YouTube's latest tactic targets ad blockers with fresh measures to make users pay for Premium subscription
Ad blockers mustn't flourish - at least according to YouTube. The Alphabet-owned video platform has been cracking down on viewers who continue to use ad blockers on its site, all because they must submit to the demands of major tech companies eager for your money.
If you have an ad blocker extension turned on, YouTube no longer allows playback until you disable it. In its current iteration, YouTube is mostly successful in ensuring that free users can't get away with using ad blockers.
Now, the company has added another layer of defence against ad blockers. According to many Reddit users, popular workarounds like uBlock Origin and AdBlock are no longer effective against YouTube ads. That means users are now seeing warnings to stop using ad blockers. For some who rely on these services, the YouTube page appears completely blank.
Naturally, this has led to an uproar against Google for its strong stance against ad blockers. Even if we acknowledge that ads help creators generate revenue from their videos, it's clear that Google is ultimately looking out for its own interests.
As always, though, users will likely devise new ways to bypass these restrictions. We're at an impasse: users don't want to pay for Premium, and YouTube doesn't want anyone to bypass ads.
It's hard to imagine, but there was a time when the internet was virtually ad-free. Sure, pop-ups existed here and there, but you didn't have to pay for every service just to enjoy it without ads. Over the last decade, that has changed. Every company has gradually shifted to premium models that promise an ad-free experience. While many users have caved and paid for these services, it feels like a never-ending battle.
For example, companies could randomly introduce a new subscription tier for users who want to pay less but are okay with a few ads. Recently, Prime Video announced that, starting June 17, users would have to pay extra if they don't want to see ads while watching content. That's especially strange considering users already pay for a Prime subscription. Now, the ad-free tier is an add-on for subscribers who don't want ads. This has caused a lot of uproar on social media, but Amazon is moving ahead with its new subscription model in India.
As more companies play with subscription tiers to offer users more options regarding ads, it's also becoming unclear what exactly we're paying for besides content. Who wins at the end of all this? In most cases, it's just the companies making massive profits.
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