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YouTube is expanding its ad-blocking powers — closes loopholes that allowed some users to bypass restrictions

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Google just blocked ad-blockers, again.

YouTube blocking an adblocker
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

YouTube has recently expanded its ad-blocking measures, closing the loopholes that browsers and other third-party extensions with ad-blocking capabilities used to remove ads from YouTube videos. The company first started experimental measures against ad-blockers in 2023, before going full steam ahead in 2024. But even so, a few apps, including Mozilla Firefox (and extensions), exploited weaknesses in YouTube’s protection over the past few months. However, this is no longer the case, according to 9to5Google, and some users who previously bypassed ads reported they can no longer play YouTube videos unless they add the video hosting site to their adblocker's allowlist or disable their ad-blocker altogether.

You can subscribe to YouTube if you want to get rid of ads on the platform, but many people do not like doing that. After all, why pay a monthly fee when there is an easy way to get around the ads? And when the company first tried implementing the ad-blocker ban, there was a massive uproar online and in the real world. It even went to the point that a privacy consultant in the EU filed a criminal complaint against the company for “unlawful surveillance.”

The aforementioned ruckus died down with the discovery of ad blocker-blocker loopholes. But now that Google has acted again to close loopholes, people are up in arms about the measures.

New measures don't seem to be 100% water tight

Nevertheless, it seems that not everyone has been affected by this change yet. Users in Southeast Asia and Europe still seem to have fully-functioning ad blockers for YouTube. We do not know if YouTube hasn't implemented the changes in those regions yet, or if updated filter-lists have already been deployed by ad blockers devs to counter the latest ad blocker-blocker efforts.

While we understand the need for Google to make money, people will still want to access their services for free and without any irksome interruptions. So, as long as there is a demand, there will definitely be a supply. This will likely be the whack-a-mole game that YouTube, and its parent company Alphabet, will need to do as long as it exists.

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Jowi Morales
Jowi Morales
Contributing Writer

Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.

31 Comments Comment from the forums
  • bit_user
    The article said:
    YouTube is expanding its ad-blocking powers — closes loopholes that allowed some users to bypass restrictions
    YouTube has recently expanded its ad-blocking measures, closing the loopholes that browsers and other third-party extensions with ad-blocking capabilities used to remove ads from YouTube videos. ...
    I think "countermeasures" is a word that eluded the author. The headline and article would've been much clearer, were it used judiciously. Does anyone use thesauruses, any more?

    The article said:
    some users who previously bypassed ads reported they can no longer play YouTube videos unless they add the video hosting site to their adblocker's allowlist
    This is something I've often wondered about. Why don't content providers use ad networks to serve their content? Then, it would be extremely difficult to block one and not the other.

    The article said:
    It even went to the point that a privacy consultant in the EU filed a criminal complaint against the company for “unlawful surveillance.”
    If they went so far as to force me to allow cross-site tracking cookies and other technologies, I would indeed consider that an unacceptable requirement and I can see how it might be in violation of privacy laws, in certain jurisdictions.
    Reply
  • vanadiel007
    Nobody likes ads. If they insist in preventing ad blockers from working, people will simply switch to another platform and Google will incur enough losses that they will enable ad blockers again.
    Reply
  • Unolocogringo
    The problem is simple.
    I will watch their ads, but I block all tracking cookies that their ads try to place on my computer.
    So I get the pop up stating that I am using an add blocker because my computer will not accept their tracking cookie.
    So get your story straight.
    I hate adds like everyone else.
    But I hate tracking cookies even more.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Unolocogringo said:
    I will watch their ads, but I block all tracking cookies that their ads try to place on my computer.
    So I get the pop up stating that I am using an add blocker because my computer will not accept their tracking cookie.
    So get your story straight.
    I hate adds like everyone else.
    But I hate tracking cookies even more.
    100% agree.

    The problem is that ad networks bid for your eyeballs and they won't pay if they don't know who you are, so that they can serve you a properly-targeted ad. So, that's why tracker-blocking tends to cut way down on ads and why they incorrectly equate such privacy-protections with ad-blocking.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    vanadiel007 said:
    If they insist in preventing ad blockers from working, people will simply switch to another platform and Google will incur enough losses that they will enable ad blockers again.
    Do you not see the flaw in this logic? Google is already losing money when people view content but not ads. It's actually to their benefit to kick the "deadbeats" off their platform!
    Reply
  • Li Ken-un
    bit_user said:
    It's actually to their benefit to kick the "deadbeats" off their platform!
    On the surface, that’s true. But perhaps there is a more complex dynamic. (I’m spitballing here.)

    Suppose these deadbeats went elsewhere. (To where, I wouldn’t know. But I would love to know. 😃) The content creators now have a decision to make: spread their content to the other platforms or risk reduced viewership. And Google watches helplessly as YouTube’s dominance is eroded away. Where content creators once had a no-brainer choice between hosting on YouTube or not, they now make their content more widely available on other platforms. Given a choice between a platform where ad blocking is not possible and where it is, one could see users migrating to the latter. And that endangers Google, because the competitors will have some critical mass of content and users to begin offering competing subscriptions, driving prices down. If this logic is sound, then Google does have an incentive to bear some of the freeloaders as it also suppresses the emergence of viable competition, making its ad space/time more valuable for those who still watch ads and preventing the emergence of more choices in the market competing for paid subscriptions.
    Reply
  • Notton
    I noticed a bit of whack-a-mole between Youtube and uBlock origin over the past couple of days.
    uBlock won btw.

    If you are on Linux, Vacuumtube is also great alternative.

    I would turn on ads, but the moment I did, I kept getting blasted by hateful and untruthful political ads, or scam ads like the swamp cooler being sold as the "revolutionary airconditioner".
    At which point I turned on uBlock again. No thanks.
    Reply
  • Li Ken-un
    Notton said:
    I would turn on ads, but the moment I did, I kept getting blasted by hateful and untruthful political ads, or scam ads like the swamp cooler being sold as the "revolutionary airconditioner".
    Thank you for sparing us the “find out.” 🙂

    Li Ken-un said:
    The content creators now have a decision to make: spread their content to the other platforms or risk reduced viewership.
    I’m not a content creator, so I do not have any informed opinions from such a perspective. But as a content consumer, I’ve noticed many creators already have their own ads for their sponsors built permanently into the video stream. Some are also on alternative paid platforms where zero ads are present. This tells me that whatever incentive exists to monetize videos using YouTube ad viewership, it certainly isn’t powerful.
    Reply
  • TheyStoppedit
    YouTube is going to lose the war, because eventually the ad blockers will break every measure YouTube creates to the point where the only way for YouTube to stop it will fall afoul of privacy laws in many jurisdictions. The ad blocker devs won't back down. The message to YouTube is simple. Either you remove the ads, or we will remove the ads. You can decide how the ads are removed
    Reply
  • Dementoss
    If you want to continue using YT with ads blocked, it may help to use one of the more niche browsers. Of the ones I use most often, Opera is by far the most popular with a markets share of around 2.74% in April this year.

    With adblocking enabled Opera has been having issues in recent days. Vivaldi, my favoured browser and DuckDuckGo both have very much less users and, they still work seamlessly with adblocking on.
    Reply