YouTube and ad blockers: Who’s in the right?
Google has denied that the latest YouTube issues for people using ad blockers are a punishment. Let's look at the facts.
JoriPress
The latest installment of the YouTube against ad blockers saga has brought a new twist. Some users have noticed that accessing YouTube with certain ad blockers enabled causes their videos to be skipped or muted, making the streaming service all but unusable. The natural response of some is to claim that this is another attempt by YouTube’s owner, Google, to punish the use of these third-party apps and force them to either watch ads or pay for YouTube Premium instead. What’s different this time is that Google isn’t accepting the blame, so who should you believe?
Following our reporting on this issue after it was flagged by Reddit users, YouTube responded to our request for a statement on the matter. The spokesperson made clear that ad blockers were against the YouTube Terms of Service but went on to reference “an unrelated push to improve YouTube’s performance and reliability” as a reason why users might be experiencing issues. On its face, this is a denial from Google and YouTube that the problem is related to the measures against ad blockers.
