOS though. Tried it out this weekend on my jailbroken iPhone 6. If i read it correctly it should also be installable without a jailbreak but not that easily. Its super cool and sadly feels so weird that you got the option to do such shocking things like disabling shorts or hide certain buttons, its really fun.

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  • dorumon@lemmy.cafe ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    Updating Firefox suddenly fixed this for me. I then later just had my entire google account banned and I had to create a new account.

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  • MetalSlugX@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I can say that I solved this problem for me (at least in the short term, we shall see) by using a random User Agent switcher, uninstalling and reinstalling uBlock.

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  • mazzilius_marsti@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    fuck Youtube ads.

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  • jh29a@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

    I’m only going to click these Articles when my adblocker actually stops working, its basically clickbait until then.

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