3d ago

I got hit. The UK is no longer safe from this.

FUUU

Does anyone know of an ad blocker blocker blocker?

85 comments

I saw this with firefox and ublock origin installed. Dismissed it and continued not seeing any ads.
- I just refresh the page and it works fine

I've been using Firefox With Ublock Origin (and YouTube ReVanced for mobile) for years, and have yet to see this message outside of a screenshot.

I got this with Firefox + uBlock Origin yesterday but was gone a couple videos later, uBlock must have updated.

Others have already weighed in, but:
This warning doesn't seem to be persistent. Using ublock/regularly clearing cookies seems to keep this at bay. Sometimes it helps to open new links in container tabs as well.
I got this earlier this week and clearing my cookies/using container tabs seems to reset it.

Just be patient for the inevitable uBlockOrigin update that will fix it.
- True aha. yt-dlp still works mostly, so I suppose I could just use it to download my subscribed and watch offline. There's always a way
  
  With or without cookies?
  I've recently been told to sign in when trying to access YouTube videos not just on a VPN, but now at my own residential location

Firefox + uBlock Origin or Grayjay are my go to.

this happens for a short time about every six months
if you haven't already, make sure ublock is updated, then toggle "quick fixes" (if it's on, turn it off, if it's off, turn it on)

Invidious or Piped.
Use a public instance or self host your own. Pair it with Freetube and you can skip in-video sponsorships/ads.
While YouTube has been making it difficult for these services to stay alive they seem to alway work around them.
- Also Newpipe for mobile. You can find it on f-droid.
- I use freetube without anything but the issue is that my VPN is blocked now, and a self hosted invidious or piped won't help with that, right? I imagine I'm going to need some kind of split for the VPN, where some apps don't use VPN.
  But even freetube is somewhat clumsy for queueing videos and proper theater mode without borders. Using Youtube is becoming more and more cumbersome lol.
  I wish there was a simple executable that pre-downloads and buffers my youtube channel videos and then just launches an optimized local web server that has good UX.
  
  but the issue is that my VPN is blocked now, and a self hosted invidious or piped won't help with that, right?
  If I’m not mistaken this is incorrect, when you self host Invidious you also must host their companion tool to help skirt around YouTube’s blocking system.
  https://docs.invidious.io/installation/#linux
  You have to run this command on the same public IP address as the one blocked by YouTube. Not necessarily the same machine, just the same public IP address.
  \ You will need to copy these two parameters in the config.yaml file.
  \ Subsequent usage of this same token will work on the same IP range or even the same ASN. The point is to generate this token on a blocked IP as "unblocked" IP addresses seems to not generate a token valid for passing the checks on a blocked IP.
  Documentation here is a bit outdated but I assume this is how it still works, just automated without the need to manually run their commands.
  
  We'll get there eventually. Google will just have to finish cracking down on DRM.
  Brave will probably need to stop working before we finally put that much effort into it.
  PC plus HDMI capture device plus com skip. You can't stop us but man you can make it painful.

You can block element on that pop-up with uBlock Origin, and it starts working again.
If you can't click anything, there's a transparent layer still in the way, so you may need to do a second block element (click anywhere and the entire screen should highlight).
Weird side effect is that the scroll stops working sometimes, but if you make the video full screen then back it fixes it.
- for anyone interested:
  the scroll not working is most likely due to the main container in the page (usually the
  <body>
  tag but it can be some other element) having the overflow: hidden CSS property assigned to it.
  overflow dictates the behavior of an element that has its content overflow past the parent element's boundaries.
  the property can have four values:
  visible, where the overflow is fully visible and allowed to extend past the parent element,
  scroll, which clips the overflowing content and allows the user to scroll the parent element,
  hidden, which clips the overflowing content and prevents scrolling, and
  auto, which works almost identically to scroll
  most sites run a script that assigns this property with the value of hidden to the
  <body>
  tag, making the user unable to scroll the page.
  ive seen this behavior the most with sites that blast you with an unavoidable cookie banner which you have to click through to access the page. usually removing the cookie banner element is not enough to freely access the page, and so you have to additionally find which element has its overflow set to hidden and disable that property.
  i reckon youtube's adblocker popup is doing the same thing, and coincidentally turning off fullscreen also runs a script that makes sure the overflow is set to either scroll or auto
  
  It feels strangely vindicating when symptoms that just look like 'a weird bug' to my dumb ass actually make sense to folks who know what they're doing.
  Thanks for the insight!
  
  I always wondered how this worked.
- There are a few browser extensions that force a scrollbar even on pages its disabled if you need to work around it.
  Though not being able to scroll down to YouTube comments should be considered a blessing.

Is this with Firefox + ublock origin? Things are still fine on my side.
- It happened to me for the first time today and that's what I use.
  I literally just clicked the x and played the video so it didn't effect anything though.
  
  I'm just wondering if they're going to do the black screen or something more sinister.
- It's already happening on librewolf.
  
  heck. I've not had it so far in Firefox. Will keep an eye on it I guess
- Not OP but I've had it happen to me today with Firefox + ublock origin

Freetube on my PC and devices, Smartube for Fire TV.

Freetube is patched often and remains usable 99% of the time for an ad(and sponsor, if wanted) free experience.
As Youtube makes changes solely to break these players, they are quick to jump through the new hoops.
- Freetube also has DeArrow built in to replace clickbait thumbnails and titles!

I got one 2 days ago, refreshed and it went away (FireDragon with ublock)
It actually pushed me further, I now browse Youtube logged out and disabled every piece of tracking i could find

I use pipe pipe on android, haven't had any issues and works great. Freetube on the PC, works great!
- Woot woot, added that to my arsenal.
  Vanced, new pipe, free tube, tubular, pipe pipe, mobile brave, yt-dlp->jellyfin, laptop->HDMI splitter-> capture card +comskip
  The spice will flow.
- PipePipe my beloved. Never had any problems with it either.

You just close the window. I've seen this twice in the last three years and never experienced any actual change -- still no ads or even black screens where ads should be.

You can hit the x and continue. This just a stern warning with no consequence for now
- This.
  I get this pop up once or twice every couple of months maybe? I just click through and nothing happens / changes.
  For mobile I use the grayjay app.

Doesn't YouTube premium still have ads?

https://grayjay.app/desktop/
- Is it less buggy now? I tried it a while back and gave up.
  Mobile app is awesome though.
  
  yeah they have a flatpak now, I should of directly linked to that:
  https://flathub.org/apps/app.grayjay.Grayjay

AdGuard on Mac for safari, unlock origin for anything other than chrome.

Grayjay.app

What browser are you using?
- Not OP but I get the same thing on Firefox with ublock origin

Use a front-end like Piped or Invidious and be happy.
Negative comments and dislikes incoming in 3, 2, 1...
- Why do you think you'll be downvoted for that? I see people recommend them literally all the time on similar posts
  
  Firstly. People don't like Piped or Invidious because they often gets broken due to Google's work to try shut them down completely.
  Invidious is basically all broken already because of this. And it can be hard to find a good Piped instance that works.
  I have Piped installed on my server and it happens that I get "login to prove you're not a bot" or what the error message is.
  And secondly. People tend to be very mean online and I don't trust any people until they have proven they are indeed nice and not mean in any way (like judging or trolling).
  Lastly. I am in a very bad mood which boosting the second reason.

Incognito mode works, but you can't see the history

Yep. Got this yesterday (UK).
- I had a couple of adverts make it through yesterday in the UK, just closed the tab and went to some locally hosted content instead. Seems like its working again today. I don't log into youtube at all.

VPN to Europe? Otherwise not sure how the UK was ever "safe" from this.
- VPN to Albania or Monaco since they don't have ads on youtube at all.
  
  First i hear of it, is there some sort of diplomatic situation that leads to this?

had the same thing happen today, unlock origin doesn't work anymore. wish they hadn't killed the speedup one bc that compromise works perfect (IMO).

Content isn't free...
- Google is doing fine. They don't need more funds.
  
  Right like poor Google, they're raking billions and billions from gathering user data and selling it, but line must go up and the "it costs money folks" are too naive to understand what's really happening.
  You go you naive fool, help Google increase they're worth. They need all the help they can get, maybe donate, for just the cost of a coffee a day a month can save a multi billion dollar corporation.
- I'd be fine with ads if it were one every couple videos, but these days YT serves as much/more ad content than the amount of time the video is running, and on top of that many videos contain ads themselves. That's simply too much.
  
  I kind of agree with you, but I think some people should just stop using Youtube if they hate so many things around it.
  Peertube is great and I love supporting creators through Patreon.
- Nobody wants to acknowledge this truth and it drives me insane. YouTube piracy hurts small creators. How you feel about this moral quandary is entirely up to you, but this is just a fact.

Technically side loading apps should be legal now on iOS in the EU are there any iOS players?
- No. Neither is sideloading allowed by Apple, since you still need to pay the 99€ a year to sign your Apps, nor do such players exist because the people who know how to do such stuff have better things to do than spend 2000€ for a MacBook just so some Apple users can usw YouTube for a week before their Dev license gets suspended
  And I hate to be that guy, but if you want to own what you paid for, you maybe shouldn't keep pouring Water in form of your money onto the Oil fire that is Apple.
  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DBBY9fW74yM
  
  https://support.apple.com/en-gb/117767
  Oh I just read that and assumed there might be something seeing as iPhones are pretty popular phones. I just bought this phone 2 years ago and I’ll probably keep using it till it breaks or stops getting security updates. I don’t really care about phones or computers and will probably go back to a dumb phone once this one breaks.
- The brave browser is a pretty good option on iOS, it has a good Adblock and it has support for background audio (assuming you enable it in the browsers settings)
  It is one of the only browsers on iOS that I know of that has support for both, meaning you can use it to listen to YouTube music with no ads and with the screen off.
  
  Idk the brave dude is weird af

85 comments