# YouTube "forbidding" ad blockers. Concerns, if any? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493 "2023-10-13T04:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 24
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/461 "2025-03-08T12:17:36Z")
Chrome finally shut down uBlock Origin (both on my PCs and on my Chromebook). I switched to uBlock Origin Lite and chose the Optimized level, but stuff is still leaking through. So, I’m permanently switching to Brave, even on my Chromebook (running it in Linux). I know Brave is Chromium, but it contains a built-in adblocker that still seems to be working. If that ever stops, I guess I’ll go to Firefox, although it’s really slow on my Chromebook. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/462 "2025-03-08T14:45:56Z")
I’ve noted the same, uBlock Origin was removed by chrome overnight, with me immediately finding ads on youtube. I’ve optimized the Lite version for now, and it seems to be working at the moment. What fun. Thanks for the tip, let us know how Brave works for you. ---
**Author:** ![Ellecram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellecram/32/18948_2.png) [@Ellecram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellecram)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/463 "2025-03-08T14:53:44Z")
I use Firefox with an ad blocker and it works fine. I’ve set up U Block Origin Lite on Chrome for now. I’ve tried Brave on my phone but not my desktop. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/464 "2025-03-08T14:59:27Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I guess I’ll go to Firefox, although it’s really slow on my Chromebook. What does “slow” in this respect mean? I use Firefox with uBlock and it works great. If it is 1 second slower I never notice it and well worth avoiding the ads. I’d be ok with ads to some extent but there are so many it is obnoxious. ETA: Also, they just happen at random while you are watching with no regard for natural breaks in the content. Some are 15 seconds and some are three minutes long. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/465 "2025-03-08T15:24:08Z")
**MrsFtG** uses Firefox and isn’t in the mood to change. Quite often the browser maxes out CPU usage for unknown reasons. This is a _long_ known issue with Firefox that affects _some_ users. Since it doesn’t affect everybody, Mozilla’s response is to blame the user and ignore the issue. I have enough background that I can tell it’s not the user’s fault. So I kill it and restart. I use Brave with uBlock dev. build. In order to maximize en\*\*\*\*ification, YouTube lately has done two things that are Do Not Want. It is autoplaying videos. Something _I never, ever want_. Nope. They long ago got rid of the autoplay button and whatever I was using to stop autoplay isn’t working anymore. I get a notice that autoplay was disabled on this page in the toolbar, but it autoplays anyway. It automatically goes to the “next” video some seconds after reaching the end. Again, _very much do not want_, esp. since I am extremely unlikely to not watch whatever crap is next. I think both changes are directly related to ads. I sometimes get an pre-roll ad before the video starts. Hence, autoplay means the ad autoplays and forces me to be more forceful in skipping it. Similarly, the autoplay of the “next” video means that the pre-roll ad for the next video gets played. Google gets to charge the ad buyer for each attempted roll. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/466 "2025-03-08T15:45:37Z")
It seems uBlock was removed from my Chrome overnight as well. Is there a general discussion of Brave vs Firefox? I’ve done some brief googling this morning and feel like I’m getting a lot of contradictory information. One website claims Brave is the best for privacy and the next one says Brave actually does a ton of data collection and isn’t good for privacy at all. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/467 "2025-03-08T16:08:26Z")
I use Opera with uBlock, and it still works fine. I have a couple of sites that tell me that they don’t recognize my browser, but they still work. ---
**Author:** ![Awb78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Awb78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Awb78)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/468 "2025-03-08T16:14:44Z")
Its still there, just disabled. Go to your extentions tab and re-enable it. Mine disabled the other day on a forced update. a quick Google search gave me the info. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/469 "2025-03-08T16:17:29Z")
**Brave** works fine blocking Youtube ads without needing any third party. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/470 "2025-03-08T16:38:22Z")
Oh excellent, thank you! I do worry that’s a temporary solution though, so if anyone can point to some good info about Brave vs Firefox for general usage (not just YouTube) it would be appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/471 "2025-03-08T16:44:14Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > What does “slow” in this respect mean? Slower to load pages, slower to play videos, videos are laggy. It’s a pretty underpowered Chromebook and Firefox (and Brave) are running in the Linux environment. There are other annoyances with that for both browsers, but what can I do? I hope that both Brave and Firefox improve their mobile browsers to work properly on a Chromebook. Right now, they’re buggy and difficult to use on a computer-shaped device with a keyboard and no touchscreen. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/472 "2025-03-08T16:54:11Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I use Firefox with uBlock and it works great. So do I. No obvious problems with YouTube at the moment. Mind you, I am in the UK so the YouTube behaviour might be a bit different for legal &/or regulatory reasons? > [@ftg](#): > > Quite often the browser maxes out CPU usage for unknown reasons. This is a _long_ known issue with Firefox that affects _some_ users. I HAVE noticed a problem on a few sites, notably Yahoo finance. Though in my case it seems to max out memory, not CPU. Disabling ublock on those few sites appears to solve the problem. I can live with that for the moment as long as it’s only one or two sites that I don’t use very extensively. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/473 "2025-03-08T16:54:28Z")
> [@Awb78](#): > > Its still there, just disabled. > > Go to your extentions tab and re-enable it. I just want to thank everybody in this thread since I have so far had excellent results using youtube with no ads both on my laptop (via Chrome) and my chromebook so far. But I know youtube will continue to work against me and I need to stay informed. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/474 "2025-03-08T18:24:52Z")
Today I’ve been watching several YT videos in a row on Chrome, and my uBlock Origin is still working. I saw no ads with these: - [Dene-Caucasian Language Family: Indo-European’s Imposing Neighbor](https://youtu.be/rFfom1v_wGw?si=SxE63oGTuFk_Bcuz) - [“Addicted to You” by When Rivers Meet](https://youtu.be/uwJ8Cv_Plco?si=YKyKgb9YYMxztHxH) - [Can Ukraine Survive Without U.S. Aid?](https://youtu.be/oxUvzAa0DIk?si=7K2tjogMUv9HK1Rh) - [It’s Up to Us to Save Science in America](https://youtu.be/6Pl62kCBax4?si=KkpWT7c3IggPSvVk) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/475 "2025-03-08T18:55:39Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > **MrsFtG** uses Firefox and isn’t in the mood to change. Quite often the browser maxes out CPU usage for unknown reasons. I’ve noticed a FF _memory leak_ for a number of years now, typically involving long videos, noticeable when it switches to virtual memory. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/476 "2025-03-08T19:30:55Z")
I’ve just noticed that while uBlock Origin Lite is working to keep me ad free, the comments section on the Youtube Shorts has disappeared for me. No great loss. I also note that during the earlier portions of this kerfuffle about ad blockers, Some half a year ago or so, Youtube stopped tracking which videos I’d already viewed, if the viewing was older than about a month or two. This was more annoying, so now I either upvote or downvote any video I watch, and this serves as a label to me whether I’ve watched them before. This up or downvote seems to not get erased after a month or so the way the record of my viewing otherwise does. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/477 "2025-03-08T20:38:45Z")
do you have your browser set to “drop cookies” after one month by chance? … that would possibly explain that ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/478 "2025-03-08T20:45:39Z")
It doesn’t seem that I do have it set that way. If I did, wouldn’t that also erase my like or dislike record for viewed videos too? Those persist even though I haven’t viewed some of them on my favorites list in a year or more. I just checked and those likes are still there. thanks for thinking of me, though ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/479 "2025-03-08T20:49:25Z")
well, you had thoughts … … don’t expect prayers ;o) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2025, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493/480 "2025-03-08T21:20:43Z")
Well, now the comments on the shorts are back. No idea why. Must be the thoughts and maybe even prayers received. Or not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493.md?page=23) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-forbidding-ad-blockers-concerns-if-any/991493.md?page=25)