YouTube's ‘War’ on Adblockers Shows How Google Controls the Internet

Another great article from 404 Media highlighting the power that the tech giants have amassed over how how we use the internet.

This brings me, I think, to the elephant in the room, which is the fact that Google has its hands on quite literally every aspect of this entire saga as a vertically integrated adtech giant.

This extreme power over the adtech and online advertising ecosystem is one of the subjects of an FTC antitrust suit against Google.

Xatolos,
@Xatolos@reddthat.com avatar

It seems now that they’ve done the “full blocking”, Edge is no longer a “trusted” browser for logging into my Google acount anymore (it still had a functioning blocker).

rolling_resistance,

If it wasn’t for all these articles, I wouldn’t even know that something changed. Firefox + uBlock works the way it used to.

Metatronz,

What a manipulation tactic though. Phase in the change at different times for different users.

Maybe one day they’ll have the ability to just roll out the shit internet for plebs and the shitter, but shinny, version for the rich.

What if someone gets left behind in the great ad war? Lol. A lone user who has never seen an ad on the Internet ever.

disconnectikacio,

Spread the word to install firefox based browser, use different frontends to block youtube ads in browser, Invidious and use piped youtube apps on android to block youtbe ads: Newpipe

mineapple, (edited )

I can also recommend Libretube or Clipious for Android

Metal_Zealot,
@Metal_Zealot@lemmy.ml avatar

We’ll start viewing Peertube as a viable option WHEN?

DougHolland,
@DougHolland@lemmy.world avatar

When it works?

tony,

And cloudflare controls the connectivity… luckily they’re not (yet) evil and are happy just to provide infrastructure.

BrownianMotion,
@BrownianMotion@lemmy.world avatar

Opera GX + uBlock + ABP. I stopped seeing this shit a long time ago. (Opera de-googles where necessary, and has its own store. You can still install from other chrome stores, if something is not available in theirs)

Frankly though, Alphabet needs to start being made accountable for their own “de-privacy” behaviour, in the name of their own profits.

And on a side note, is it just me or did 404media just came out of nowhere, and is spamming “news” posts. I’ve read a few of them, and they seem more like opinion pieces, and less factual. They really seem to have little supporting evidence, proper content (the meat, proof, details) and the complete post content is paywalled.

Defederated world, can we please prioritise non-paywalled sites over monetised ones?

Cyberpunk3000,

Why uBlock + ABP though? Isn’t uBlock alone enough? And why not Firefox instead of Opera as it’s also based on Chromium?

BrownianMotion, (edited )
@BrownianMotion@lemmy.world avatar

Yes, uBlock is enough for YT specifically. I run ABP for some sites that uB doesn’t catch. (and for that matter, I also run “Ghostery” as well.

But yes, for this specific posted topic, you are correct I don’t need the other blockers.

As for Firefox, I had been a long time user, but I went through the bullshit phase they created themselves. It was because they dominated and it created a lapse in diligence, on their part. First was the bloat, it is a browser but it got mental in size. Then there was the bloat in usage, what browser needs 50% of your 32GB RAM?? (These have probably been addressed today). But the straw that broke my back was the constant lapsing of certificate renewals that broke everything in firefox including all addons. That was the final straw for me. It was clear they were not interesting in maintenance, and I needed a working browser, not bleeding edge bullshit, and constant roadblocks.

polle,

Ram usage as a talking point against ffx while using a chrome engine browser is more internet troll level i could handle after waking up.

DrMango,

Iirc adblock plus has been known to get bribed to allow certain ads through. I’m struggling to remember the details, but there was some controversy with them a while back. If you have ublock you don’t also need ABP, just update your filters on those sites that ublock “doesn’t work” on

liquidparasyte,

404 sprang up from ex-Motherboard writers when Vice Media went bankrupt this year. I think their articles are alright, because paying the bills as a journalist is very hard.

EmperorHenry,
@EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Adnauseam! Adguard for desktop loaded with anti AdBlock killer! Lifetime license available!

Sorry I have tourette’s syndrome

_bac,

This works! Firefox + ublock did not.

yata,

Firefox + ublock definitely works.

crypticthree,

Yeah I just switched back to ff from chrome and YouTube has never sent me their little warning on ff

_bac,

You are right. I updated ublock and now it works.

EmperorHenry,
@EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Not always. Adnauseam makes the anti-adblock bullshit think you’re clicking on ads.

There’s also adguard for desktop which filters ads through a mechanism that’s outside of your browser, which makes it much more difficult for things running inside web pages to fuck with it.

rolling_resistance,

Adnauseam is great, but it also leaves some ads on pages.

EmperorHenry,
@EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Strict blocking

q47tx,
@q47tx@lemmy.world avatar

Imagine using the official youtube website. Piped and Invidious FTW.

specfreq,
@specfreq@lemmy.world avatar

I simply open up YouTube+Ublock in Firefox on my smartphone.

I actually like the personalized video recommendations from being signed in sometimes, but I still don’t like my data being sold. I use both.

MataVatnik,

Same. Firefox +uBlock on mobile. The YouTube app actually kinda sucks. Never used it

mobilex1122,
@mobilex1122@lemmy.world avatar

My solution is (and for quite a long time was) to use NewPipe on mobile and Invidious on pc.

ExLisper,

To anyone using Chrome and complaining about Google having too much control: shut the fuck up. You’re part of the problem.

MossyFeathers,

Imo this extends to chromium too. Google owns the source code and can pull it whenever they want. Sure, chromium browsers might be able to putter along for a little bit, but my understanding is that the reason why we’re now at Chrome/Chromium vs Firefox vs Safari is because Google shits out so many new “”“standards”“” and “features” that you need a large team to keep up. It’s supposedly why browsers like Opera switched to using chromium instead of trying to maintain their own source code.

This is a feature, not a bug.

zingo,

Firefox for the win. Or Librewolf even better.

Substance_P,

I love Librewolf, I just can’t work for hours using a browser that has dark mode disabled in order to preserve its privacy features.

AphoticDev,
@AphoticDev@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Because the dark mode that’s built into Firefox and other browsers sends requests to websites that can identify you. If you want dark mode on Librewolf, do as the devs recommend and get Dark Reader, as that’s clientside and doesn’t identify you, and works with pretty much every website, including ones that don’t offer a dark version.

I use regular Firefox, and I have the default dark mode disabled and Dark Reader installed. I don’t need to ask permission from websites to use dark mode any more than I need to ask Google for permission to block their ads.

Substance_P,

that’s great! Yeah I understand the privacy implications but had no idea about Dark Reader. That’s why I love this community for answers like this. I’ll look into it as I’d prefer to use Librewolf as my daily driver.

AphoticDev,
@AphoticDev@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Like I said, it doesn’t look good on every website, but for the vast majority it’s a really nice experience, especially if you are often online after dark. It’s definitely earned the high ratings it’s got, and it’s 100% getting downloaded anytime I use a new computer.

Besides the enhanced privacy it gives you, there’s also the fact that it doesn’t require loading additional style sheets, so it saves you a very small amount of bandwidth and time.

FrameXX,

sends requests to websites that can identify you

What requests? I though that only information that the browser gives to website regarding dark theme is that your preferred-color-scheme is now dark.

tb_,
@tb_@lemmy.world avatar

That request can be used for fingerprinting, however.

www.amiunique.org/fingerprint

AphoticDev,
@AphoticDev@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Yes, that’s one of the data points they use to fingerprint you. They only need several to get a reliable idea of who you are as you move from site to site.

Neon,

the Problem is that Librewolf also doesn’t tell Extensions when system dark mode is activated, meaning you have to manually toggle between dark- and light-mode

zingo,

Well some sacrifices has to be done.

I use an add on called “Dark background, white text” or something like that. Less bloated than Dark Reader.

Has to be somewhat usable while privacy oriented.

xta,

Waterfox present!

gothicdecadence,

Floorp is my fav!

Chobbes,

Yeah and some of these people think they’re Brave and Edgy.

bluuebunny,

I see what you did there

some_guy,

This is one reason why I don’t want the EU to force Apple to allow other rendering engines. Whether you think using Apple’s rendering engine on iOS is bad or good, it’s basically the only thing keeping Google from having complete control of the market.

yata,

Or any chromium based browser for that matter.

ours,

Handing over Google the Internet standards on a platter.

FireFox is not only awesome but a true competitor rendering engine.

Immersive_Matthew,

Google only has power as we the people give it to them but using their services. Same with Reddit’s power and such. Not the people here as we have unfortunately unplugged, but admittedly, all the decentralized services have significantly less content and variety of content. We need more people to join us, but they seem happy to support the centralized services they hate.

Cethin,

The problem with youtube in particular is there is no way to build an alternative that’s as good as YouTube (ignoring all the bad bits they’ve added). PeerTube is nice to have around, but it’s not as fast and doesn’t have all the content as youtube. There’s also Nebula, which is alright. It’s not free and doesn’t have as much content, but it’s usually a higher quality.

elbarto777,

What about Vimeo?

gohixo9650,

I’m also curious why people pretend it doesn’t exist when they say “there is no other video uploading platform like youtube”

pascal,

Vimeo is expensive, I don’t know how it works today, but when I tried it, I had to pay to upload some videos.

gohixo9650,

ok, I think I had missed this crucial difference in the business model lol

elbarto777,

Interesting! I had no idea.

Jeffool,

You’re obviously right. But it’s funny to me; I find it easy to imagine a world where staying independent and hosting your own stuff was seen as cooler. Instead of YouTube and Google Buzz, we ran RSS clients akin to Outlook and Thunderbird. They torrent and seed media we’re subscribed to while we’re at work or class. It’s saved on a home server. We walk in and simply toss it up on our desktop or TV. (Or maybe a mobile client streams from your home server over the Internet or over your home Wi-Fi if you’re at home )

And if you visited the website instead of YouTube’s recommendations, The creator just adds a few RSS feeds on the backend to pull thumbnails from, of other creators’ sites they enjoy.

Crazy how easy it is to daydream though, when I’m not the one putting the work in.

richieadler,

I find it easy to imagine a world where staying independent and hosting your own stuff was seen as cooler.

Sadly, money trumps “cool” most of the time.

Littleborat,

RSS would have been it. Ask around how many people even get the concept of it.

We have had it all but people chose the dumb version of it.

wewbull,

There was a world before YouTube. It grew from humble beginnings. Granted it didn’t have an incumbent to fight off, but it had all the server issues, bandwidth issues and similar.

The only thing that stops someone else doing it is the user base.

pascal,

What happened to dailymotion and vimeo?

FinalRemix,

More the commercial/pro side of things. They cost money.

veniasilente,

The problem with youtube in particular is there is no way to build an alternative that’s as good as YouTube

as good

I mean, assuming that’s exactly what people wan, “exactly youtube but cheaper”, then yeah it’s an impossible and thankless task to even try something of that scale. Instead it’s better to think of building youtube alternatives that are focused on one or two parameters that allow organizational optimizations. For example, much of the issue that people complain about is the storage, but a YT-alt that dedicates to eg.: archivism of old TV shows, that scan at best at 480p or 360p, wouldn’t need to spend that much in storage compared to a service that is trying to serve 4K UHD 120fps Subwoofer Surround; that combined with the topical focus suddenly makes it much more scaleable and approachable.

ferralcat,

I’m always a bit shocked the worlds governments don’t start offering free email/hosting to their citizens. It’d give them a cheap way to surveil that was “opt-in” (but would probably catch a lot of dumb people) and everyone would have a “verified” email for official stuff too. It seems like a good investment to me.

elbarto777,

I’m okay with the less amount of content. Frankly, I mindlessly spent hours scrolling through “content” on reddit, and feeling no satisfaction. At least the content here is more relevant.

More people would mean more memes and rage bait. No thanks.

Immersive_Matthew,

I mean subreddits like Oculus and Virtual Reality and I am sure many other niches are missing on Lemmy or very quiet.

elbarto777,

Oh yeah, that’s a good point.

Littleborat,

You just need to curate your feed like anywhere else. Who can really stand the main page of reddit or yt or anything really?

Reddit made it so hard to use on mobile that I only check it on the weekend on my pc.

elbarto777,

Yup, I used to do that. But then the admins took over some of my curated subs, e.g. programming subs, when the mods refuse to open them up. So now I don’t go to those anymore.

greenmarty,

That’s why i wen FF+ Duckduck + ublock and instead of reddit > Lemmy But i have to admit that YouTube is harder to replace then reddit and I’ve tried many alternatives.

shrugal,

The problem is the network effect. It’s hard to switch from YT if all your favorite channels and creators are there, but it’s also hard for them to switch if all the users are using YT. And because it’s many different people we cannot coordinate a simultaneous transition either.

Paradox,
@Paradox@lemdro.id avatar

Paywalled article 🙃

HexesofVexes,

archive.ph/oOv5l

MrSqueezles,

This shows me a never ending stream of CAPTCHAs.

HexesofVexes,

Your milage may vary - but in general just force a full refresh and it should clear up

atrielienz,

The YouTube adblocker overlay and such doesn’t work if you’re in incognito mode. You’re welcome.

Rambomst,

I just got an email from YouTube, my premium price is going up by almost double…

malchior,

Same. It is no longer worth it, I’ll be sad to lose my music streaming, but there are other pathways that some may consider unethical.

CrowAirbrush,

Yarr matey

FinalRemix,

That’s getting harder though, at least in my experience. Circa 2010, it was music and shit everywhere. Now it’s slimmer pickin’s, it seems.

CrowAirbrush,

I’ve tried torrents but those seemed to all be dead ends, i found another website that uses some backdoor from a streaming service and the file info is actually correct but you get songs 1 by 1. Which takes a lot of time.

kzhe,

If you just want YTM for free there’s beatbump on web and Innertune or ViMusic on android

malchior,

If only there was a place to buy DRM free music in the file type I want for use in whatever device I want also for movies.

Thorny_Insight,

If you subscribe to premium using an Indian IP address, for example, you’ll get it for like a buck a month

lemming741,

I did that for a month from Argentina, then Visa stopped working. I started a personal invidious instance and haven’t looked back.

gohixo9650,

a bit off topic but when you say personal instance where is it hosted? And if it is strictly personal, doesn’t google create the same profile for you which will be assigned in your IP if it is hosted in your house, or in your VPS’s IP if hosted elsewhere?

lemming741,

I have a VPN gateway VM that randomly chooses a VPN region.

gohixo9650,

interesting. thanks for sharing!

Karyoplasma,

YouTube Music is no longer optional. It’s now bundled into the basic features of Premium and Google uses that to justify the insane price hike. Their argument is that it’s cheaper than before for the dozen-or-so people that had subscribed to both YT Music and Premium. All others now “save” on the YT Music subscription, the fact that nobody saves anything by paying for a service they don’t need is completely lost on them. Just corporate greed and pushing the monopoly a bit further, nothing to see here.

RiQuY, (edited )

Is there any real free alternative? And I mean free refered to freedom, I know PeerTube exists but finding a good/known instance to upload content knowing that the instance won’t go down is hard.

EDIT: I found maker.tube and hardlimit, the first one looks promising.

uriel238,
@uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone avatar

Nebula, maybe? Many of my breadtube creators tell me to see their expanded content there.

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