YouTube and Google have been busy these past few months. Google is in the process of decimating as many small publishers as it can with its March Core Update, while stealing their content. And YouTube is marching forward in its fight against ad-blocking.
It was only six months ago that ad-blocking extensions and software were being targeted by YouTube. Numerous users reported getting a warning that they would lose access to the platform if the ad blocker was not disabled.
Since then, many of the ad blocker extensions have found a workaround, which is always the case, but it won’t be long until YouTube patches it. It becomes a cat and mouse game, a game Alphabet Inc. seems hellbent on winning.
Now, according to Engadget, mobile apps that use ad-blocking are being blocked from accessing the platform. “The Google-owned video platform has announced that it’s “strengthening [its] enforcement on third-party apps that violate” its Terms of Service, “specifically ad-blocking apps.” It’s talking about mobile applications you can use to access videos without being interrupted by advertisements. When you use an application like that, you may experience buffering issues or see an error message that says, “The following content is not available on this app.”
As with the image above, users are being pointed to YouTube Premium as an alternative to their ad blocker. I don’t suspect this cat and mouse game will end anytime soon. Developers of apps and extensions will continue to find ways around YouTube ads, and the company will continue to fix them.
