YouTube is testing a feature that prevents users using ad blockers from playing videos on an account that does not have a premium subscription, as it says that it is thanks to advertising that YouTube can remain free.
Ad blockers are a program or extension that is installed in the web browser to filter content and, as the name suggests, block ads while browsing the Internet. These blockers can also be used on YouTube, so ads that are shown before a video is played or mid-view are blocked and do not interrupt ad-supported content.
Faced with this, YouTube is testing an option that does not allow content to be played on its platform if it detects the use of one of these ad-blocking programs, as some users have pointed out on Reddit.
Specifically, the platform launches a notification in the form of a pop-up window indicating that an ad blocker is being used. After that, it exposes two options to be able to continue watching videos: on the one hand, create a YouTube Premium account that does not include advertising, and on the other hand, disable ad blockers and continue enjoying free YouTube, but with advertising. .
Likewise, YouTube recalls in this notification the importance of advertising for the platform, since the ads allow it to continue to be available for free to “billions of users around the world.”
Following this line, YouTube itself has confirmed that they are testing this blocking function in order to encourage users to use a premium subscription account or, in any case, allow ads to continue to be displayed in videos, as a YouTube spokesperson has expressed in statements for BleepingComputer collected by Europa Press.
“Ad blocker detection is not new, and other publishers regularly ask viewers to disable ad blockers,” a YouTube spokesperson said.
