In order to avoid paying for YouTube Premium, many users employ an ad blocker in their browser in order to improve their experience and keep their wallet from being drained by Google. However, according to a user on Reddit (Kudos: 9to5Google), who provided the screenshot seen below, the tech giant has started to crack down on those who have an ad blocker installed while perusing YouTube and attempting to play a video.
In the popup, Google states “It looks like you may be using an ad blocker”, and goes on to point out how advertisements on YouTube allow the platform to stay free. Then, it promotes its Premium subscription service. If you don’t want to cough up the cash, an “Allow YouTube Ads” button likely whitelists the website on your adblocker instead of disabling it entirely, letting you go back to viewing commercials for the latest cars, drugs, and other nonsense.
Of course, you can modify these preferences in your Google Account, but it’s still interesting to see how the company has taken a direct approach to call out those who are trying to skirt around the rules implemented for the video streaming platform.
With Google continually raising the price of Premium, going on attack mode on ad blockers in Chrome, and even failing to prevent an ecosystem that forces creators to take on sponsorships and verbally overwhelm paying viewers with advertisements at the front of all of their content, it’s no wonder ad blockers have become popular. Let me know in the comments if you use one and if you’re for or against their usage.
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