YouTube is one of the largest video streaming platforms on the internet with over 2 billion monthly active users. While YouTube’s business numbers reflect that the platform continues to generate profits, the company has not been happy with its users who use ad-blockers.
YouTube recently started its crackdown on adblockers which would prevent users from playing videos on the website when it detects an active adblocker. The platform is now deliberately slowing down video playback, to encourage users to disable adblockers.
YouTube Confirms Slowing Down Video Playback for Adblocking Users
YouTube is on an outright mission to take down adblockers. A few months back, the platform shut down YouTube Vanced, which was a modded version of YouTube for Android that blocked all advertisements from videos.
Earlier this year, YouTube announced that the company will not allow desktop users to use adblockers on the platform. However, extension developers and browsers like Brave figured out ways to escape from getting detected by YouTube for blocking ads.
It looks like YouTube has had enough of this cat-and-mouse chase, and has officially started slowing down video playback for users with adblockers. This behaviour was first noticed by some users of the Firefox browser who started reporting multi-second delays in video loading times on YouTube.
At first, users speculated that YouTube was going after specific web browsers, as this problem was not noticed on Google Chrome. Some users even inspected the YouTube code and found that the platform was deliberately adding a 5-second delay on Firefox. However, a small set of Firefox users reported that YouTube was still working fine for them.
As more and more users started discussing this topic, YouTube clarified the situation through an official statement to Android Authority. YouTube says that it wants to encourage users to allow ads on the platform, or consider subscribing to YouTube Premium. Users with adblockers may experience a suboptimal viewing experience, irrespective of the browser being used.
Hence, it is clear that YouTube is not targeting specific browsers. Instead, the platform slows down certain elements of the website when it detects an ad blocker. This move appears to be a part of YouTube’s crackdown on adblockers, as ad revenue is a major of income for the company.
Adblockers Violate YouTube’s Terms of Service
While it is clear that YouTube is going after adblockers as it causing some loss of revenue for its business, one must remember that adblockers also violate the terms and service of the platform. Although YouTube is not known to suspend or blacklist users for blocking ads, the company could potentially take action against you over the same.
Apart from getting served a legal notice, users should also worry that the platform could ban your Google account from using YouTube. Nobody would want to maintain a new email ID specifically for watching YouTube. Hence, it’s a good idea to stop using adblockers at this moment as YouTube has clearly had enough of this.
