YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again • Hacker News Board

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#41

Post by estimator7292 » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:33 PM UTC

sanswork wrote: post #17

roscas wrote: post #14

"About 11% of YouTube users openly say they use ad blockers. Some communities report 40-60% of viewers use ad blockers. Overall global ad blocker usage is around 42.7% for all internet users." So, almost half of people online use adblockers. I know some use adblockers that have white lists. Everyone should use uBlock Origin as it does not have white lists to allow "some" ads and it is the best adblocker and protectio…

Why should you have the right to dictate that no one is allowed to pay for their services by watching ads? You're suggesting cutting off services for the majority of the planet because you are in a financial position to pay for what you want.

Why should private corporations have unlimitied license to propagandize and intentionally psychologically manipulate the entire populace?

Why should private corporations with no oversight or meaningful consequences have the unlimited and unchallenged right to market drugs to kids? Why should they be allowed to post enormous flashing billboards on our roads? Why do these corporations have more right to common public spaces than the people do?

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#42

Post by estimator7292 » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:34 PM UTC

sanswork wrote: post #36

dontlaugh wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That many using ad blockers would suggest there is something like a democratic mandate for disallowing ads as a business model.

Those are just people who expect things for free. Free loaders will always exist and they will always try to come up with justifications for why their free loading is actually noble and not just selfish.

Some people just really like to believe and repeat anything a corporation tells them. It's so much easier than forming your own unique thoughts. Buy coke!

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#43

Post by msgodel » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:34 PM UTC

Telaneo wrote: post #3

I wonder what the end goal is for Youtube. I doubt they have one, and they're just doing this on instinct/reflex. Not to mention they probably wouldn't have seen a need to to this as much if they didn't go down the path of shoving more and more ads down people's throats. If Youtube stops working with uBlock Origin, I'll just download the videos wholesale and watch them that way instead, and I doubt there's a realisti…

I really wonder how much they actually care about ad blockers.

My understanding is that most people actually watch youtube on smart TVs and then smart phones. It may very well make sense for them to leave ad blockers alone and to keep youtube dominant while they make money off consumers like that which can't run ad blockers (or at least make it much harder to.)

The kinds of people who use ad blockers are also the kinds of people who start new things and convince the larger consumer oriented people to follow them. The reason YouTube is dominant is because it's still usable for that set of people.

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#44

Post by inferiorhuman » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:34 PM UTC

sanswork wrote: post #35

bjourne wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has exploited network effects and the essentially free labor of millions of content creators to create a video platform no one can compete with. I don't find it the least immoral for me to block ads, while I watch someone play a game I like on a channel with less than 2k views/video. It's like running a farm at a huge deficit until everyone else goes out of business and then jacking up prices.

Google has offered free hosting for millions of content creators and once they are profitable offers them a revenue source. It further helps those creators by trying to stop freeloaders. You talk about Google exploiting creators while at the same time talking about removing their income. Google offers an easy way to support creators and avoid as. If you were really concerned with creator well being you could go that…

  You talk about Google exploiting creators while at the same time talking
  about removing their income.

You talk about Google as if that's their primary source of income. Most of the folks I watch on Youtube hype up the other platforms e.g. Patreon they use for income. Judging by the outro credits it looks like there are plenty of people happy to throw money at these folks via other platform as well.

Clear your cookies and check out youtube sometime. Perhaps once they stop pushing vile right wing nonsense, anti-vax conspiracy theories, and assorted brain rot I'd consider tossing money at Google.

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#45

Post by inferiorhuman » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:36 PM UTC

sanswork wrote: post #36

dontlaugh wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That many using ad blockers would suggest there is something like a democratic mandate for disallowing ads as a business model.

Those are just people who expect things for free. Free loaders will always exist and they will always try to come up with justifications for why their free loading is actually noble and not just selfish.

Free loaders? You're talking about Google's reCAPTCHA using my browser to train its AI, right?

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#46

Post by estimator7292 » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:36 PM UTC

sanswork wrote: post #35

bjourne wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has exploited network effects and the essentially free labor of millions of content creators to create a video platform no one can compete with. I don't find it the least immoral for me to block ads, while I watch someone play a game I like on a channel with less than 2k views/video. It's like running a farm at a huge deficit until everyone else goes out of business and then jacking up prices.

Google has offered free hosting for millions of content creators and once they are profitable offers them a revenue source. It further helps those creators by trying to stop freeloaders. You talk about Google exploiting creators while at the same time talking about removing their income. Google offers an easy way to support creators and avoid as. If you were really concerned with creator well being you could go that…

Google has made untold thousands of dollars by spying on me and stealing my personal and private information to sell to other ad companies.

Why don't I have a right to that money? Why should I then have to pay google even more either directly with cash or indirectly through more advertising and spying?

Google has made FAR more than enough money by spying on me than it actually costs them for me to use adblock. Bonus, I don't have to watch AI generated ads for boner pills with a celebrity's fake face on it

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#47

Post by sanswork » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:42 PM UTC

ndriscoll wrote: post #40

sanswork wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are just people who expect things for free. Free loaders will always exist and they will always try to come up with justifications for why their free loading is actually noble and not just selfish.

If the "price" to load a webpage were that you run a crypto miner or give a site access to upload whatever files it feels from your computer, would you do it? Or would blocking such malware make you a free loader?

I wouldn't use the site but yes using the site and not doing that would make you a free loader.

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#48

Post by sanswork » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:43 PM UTC

inferiorhuman wrote: post #45

sanswork wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are just people who expect things for free. Free loaders will always exist and they will always try to come up with justifications for why their free loading is actually noble and not just selfish.

Free loaders? You're talking about Google's reCAPTCHA using my browser to train its AI, right?

They are providing a service to the people protecting their services with recaptcha and you're solving those issues because you value what's on the other side so no I wouldn't consider that free loading.

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#49

Post by sanswork » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:45 PM UTC

estimator7292 wrote: post #46

sanswork wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has offered free hosting for millions of content creators and once they are profitable offers them a revenue source. It further helps those creators by trying to stop freeloaders. You talk about Google exploiting creators while at the same time talking about removing their income. Google offers an easy way to support creators and avoid as. If you were really concerned with creator well being you could go that…

Google has made untold thousands of dollars by spying on me and stealing my personal and private information to sell to other ad companies. Why don't I have a right to that money? Why should I then have to pay google even more either directly with cash or indirectly through more advertising and spying? Google has made FAR more than enough money by spying on me than it actually costs them for me to use adblock. Bonus,…

[flagged]

Re: YouTube steps up fight against ad blockers again

#50

Post by sanswork » Sat, Aug 23, 2025, 11:47 PM UTC

inferiorhuman wrote: post #44

sanswork wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has offered free hosting for millions of content creators and once they are profitable offers them a revenue source. It further helps those creators by trying to stop freeloaders. You talk about Google exploiting creators while at the same time talking about removing their income. Google offers an easy way to support creators and avoid as. If you were really concerned with creator well being you could go that…

You talk about Google exploiting creators while at the same time talking about removing their income. You talk about Google as if that's their primary source of income. Most of the folks I watch on Youtube hype up the other platforms e.g. Patreon they use for income. Judging by the outro credits it looks like there are plenty of people happy to throw money at these folks via other platform as well. Clear your cookies…

It's a lot of creators only income from creating. Once you get some scale there are certainly better ways depending on your niche.

Again justification for why your free loading is actually a moral act.