The YouTube ad blocker cat-and-mouse game between Google and ad blockers continues with a new episode that might deliver a big win to Google. The company has been trying to ban ad blocker extensions on YouTube for quite a while, though these programs have always found a way to circumvent Google’s ideas. This seemed to indicate that Google might never be able to stop all ad blocker apps out there completely. But also, that extensions that block YouTube ads might not always work.
Some users have started noticing a new type of ad tech on YouTube that might make it harder for ad blockers to block ads. Apparently, Google is looking at server-side ad injections that some ad blockers might be unable to stop. Google is already testing the new ads, as some YouTube users have started spotting unskippable black segments of video that do not show anything.
“Just opened a YouTube video and was met with 6 seconds of unskippable nothingness (most likely an ad that was blocked by ublock origin), this seems to suggest that they’ll now inject the ads directly into the video stream,” a Reddit user said. They posted a screenshot showing that unskippable black segment of video that measured 6 seconds. That seems to indicate you can’t procede to the video you wanted to watch.
Other Redditors confirmed the behavior. Some of them said that refreshing the page would fix the problem. Another potential fix is signing out of their Google accounts. These fixes are probably only temporary.
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As Android Police noticed, Google posted an update on the YouTube community pages about extensions on YouTube the same day the Redditors started spotting the new unskippable ads.
It could be all a coincidence, sure. The alternative is that Google is indeed taking some action against extensions of the ad-blocking variety. Google said in the update that it’s “upgrading our safety standards for browser extensions on YouTube.”
It’s unclear what “enhancing our enforcement on these extensions” means. But the company says that the new security features will “help safeguard viewers and creators from cyber attacks such as hijacking or data theft.” Google doesn’t name any extensions the new safety features will impact.
These mysterious changes will happen automatically, Google said. But if you experience any issues with extensions, you can disable them, or use YouTube in an incognito window with all extensions disabled. You can read the announcement at this link.
While I believe that ads should be part of the YouTube experience, or else you can’t get the free content you want, I also think it’s Google’s fault that people are growing to hate YouTube ads with such a passion. That said, it’ll be interesting to see what ad blocker developers come up with if this server-side ad injection tech can block ad blockers.