One of the most annoying things about watching videos on YouTube is having to tune in for ads.
These now arrive in formats that are impossible to skip, so you must see them no matter what.
The solution that Google offers you is to subscribe to YouTube Premium, which for 20 soles a month gives you -among multiple options- ad-free playback. But for the rest of the people, Adblockers were the free solution. Unfortunately, that could end soon.
Against Adblock
Now YouTube is working on a tool to block users from watching videos if they have an Adblocker extension installed. The image that sparked the debate was posted on Reddit, with user Saz100 showing the warning sent by YouTube.
In the message, YouTube tells him that “adblockers are not allowed” on the platform. “Ads keep YouTube free for its millions of users around the world,” it reads, and then gives you two options: either pause Adblock or subscribe to YouTube Premium.
YouTube confirmed that it is a measure that it is testing worldwide. “We’re running a small experiment globally encouraging viewers with ad blockers turned on to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium.”
At the moment, the function is limited in scope, but without a doubt, it is already generating rejection among a large number of users. The exact number of testers of this tool is not known. YouTube Premium surpassed 80 million subscribers by November 2022.