YouTube intensifies crackdown on adblockers with this new restriction

Martin Brinkmann
Jun 29, 2023
Youtube
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51

After having tested blocking users with content blockers outright on YouTube, Google is now, reportedly, running a new experiment that allows users to watch three videos before they are locked out of the site.

The report comes from Reddit user Reddit_n_Me who published a screenshot of the new experiment on the site. It needs to be noted that there has not been official confirmation from Google or YouTube, or other users who have received the message. It looks plausible though that Google is testing different thumbscrew approaches and it may use different counts of allowed videos before blocking the user.

The screenshot informs the user that the "video player will be blocked after 3 videos". Google explains that video playback will be blocked unless the user allows ads on YouTube in the adblocker or disables the adblocker outright.

Google furthermore states that the ads help keep YouTube free and that users who dislike ads can subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.

The two options offered are to allow YouTube ads or to try YouTube Premium.

Google's last experiment on YouTube was stricter. It prevented access to videos right away if its algorithm detected a content blocker. It seems that Google is experimenting with different approaches to find the most rewarding solution from a business perspective.

Google announced earlier this month that it had plans to introduce unskippable ads in YouTube TV. These ads play for 30 seconds before videos on YouTube TV and ads will also play when users pause a video. In 2022, Google ran an experiment to show up to 10 unskippable ads before videos on YouTube.

What you can do about the adblocker blocking on YouTube

Google is giving YouTube users with content blockers two options: disable the adblocker on the site or subscribe to YouTube Premium.

There are other options, however. Besides leaving the site and never looking back, users may also wait until content blockers manage to overcome the anti-adblocker scripts on YouTube. This could turn into a cat and mouse game, with YouTube adjusting its algorithms regularly or modifying code to identify and block users with adblockers, and content blockers finding new ways around these restrictions.

Another option that YouTube users have is to use Invidious instances to watch videos. This third-party open source solution may be used to watch videos on YouTube without advertisement or YouTube account. Google has threatened the project recently with legal actions.

Using Invidious is straightforward. Head over to the main site to check out the list of instances that are available. Select one to from the listing. Experienced users may set up their own instances as well.

The interface looks a bit different, but search is available to find videos of interest. YouTube users may import their subscriptions to Invidious by exporting them on YouTube and importing them to Invidious.

There are also third-party mobile apps, as YouTube ads may also be blocked on mobiles. There is NewPipe, but also other YouTube third-party apps available that promise an ad-free experience on the site.

Closing Words

YouTube, like any other site on the Internet that is financed through advertisement, is feeling the impact of content blocking. More and more users are installing adblockers on their devices or use the included functionality of their browsers.

They have lots of reasons for that, from not wanting to be tracked across the entire Internet to not wanting to see annoying ads on sites. Ads are also used regularly to push malware on user devices.

On YouTube, ads can be very annoying, especially if they play in the middle of videos, even short ones.

In any event, Google is trying to find a suitable method to reduce the number of content blocker users on YouTube. Whether it is going to launch an anti-adblocker on YouTube remains to be seen, but there is a chance for this happening in the near future.

Now You: do you watch YouTube videos?

Summary
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YouTube intensifies crackdown on adblockers with this new restriction
Description
Google is reportedly running a new experiment that allows users to watch three videos before they are locked out of the site.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. owl said on July 1, 2023 at 6:37 am
    Reply

    Google is conducting tests (finding compromises such a line that should not be crossed) on YouTube to explore end-user trends (subordination to Google).

    Like smokers, drinkers, gamblers, drug addicts, etc., It will be difficult to get out of there for people whose “YouTube and social media” have become the majority of their lifestyle.
    In an environment where refugees and artillery shells are flying around, there is no entertainment, and above all, it is difficult to obtain even “sustaining life”, but if there is enough food and clothing, “relief from boredom” is given priority.

    So what does digital technology bring?
    Objectively summed up, it would be “Human nature breakdown, destroying natural environment and ecosystems, and exterminating all life forms on earth.”
    Deeply sighing the “shallowness” of human beings.

    “Seeing and hearing” is a valuable experience, and it is also important to know different worlds (culture, environment, values, etc.). But the unknown is infinite and life is finite. Greed is bottomless, and selection is essential.
    Based on them, we should be interested in the world within the category in which oneself can participate (Them all things are ephemeral, everything is a once-in-a-lifetime existence) around us.
    And above all, we should concentrate on “disciplining oneself”. If I had to compare it, it would be the realm of “Zen”.

  2. owl said on July 1, 2023 at 1:25 am
    Reply

    I’m not a YouTuber, so for up to related information:

    YouTube tests disabling videos for people using ad blockers | The Verge
    https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/29/23778879/youtube-videos-disabling-ad-blockers-detection
    YouTube has confirmed to The Verge that it is “testing a limit of three video views for viewers with ad blockers enabled”. (Article: 2023/6/29)

    New twist in YouTube’s war against ad blockers: pay or see ads after 3 videos | adguard.com
    https://adguard.com/en/blog/ad-blockers-youtube-ban.html
    June 29, 2023

    Google’s Epic Multi-Billion Dollar Ad Scam Makes Sense To Us | checkmyads.org
    https://checkmyads.org/branded/googles-epic-multi-billion-dollar-ad-scam-makes-sense-to-us/
    A study by the independent digital ad watchdog Check My Ads Institute found that Google is using subtle tricks to circumvent the “skip button guarantee” for video ads. (Article: Jun 29, 2023)

    In re Google Referrer Header Privacy Litigation | Kroll Settlement Administration LLC
    https://www.refererheadersettlement.com/
    You are included in this Settlement as a Settlement Class Member if you used Google Search and clicked on a Search link at any time on or between October 25, 2006 and September 30, 2013.

  3. anon said on June 30, 2023 at 7:14 pm
    Reply

    I’ve been using uBlock Origin and noscript for the longest time. 0 tolerance for ads and I only disable my blockers in rare occasions.

    I noticed in the last couple of weeks how bad Youtube (and Twitch!) have gotten with forced ads. Youtube especially. I started an old longplay of a game and got 2 short ads back2back. Okay whatever. I skipped ahead in the several hours long playthrough, 1 click! and Youtube threw 5 ads at me, at least one being 30 seconds long. You’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t know where in that long video the parts I want to watch are and have to jump time codes. EVERY TIME I click on the seekbar I’m bombarded with multiple long ads. This is unwatchable. I tried to trick Youtube but it didn’t work so I closed the tab. If that’s the future I’m done with YT. Luckily most old music uploads still work normally. If this new “3 videos then stop” is implemented.. well that should be easier to get around than forced ads. But I’m really close to not wanting to use YT anymore which I mostly limit to music. I’ve used different invidious instances before but all of them load too slow, have broken comment sections or I get unsupported video popups while the video plays (maybe PaleMoon related).

    Twitch is similarly annoying with ads. They play completely randomly and often at the worst time. Sometimes refreshing the page a few times skips it or maybe refreshing just takes long enough for the ad to end. I’d rather refresh for 30 seconds than watch the 30 second ad. I hate that ads are always using my geolocation.

    Ads are cancer and these giants aren’t poor at all. I can understand though that they’re businesses and want to earn their cake. One thing no one ever thinks about is the insane amount of data these companies are saving on their servers. Twitch less so because they delete VODs after x time, but YT! Every video that doesn’t break rules is stored and that in many resolutions. With the rise in 2k/4k even the shortest videos take up a lot of space. Youtube for years has been a dump of low quality content, some youtubers uploading a dozen videos every day that are 10 minutes long for their ad revenue. All of that crap takes up server space. That’s really the only reason I’m giving YT some slack. They have to host petabytes of worthless “content”. Twitch/Amazon are smarter with their deletion policy though it hurts users who want to watch old streams and can’t.

  4. TelV said on June 30, 2023 at 2:04 pm
    Reply

    I noticed this morning that I can’t watch anything on Twitter anymore because of the Login overlay. So it wouldn’t suprise me if Google goes the same route on youtube soon.

    But AFAIA ads only appear on frequently viewed videos. They don’t appear if a given video isn’t viewed very much.

    Also, when visiting youtube the page reloads after 10 seconds even though nothing appears in the interval. Maybe that’s down to UBO blocking something.

    In the meantime, the only stuff I’m watching on yt are war footage videos from the Ukraine war which often consist of Ukrainian language content. I doubt if Google will be interested in those somehow.

    1. John G. said on July 1, 2023 at 4:27 am
      Reply

      @TelV, > “I noticed this morning that I can’t watch anything on Twitter anymore because of the Login overlay.”

      Best thing ever, the login overlay blocking issue is the health.

    2. Iron Heart said on June 30, 2023 at 2:08 pm
      Reply

      @TelV

      > I noticed this morning that I can’t watch anything on Twitter anymore because of the Login overlay.

      Use an active Nitter instance and the Twitter login shall never bother you again:

      https://github.com/xnaas/nitter-instances#readme

      1. TelV said on July 1, 2023 at 10:28 am
        Reply

        @ Iron Heart,

        Not working for the time being: https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/issues/919

        But thanks for the tip anyway.

  5. Tex said on June 30, 2023 at 12:46 pm
    Reply

    Quite funny when I keep clicking back on youtube videos on my nvidia shield tv to stop any adverts dead. And yt can do f all about it. Lol

    1. Iron Heart said on June 30, 2023 at 2:11 pm
      Reply

      @Tex

      > youtube videos on my nvidia shield tv

      SmartTubeNext is available for it, YouTube without ads:

      https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTubeNext

      You can download the APK onto your Shield TV via the Dowloader app, which you can find in the Play Store:

      https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.esaba.downloader

      Thank me later.

  6. John G. said on June 30, 2023 at 6:02 am
    Reply

    Such a pity OMG, today is not a good day for me, my family has decided to cancel our vacation in France because of the riots. MOG all day long with riots, oh come on! Now we will probably go to the south of Portugal, good bye to see the clean beaches of the D-Day landing in Normandy. That’s fine, I will see it using Youtube with few ads (LOL).

  7. Scroogled said on June 30, 2023 at 1:10 am
    Reply

    I’m glad I stopped using YouTube.

  8. ShallowPockets said on June 30, 2023 at 12:24 am
    Reply

    Is Google really going to fire this missile on us, We-the-People!? Thats sounds like the beginning of Google of an Internet War.
    If this is really due to cost reasons as stated by google, they have themselves to blame for hosting other peoples content in a ‘centralized’ way. Youtube alternatives use a ‘federated’ approach and are able to host the same content with little to no budget.
    I wish people would upload their content to these alternatives before $croogle gets even more hostile US and other Big Brother type bullies follow suite whether independent or collectively.
    If we do not begin to migrate elsewhere they will see not only can they get away with such bullying but that such actions are profitable. When that realization happens this type of bullying will become part of the standard business model for them and others to follow.

    Power by choice belongs to US -actual human beings. Not unconscious greedy businesses.

    I like http://www.tonvid.com/ over smtube because it is browser based.

  9. Leland said on June 29, 2023 at 8:31 pm
    Reply

    Something I did not see mentioned was SMPlayer and SMTube. With these installed you can watch youtube videos on Windows without ads. I just checked and it still works.

  10. Mystique said on June 29, 2023 at 7:24 pm
    Reply

    I assure you if the go down the Widevine route they will surely regret it. Not only will push away content creators, viewers and add unnecessary overhead to the youtube but there will needlessly to say a way around it. Widevine has already been defeated and just like every other service. They would actually be doing everyone a favor because people will just double their efforts to smash it to smithereens.

    I totally agree with what you have said @Iron Heart. We are empowering these clowns to behave this way. The sad part is that people will lay down and take it just like they did with Netflix. There is a broader and more complex argument here but i don’t know how to approach it yet without ruffling feathers or misplacing my words. (not against anyone personally here).

    I’m baffled why people are not mirroring their content and channel to services like Odysee. Uploading to both services cannot take much effort at all especially for the bigger channels that do not really engage with people in the comments. It should be a complete no-brainer to double your viewers and add to your profit. It’s rather crazy so then when one goes belly up you have a tangible backup. Take for instance when Linus tech tips had their channel issues earlier this year… that would have been a perfect opportunity for them. I don’t know if they are actually do have a mirror of their content on Odysee but I also imagine Youtube sucks up to some content creators to keep them on the platform so there is likely some exclusivity.

    Youtube has also been pushing for creators to make shorts, some have given youtube the finger but some have complied and its pathetic at best. They can’t even make decent shorts to save themselves either as none of them make any tangible sense or are related to the channel at all. Even more reason to block all shorts.

    1. John G. said on June 30, 2023 at 5:49 am
      Reply

      Very nice comment.

  11. Iron Heart said on June 29, 2023 at 6:16 pm
    Reply

    I will continue to resist this until the very end of course, using tools like Brave, NewPipe, SmartTubeNext etc. So much is clear.

    The greatest weapon in Google’s arsenal is IMHO Widevine DRM. All major browsers support that one, and they could encrypt and lock down the video stream that way. This would instantly kill things like NewPipe, Invidious, Piped etc. Not sure if software like uBlock Origin would continue to work then, but likely not. It will eventually come to this, wait and see.

    The only option then is to fully migrate to other platforms like Odysee. Some users here, have indicated that they need the Google nanny in order to visit any website, i.e. Odysee won’t be an option for them without heavy Google-alike censorship, even though theoretically, they themselves decide what channels they want to subscribe to and which ones they don’t watch anyway. As long as people don’t give other platforms a chance, Google can do whatever they want given that slave mentality.

    1. Klaas Vaak said on June 29, 2023 at 6:29 pm
      Reply
  12. Mystique said on June 29, 2023 at 6:00 pm
    Reply

    I wonder what will happen if you could poison youtube’s ad data by using something like AdNauseam at the very least it will cause a ruckus and disrupt their ad data and revenue.

    I expect this to be defeated but don’t mind if a large portion of people just keep watching ads through their chrome browser on their chromebook or whatever else their ignorance has lead them to.

    None of this surprises me really. It seems like there is a real competition as to who can be the worst. Youtube, Netlfix, Reddit, Photobucket but people encourage companies to get awa ywith garbage like this. Take Netflix for example, they have now removed the basic ad free model from their line of services in Canada. These streaming services are just going full circle like cable companies. Ads will become the new standard even after you pay because for these greedy crooks the money you give them is never enough. With each passing year they must earn more and more regardless.

  13. Benjamin said on June 29, 2023 at 5:44 pm
    Reply

    th8s corporation is the largest data thief the world has ever seen. it is also the most efficient censor and manipulator of content which is shown to people around the globe or not. it is a gigantic monopoly and a highly profitable as well. yet profits alone should not be a carte blanche…i as an outsider have not forgotten the miserable faschistoid censoring of critical c19 knowledge.

  14. VioletMoon said on June 29, 2023 at 4:00 pm
    Reply

    “On YouTube, ads can be very annoying, especially if they play in the middle of videos, even short ones.”

    I wonder what I am doing or what extension I have or what I’ve done with a firewall that is so delightfully perfect because I have never, ever, in at least 10 years of watching a few YT videos, encountered an advertisement.

    No fancy re-directors or alternative streams, yet the comments here sound like the average user is bombarded with advertisements and is always on the lookout for some way to stop the plague.

    Maybe there is a special setting in accounts that allows one to turn off advertisements, yes?

    1. Tom Hawack said on June 30, 2023 at 4:19 pm
      Reply

      It’s just that VioletMoon has a guardian angel, maybe a former YouTube high-level engineer who passed away after a burn-out, now resting in peace and compassion for some of those hit by what he had collaborated to?

    2. bruh said on June 29, 2023 at 5:27 pm
      Reply

      Not sure why you are acting like a special snowflake VioletMoon, you probably have an adblocker, thus, you will not see advertisements. I am not sure why that is a difficult concept to understand.

      Without an adblocker, you will definitely see adverts, regardless of what browser, operating system, etc. you use.

      1. VioletMoon said on June 30, 2023 at 3:47 pm
        Reply

        @bruh–If an ad blocker resolves the issue [DDG Privacy?], then why such a fuss with redirectors, and Piped and Invidious, SM Player, etc. [makes me dizzy; the comments indicate users are having a horrible time blocking ads which isn’t the case here].

        Clearly something else is at play with my browser and settings; unfortunately, I have no idea what it could be.

        I shall ask the techie/geek guy who set it up.

      2. bruh said on June 30, 2023 at 4:43 pm
        Reply

        @VioletMoon – the redirectors, Piped, invidious, is for the more paranoid people, those that want to watch youtube without even being on the website. It’s not necessary for normal viewing.

      3. Anonymous said on July 2, 2023 at 6:41 am
        Reply

        I am not well acquainted with the technologies mentioned in the posts, but how do people who use these YT evading SW and extensions like Piped, Redirectors etc find out what to watch without visiting YT to begin with?

    3. Klaas Vaak said on June 29, 2023 at 4:21 pm
      Reply

      @VioletMoon: do you get the consent pop-up before it let’s you watch a vid?

      1. VioletMoon said on June 30, 2023 at 12:17 am
        Reply

        @Klaas Vaak–No, since I’ve never seen an advertisement, I never know what the YT advertisement articles mean. I don’t click anything, I use Firefox, basic everything, e.g. I just did a search using DDG with “how to stop a dog from love biting youtube” because I have this dog that loves to nibble. Clicked and went through a few of the YT’s with no advertisements in sight–anywhere.

        Don’t know, but I hope I never have to deal with the issue!

      2. sal said on June 29, 2023 at 4:52 pm
        Reply

        @Klaas Vaak, no, I don’t have one. Can a picture and address of such a clip to test what you mean?!

        I am using Ungoogled chromium.

        I don’t know what “Redirector” for Chromium-based browsers you use and what “Piped” on a desktop Windows environment?!

      3. Klaas Vaak said on June 29, 2023 at 6:06 pm
        Reply

        @sal: what do you mean by “I don’t have one”?

        There is only 1 Redirector from Chromium browsers, AFAIK, and that it the one I use.

        https://piped.adminforge.de/

      4. sal said on June 29, 2023 at 9:46 pm
        Reply

        Write with an address who is this “Redirector”?! Link?!

      5. Klaas Vaak said on June 30, 2023 at 1:08 pm
        Reply

        @sal: it is an extension for Firefox and Chrome, so just type it in the search box of either extension repository.

      6. sal said on July 1, 2023 at 10:59 am
        Reply

        Instead of writing a direct link to this Chromium extension, you send me to look for… Pointless dialogue we are having… You don’t want…

  15. Tachy said on June 29, 2023 at 3:28 pm
    Reply

    How long has youtube been around?

    How much money has it made?

    Now suddenly it is unprofitable unless you watch the ads you’ve been blocking this whole time?

    1. Lemegeton said on June 30, 2023 at 2:03 pm
      Reply

      That, detective, is the right question. (c)

      “Alphabet’s profit increased 36 percent, to $20.64 billion, in the fourth quarter*.”
      *2022

      Simply put – they lie and they just want to increase their profits (which are already increasing year after year).

      1. bruh said on June 30, 2023 at 4:40 pm
        Reply

        Nah you guys are wrong… Youtube was sold off to Google, and what they have done since acquiring youtube, is prop it up the help of the massive alphabet corporation. They care more about the worldwide cultural/political dominance, and the ability to “control” the flow of information, than making a profit.

        Having the biggest, most popular platform is the number 1 priority, making it profitable is number 2 priority. The more Youtube is solidified as having a massive audience and no great replacement, the more they will focus on priority 2 (profit).

        Alphabet being profitable =/= Youtube being profitable

    2. John G. said on June 30, 2023 at 5:51 am
      Reply

      Very good questions.

  16. Cor Invictus said on June 29, 2023 at 2:13 pm
    Reply

    The more they push, the more people they lose, the better!
    Constantly looking for get-a-rounds is no solution; getting out for good is the solution.

  17. Tom Hawack said on June 29, 2023 at 10:13 am
    Reply

    Yes, I do watch videos published on YouTube, but not from YouTube.

    – Is it logical, coherent that a company financed through advertisement strives to impose advertisement? Certainly.
    – Is it legitimate that such a company imposes such an amount of advertisement? Arguable.
    – Personally, can I bear advertisement moreover when force fed with great amounts? Definitely not.
    – Personally, can I imagine subscribing, paying to enjoy an ad-free Website? Yes, I can. I can imagine, only, because in facts I won’t if a free work-around is available.
    – Personally do I feel ashamed of bypassing a site’s revenue thanks to ad-hoc ad-blockers or alternatives that retrieve data from a commercial Website? Depends of the Website : if the mother-company is colossus as Google is : not at all. Moreover when itself is fed by external sources, video developers when it comes to YouTube.

    So, cat and mouse game is it between a company brain-storming on the means to force users to endure an amazing amount of ads and alternatives, I choose the latter. Invidious and Piped instances in my case (mainly Piped which I’ve set to welcome all redirected YouTube videos, channels, playlists). Both offer many instances which means that when one is down (by itself or because Google/YouTube is fine-tuning their APIs) then we hop to another.

    There was a time when I’d view YouTube videos on YouTube, even a time when I was a registered user. There’s even been a time — lon, lon ago — when I had a Google account! I promise! Those days are gone, not because I ever aimed to try to be a “smart guy” running after free stuff but because I got aware of what Google is, and that includes its services. People of greater morality than myself would argue “Then why not avoid such a company rather than bypassing it with questionable means?” and they’d be right. I do avoid Google, its services and its servers… except for YouTube and, occasionally, Google Street View (Street View only when Google maps itself is flawlessly replaced by OpenStreetMap, Weho.here Maps alternatives).

    Lastly, what would I do should there be not one alternative and that i’d be obliged to endure YouTube ads or pay for YouTube Premium? Do you ask a fighter, a warrior whet he’d do if he loses?

    1. Klaas Vaak said on June 29, 2023 at 12:26 pm
      Reply

      Hey Tom, long time no speak, ça va?

      I am surprised by your reply in that you don’t mention Piped via the Redirector extension. I have had it installed for months thanks to you when you mentioned it in a comment on Ghacks – can’t remember the page.

      When I installed it in Brave it was a bit aléatoire, hit & miss. I disabled it and had to go through youtube with its consent page.

      I gave Opera a go (am very happy, yeah, I know I know, Chinese ‘n all that) and tried Redirector. Works 100% of the time. I would have thought you would have mentioned it here as YT bypass.

      1. Tom Hawack said on June 29, 2023 at 1:26 pm
        Reply

        Hi @Klaas Vaak, nice to read you :) Ça va bien, toi aussi j’espère (hey! you started speaking French!).

        If I did mention redirecting YouTube to a Piped instance I didn’t indeed mention that I’d do so with the REDIRECTOR extension. It is really a fantastic tool isn’t it? Happy to know you like & use it as well.

        I’ve added another redirection extension which completes what I obtain with REDIRECTOR, it’s called ‘URLRedirector’ [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/urlredirector/]. Why do I use both?

        Some of my REDIRECTOR redirecting rules concern urls pertinent to a domain which I’m unable to “unify” within one and one only rule, which means i.e. that I’ll have 5 rules for YouTube. I face a bother when i wish/need to change the target Piped instance : I have then to modify each of the rules to handle the new Piped instance.

        What I do now is that with REDIRECTOR I redirect all of YouTube to piped.redir which doesn’t exist.
        Then, with URLRedirector, I have one rule to redirect piped.redir to the valid piped instance i choose.
        It’s like if I had a variable (piped.redir) which gets managed with URLRedirector. For easiness purpose only.

        You write,

        > “When I installed it in Brave it was a bit aléatoire, hit & miss.”.
        As it seems the REDIRECTOR Chrome add-on doesn’t work as well as the Firefox one, which doesn’t surprise me.

        > “I gave Opera a go (am very happy […] and tried Redirector. Works 100% of the time.”
        Good to know, thanks for the info.

        A secret between you and I so please don’t repeat it : I use only, exclusively the Firefox browser, and this is certainly not the right attitude. Just happens that i know Firefox, have tweaked it substantially and am eminently lazy to discover other browsers given the time i’d have to spare to tweak accordingly to what I wish and wish not a browser to provide … so I can only appreciate your feedback concerning REDIRECTOR on Brave and opera browsers.

        À bientôt :)

      2. Klaas Vaak said on June 29, 2023 at 4:19 pm
        Reply

        @Tom Hawack, merci de m’avoir répondu si vite. Mon épouse est française et et puisqu’on est marié 40 ans, je n’ai pas pu éviter d’apprendre un peu de sa langue ?

        Anyway, thanks for your detailed explanation. I don’t understand all of it so I’ll stick with what works for me.

        Yes, I was aware of your love for FF, and also that you made a significant contribution to the user.js, now called Arkenfox.

        My wife still has Brave installed but I have had to disable Redirector. IMO the problem is not the extension (it works well on Opera) but the browser (Brave), or in any case Brave as I have it set up because there also certain sites that don’t work whereas they do in Opera. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know and am too lazy to go find out.

        Have a nice day. À +

      3. Iron Heart said on June 29, 2023 at 6:09 pm
        Reply

        @Klaas Vaak

        > My wife still has Brave installed but I have had to disable Redirector. IMO the problem is not the extension (it works well on Opera) but the browser (Brave), or in any case Brave as I have it set up because there also certain sites that don’t work whereas they do in Opera. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know and am too lazy to go find out.

        If something doesn’t work in Brave, it’s likely either due to an overzealous amount of lists (in this case, reduce the number of lists used), or due to the fingerprinting defenses, which you can set to a lower level. Even Brave with Brave Shields completely turned off is still more private than the Opera spyware.

      4. Klaas Vaak said on June 29, 2023 at 7:53 pm
        Reply

        @Iron Heart
        > Even Brave with Brave Shields completely turned off is still more private than the Opera spyware.

        Yes, I am aware of it.

        There are 2 forms of privacy:
        * privacy w.r.t. the browser supplier
        * privacy w.r.t. websites.

        The 1st one is the bad one compared with Brave’s. My reasoning, though not very clever, is that the Chinese NSA is likely to be less interested in me than the EU or U.S. one.

        The 2nd one is probably on a par with or close to Brave’s. Meanwhile I have a browser that runs better for me than Brave. When I set Opera up I installed the same extensions as I have for Brave and mimicked the native settings as much as possible, yet Opera runs smoother: it is faster, noticeably so, and broken websites are a lot more incidental.

      5. Iron Heart said on June 29, 2023 at 8:01 pm
        Reply

        @Klaas Vaak

        Opera seemingly works better because it does nothing that interferes with the website by default, no blocking and no anti-FP defenses. That’s why “it always works”. Brave can technically also always work if you disable Brave Shields, but that may not be so good privacy-wise. But at least the browser itself doesn’t collect data about you.

        I am merely voicing my opinion or my own use case here, Opera is on my no-no list together with Edge and Chrome. I would rather check out Ungoogled Chromium or even Vivaldi than any of them, if Brave did not work for me. Good to hear from you again though, lol.

      6. Klaas Vaak said on June 30, 2023 at 5:01 am
        Reply

        @Iron Heart

        Opera has its built-in ad blocker. Furthermore, I have AdGuard, Canvas Fingerprint Defender (changes fingerprint with each website visit) and Privacy Badger installed so surely you cannot say it does no blocking therefore it seemingly works better?

        Data collection about me: true, Brave is far better than Opera, no doubt about it. Vivaldi is janky, I tried it again recently. Ungoogled Chromium for macOS is not updated as often as Brave (i.e. in line with Chromium) and you have to keep track of that manually, as we once discussed.

      7. Iron Heart said on June 30, 2023 at 2:40 pm
        Reply

        @Klaas Vaak

        > I have AdGuard, Canvas Fingerprint Defender (changes fingerprint with each website visit) and Privacy Badger installed so surely you cannot say it does no blocking therefore it seemingly works better?

        It always depends on what lists you use. Brave’s default list should be safe in any case. If you had more enabled, this may lead to unexpected breakage. So could the fingerprinting defenses (which, contrary to canvas Defender, cover more than just Canvas in Brave).

        > Ungoogled Chromium for macOS is not updated as often as Brave (i.e. in line with Chromium) and you have to keep track of that manually, as we once discussed.

        https://brew.sh/

        How to install:

        https://codeberg.org/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium#user-content-downloads

        https://formulae.brew.sh/cask/eloston-chromium

        Automate the update process (checks every 24h):

        https://github.com/ungoogled-software/ungoogled-chromium-macos/issues/41#issuecomment-615850186

        https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-autoupdate

        Thank me later. It uses the Woolyss builds of Ungoogled Chromium that update very shortly after Chromium upstream updates (oftentimes quicker than Opera).

        I realize that Opera works for you too, I am just posting this here in case you will have enough at some point of a closed source spyware browser that adds more and more bloat as time goes on, hehe.

        Have a nice day.

      8. Tom Hawack said on June 29, 2023 at 6:03 pm
        Reply

        @Klaas Vaak, mes hommages à votre épouse et un salut amical à vous deux depuis un autre beau pays, la France :)

        Forty years ago I was engaged with a young Dutch lady, we didn’t get married but almost, memories of happiness in the Amsterdam of the eighties …

        “Time, time, time is on my side” would sing the Rolling Stones. Perhaps not on memories’ side when things nowadays change so quickly. C’est la vie ! It’s not that it was better or worse before, it’s only that life didn’t change as quickly as it does nowadays …

        All the best, for now, tomorrow, coming week-end and whatever comes next :)

  18. Ty said on June 29, 2023 at 10:06 am
    Reply

    Rumble it is.

    1. Cor Invictus said on June 29, 2023 at 2:14 pm
      Reply

      Rumble is paid.

  19. John G. said on June 29, 2023 at 8:04 am
    Reply

    Youtube is clever as hell, they don’t want to pay money to the youtubers, they want that you all pay them instead. They only provide the channel, youtubers make the videos, you pay, Youtube wins. Just funny and hilarious, Youtube wants to win ever at all costs, with the less spent money, and this is basically how the story is going worse: nobody will see an entire ad. Long life to Ublock Origin.

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