• kadu@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    YouTube’s argument is the same as Linus’ from LTT: if you watch a video without ads, you’re failing to comply with your side of the transaction, thus essentially pirating that content and stealing the revenue source.

    Regardless if we agree or not with that statement, I’ll absolutely side with adblockers always for a deeper issue: it’s my screen, so I get the ultimate say on what content gets rendered. Quite literally. It’s my network, my cable, my screen, my graphics card, my web browser running JavaScript on my CPU - you do not, ever, get to overreach and decide what pixels show up or not. If I don’t want your obnoxious ad for an AI girlfriend to show up, there’s no moral argument to be had here.

    EDIT: I think some of you are missing the point of this comment. There’s no reason to reply to me countering the argument in the first paragraph, as it is not my comment, in fact, I specifically mentioned how it’s YouTube (and Linus’) argument.

    • Aeri@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      TBH I’m just so fucking tired of ads overstepping, back in the day there’s be a little banner on the side of a page advertising a truck or whatever, I’m sick of seeing like, enormous length ads.

      One day I had a 3 hour minecraft let’s play uploaded as an ad, you think I should have to watch all of that youtube?

      And the frequency is getting crazy.

        • BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk
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          7 months ago

          First off, I couldn’t care less about ad blocking and I’m not here to moralise what anyone else does.

          I do however think your point is somewhat undermined by the fact YouTube have an ad free option. You can legitimately make the ads disappear and YouTube have no issue with it.

      • Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        When YouTube Red first dropped they were putting hour-long pilot episodes of their shows as pre-roll ads. Now I notice ads on shorts are full of obvious scams related to “new monthly health credits”. Still better than getting an ad on Facebook reels that was uncensored hardcore porn.

        • Aeri@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          I’m almost thinking of breaking down and buying YT premium because god, I watch a lot of youtube (I’d go so far as to say it’s my primary entertainment stream at times) but I’m already paying so fucking much for cable that I don’t even want.

          Cable’s 80, Internet’s 80, somehow extra fees bring it up to nearly 200, and I can’t convince other members of my household (who watch a grand total of four fucking channels, MSNBC, Weather channel, sports, etc) that we should ditch cable, absolutely miserable.

          • Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            For Android on phones and tablets look up Revanced. You have to download the YouTube .apk from somewhere like apkmirror, then use the Revanced manager to apply patches to block ads and change functionality. Then you log into your account with their own version of MicroG/gmscore. It was briefly affected by the issue in the main post but was working again in a few hours.

            For Android-based smart TVs and streaming devices there’s SmartTube (SmartTubeNext). Not sure how well they’ll do if YouTube goes cat and mouse though.

            And for a wider variety of devices (including Apple TV and now WebOS) there’s also Kodi which has a YouTube addon although logging in with it is kind of a pain as you need to get API keys, etc.

            & finally on a desktop browser uBlock Origin alone handles all the ads pretty well, and you can optionally add Sponsorblock.

            Oh. And check out some of the over the top TV services and see if there are any cheap ones that might meet your needs to replace cable. Though the way the cable companies do their bundling even that might not save you much as the net might jump up to more than $80 standalone.

    • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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      7 months ago

      You know what, I actually agree with YouTube’s argument. Ad blocking is piracy. In fact, no, it’s worse than piracy. If I pirate a movie, Disney makes no money, but it costs them nothing at all. If I watch YouTube without an ad blocker, I’m depriving YouTube of its revenue source and I’m costing them money. Morally, ad blocking sits somewhere between piracy and actual theft.

      The thing is? I don’t care. I ad block YouTube all the time and feel not a lick of guilt. The reason: Google brought this on themselves. I used to happily pay for YouTube Red. But they have continuously, both before and after that point, been actively hostile to the people actually producing the content they make. Their willingness to bow down to copyright trolls and complete inability to properly apply fair use. They extremely harsh policies on acceptable content, stopping people talking about sex education or mediaeval weaponry being able to reliably makes money.

      And the straw that broke this camel’s back was when they changed the requirements to be in the Partner Program, locking out all the smaller creators from ever being able to make money on YouTube. I never considered myself a “creator”, but over the 5 years prior to that I occasionally uploaded stuff I was doing anyway. I had amassed almost $100 over those 5 years. Not an impressive amount, for sure, but having that taken away from me made me feel unwelcome. I don’t think I’ve uploaded anything public since, and I’ve been blocking ads on the site since then.

      Even worse, not long after this change, they decided to start showing ads even on videos from non-partnered videos, so you can get ads on my videos even though I don’t see a single cent.

      So fuck YouTube. Ad blocking is worse than piracy, and I say good.

        • Cyrus Draegur@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          Google: You’re pirating our content!
          Us: AND THE BEATINGS SHALL CONTINUE UNTIL YOU LEARN YOUR FUCKING LESSON.

      • JDPoZ@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        My god… are you… me? Same exact shit. Created my YT account 14 years ago. Made some vids… some got some views… eventually I got a few dollars deposited like for 3 years. Probably totaled the same $100 you mentioned then boom. Shut down.

        • Zagorath@aussie.zone
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          7 months ago

          I uploaded what I think was the first tutorial on how to use Photoshop’s then-new “Content-Aware Fill” to help create panoramas, and also a tutorial about…something, I forget what, to do with the music engraving software Sibelius. They were things I was doing all the time, but there didn’t seem to be any guide on how to do it, so I thought I’d help out. And I got rewarded with a little cash and a few tens of thousands of views. Felt good.

          There are much better, higher-polish videos that deal with those subjects now, I’m sure. But still, it didn’t feel good getting that ripped out from under me, and being told I was no longer welcome.

    • TORFdot0@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I’d agree with that logic if YouTube kept up their end of the bargain and actually vetted their ad buyers. Instead they show ads for fake stimulus scams, fake news, and blatant malware.

      I manage a large network and ads are blocked at the edge of the network. Not using an adblocker is a security risk that is not acceptable for my company. I pay for YouTube premium because it’s in my means and I get value from the subscription but I don’t blame anyone who takes the same approach

    • wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I mean, the argument falls short when YT (or LTT) spew literal garbage. I might have a hint of sympathy if it wasn’t a dumpster fire of decaying babies.

      The few people I sub do and do yt as a monitory source, I support elsewhere. Fuck YouTube acting as a sleezy middle-man and simultaneously playing the victim.

    • Chickenstalker@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Linus Short Sebastian is an asshole. I like his channel and even bought a water bottle, but he is an asshole nontheless. His opinions are always 5 years outdated. He used to hate reddit but now liked Reddit. Probably a contrarian too.

    • MakePorkGreatAgain@lemmy.basedcount.com
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      7 months ago

      if a content creator doesnt want people to be able to skip the ads/demonetize the content, then they should post on a platform that makes ads mandatory.

      problem is that no one will watch crap on that sort of platform

    • Bookmeat@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I hear you, buddy and I would 100% agree if not for the fact that they have a paid option where you can skip all the ads.

      Content creator gets paid. YouTube gets paid. You don’t get ads.

      It’s not rocket surgery.

      • kadu@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I don’t see how that’s relevant. If you want to engage in the paid YouTube subscription, go for it, it’s an entirely different thing though.

        My computer requests from YouTube’s server a video, the server gives me a stream of data - I didn’t steal it, I didn’t hack it, the server provided me this because it wanted to - and this stream contains an ad and a video. What I do with this stream is only my concern, you can’t force me to watch the ad. That would be like walking in the street and somebody says you’re unethical because you didn’t look at an outdoor advertisement banner, and that you will be forced to either pay a fee or look at the ad.

        • Bookmeat@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          But it is unethical because the ethics isn’t in the wires, it’s in the social contract.

          You didn’t have a social contract with anyone on the street walking past ads. I agree with you that those are annoying and are an eye sore, etc.

          But from YouTube you are getting a service for which you have not paid. The social contract is that you pay for services you consume regardless how they are presented. Whether it’s a TV show or groceries or online content doesn’t matter.

          They make the content available to you publicly just as a physical storefront would. You come into the shop and start loading your basket. They even have free samples. The staff are helpful and find things for you. Then you pay before leaving. That’s the contract. It’s not different because it’s on the Internet.

          • kadu@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            I have no social contract with YouTube. The whole “if you access this site, you agree with this ToS” isn’t even legally valid here.

    • net00@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      The same Linus who can’t be arsed to spend $500 of various people’s time to properly test a product is now telling us what to do?

  • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de
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    7 months ago

    I haven’t seen an anti adblocker popup on youtube for a couple months now, I though they gave up. It looks like the uBlock developers and block list maintainers are just doing an excellent job staying ahead of whatever youtube is doing.

  • FrostKing@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Personally, I don’t think a service is in the wrong for trying to protect against ad block, especially when their revenue comes from ads. However I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with adblockers continuing to innovate to circumvent that. I’m rooting for Ublock Origin lol

  • RageAgainstTheRich@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    I refuse to use the official youtube app. Its so trash… I use newpipe and its amazing to just have all my favorite videos bookmarked locally in different lists.

    If they take that away from me i will just stop using youtube.

    • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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      7 months ago

      Better start preparing for the coming exodus. Try Odysee, Peertube and Nebula and see what works for you. Once the enshittification hits critical mass, you’ll be ready to let go of that sinking ship.

      • KneeTitts@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Odysee

        ewwwwww… 99% far right garbage, zero moderation there last time I took a look.

        • Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
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          7 months ago

          Yeah, there’s garbage too, but I don’t subscribe to any of that. Just watch Linux and electronics tinkering videos instead.

  • MonkderDritte@feddit.de
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    7 months ago

    The web should have had a Terms of Usage from start. Something like

    “If you broadcast content on the internet, expect people to download it.”

    • hightrix@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      This. I always say this exact thing.

      If you provide content for free, expect people to take it for free.

      • Malfeasant@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Even if you don’t intend to provide it for free, if it’s possible to, expect it. No different from Walmart complaining about increased theft after replacing cashiers with self checkout - tiny violins.

  • Kedly@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Since the initial push, I have not even had to reset my ublock… stop using Chrome

  • HexesofVexes@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Somewhere out there a CEO thought this was a good idea. All it seems to be doing is pushing people to other platforms (the younger gen moving over to tiktok and the older gens moving 3rd party or just offline).

    • dinckel@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      While I agree, the amount of people who’d do this is negligibly small, compared to their total userbase. Obviously a bunch of people use ad blockers, but only a tiny amount of them have modified apps, followed by an even tinier amount of those people with fully custom frontends. For YT it might work out as a net positive, because the annoying blocks and reminders will just pressure people into paying for Premium.

      At the end of the day, I could just stop watching youtube entirely, if this trend continues. I have nothing to gain there

      • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
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        7 months ago

        I guess what there really winning is all those non tech-savvy people who currently have an adblocker installed because their friend helped.

  • Deeleres@discuss.tchncs.de
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    7 months ago

    In Germany, there is a law that regulates the amount and intervals of advertising for private television broadcasters: 20% or 1/5 per broadcast day may be used for advertising. Programs that are shorter than 30 minutes may have a break, otherwise there must be 20 minutes between commercial breaks - 30 minutes in the evening. Unfortunately, there are still some loopholes.

    Children’s programs are not allowed to have commercial breaks.

    It’s a shame that this law still doesn’t apply to YouTube.

  • kratoz29@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Oh, I definitely have experienced “The following content is not available on this app.” Before, but I thought it was just a thing of my Revanced version outdated because I rarely update it… Which I’m gonna do just now 😁

    I hope this doesn’t bring too many issues to Smart Tube, which is where I do 99% of my YT usage (and I have yet to be bothered with any bug).

    • helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      …1!

      (Read as if this was as an ad from Google) (if your familer with Rodger’s Honest Ads, this was inspired by the way those are written) (if that last sentence wasn’t clear…this whole post is a mockery or /s)

      Buy YouTube Premium with your hard earned money so you can feel good about a few extra pennies going towards your beloved creators. We’ll keep the rest of your precious money for ourselves to bring you new and exciting features you never asked for -

      • you’ll get exclusive acess to the ever growing library of YouTube Originals, because we felt it necessary to take the “You” out of YouTube and sponsor our own content for you to enjoy.
      • We’ll bring more pixels to you with real time 4K video streaming. Now you can enjoy one of the 6 channels that actually record in 4k in beautiful life like quality on your tiny phone, the 13 year old computer screen you rescued from your work dumpster or your smart 4K TV that doesn’t have a WiFi card fast enough to get all the pixels for a buttery smooth expirence.
      • Next we’ll bring you Live TV straight to your eyes from across the globe. Ditch those pesky cable bills and pay for our ever growing selection of unwilling particpents as the affordability of streaming destroys traditional cable for the low monthly cost of $57.99 for the first 3 months. As a bonus, our website doesn’t bother to tell you if it includes any the other YouTube Premium features - you might just end up paying for premium twice and we have no real obligation to tell you.
      • Finally, we’ve thought of the little ones with our special version of YouTube for Kids, called YouTube Kids. Here we use an advanced AI system of people who can find the report button to filter out any content we decide goes against our ever changing guidelines. We allow your children to only watch the most mind numbing, cheaply made, addicitive garbage to keep them ocupied while you do more important things than raising your child.

      We know the real reason you’re here is YouTube Music. Access our huge library of every song that we haven’t been forced to take down because some studio decided they wanted their cut. We’ll entice you to spend a few more dollars than what you pay for just YouTube Music to get ad-free YouTube videos and the revolutionary ability to play music in the background on your mobile phone. That’s right, we’ve developed a method in which you can listen to music at the same you binge read cringy fanfiction novels at 3 in the morning. It’s revolutionary.

      Still not convinced, lastly we added in the amazing feature called offline viewing. This will download the videos you select to your device offline in an encrypted format so hackers can’t steal them from you, allowing you to watch them anywhere, provided you have an internet connection so we can verify you downloaded the videos.

      Buy YouTube Premium today, and buy it again every month, for the low price of your daughter’s medium latte macchiato coffe milkshake with extra caramel, whipped cream and a cute bright red40 cherry on top.

    • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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      7 months ago

      It’s actually a really great deal at the old price I’m grandfathered into and none of you can get any more.

      Also if you pirate YT, Google won’t pay creators. If you watch ads, Google still won’t pay creators.

  • lorkano@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    It’s kinda cute how they are utterly loosing with adblocker crackdown and now they are saying they will even handle their party apps. No company will handle an open source project full of talented people pissed of by ads.

    • BURN@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Reddit managed pretty well, let’s be real. The 3rd party app protests were essentially a speed bump that lost a tiny subsection of users that advertisers didn’t want anyways. Everyone else just migrated to the official app or website.

      • lorkano@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        You can still use third party apps, they are just not in the playstore. Just like with YouTube right now