this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2025
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[–] lightnegative@lemmy.world 14 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, Firefox + uBlock Origin + SponsorBlock makes YouTube usable without giving Google more money

[–] Dremor@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

To my knowledge, sponsors do not give money to Google, just to the creator. So SponsorBlock isn't needed.
But I have to admit that some sponsored segments can be obnoxious as hell, so I can understand why one would use it.

[–] moopet@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 hours ago

When I'm using sponsorblock, I sometimes just stop watching if I see a long sponsor section, regardless. If the poster has like 20% of their video used to talk about shilling something, then they're probably not someone I trust.

[–] lightnegative@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Ah, yes, you're right. If the focus is just on not giving money to Google then SponsorBlock is unnecessary.

However, I also find most sponsored segments obnoxious as hell so SponsorBlock still helps with making the YouTube experience better in general

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 12 points 6 hours ago
[–] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 4 hours ago

I got a question in my head just now.

DNS sinkhole doesnt help with youtube ads but UBO does. DNS doesn't help with twitch ads and neither UBO does. Why is that youtube doesn't do the same what twitch does?

On a side note, my ads on twitch are basically "ad is in progress" screen and not an actual ad. And lately YT has couple of seconds with no video in the beginning as if it loads (1Gbit connection) but eventually loads up and plays with no interruptions after.

[–] rdri@lemmy.world 37 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

"I've found a workaround"

Workaround (according to article): "First of all, YouTube Premium"

The actual workaround (according to article): "Two words: uBlock Origin. Yes, I know that Google has blocked it from its Chrome Extension store, but there is still a way to get uBlock Origin on Chrome"

Seems like they are being paid by Google. Actual workaround should be to drop Chrome.

[–] viking@infosec.pub 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

My thoughts exactly, what a heap of crap. Tom's Guide used to be one of the good ones out there, real shame.

What I was wondering though is if they detect browser plugins through some public ID - how difficult is it to change those? In Firefox it's absolutely trivial, you can simply download the extension, open it as a zip file, and then edit the files inside with a text editor and change the ID.

Haven't used chrome for years, but extensions used to be javascript files just as well, so I doubt they are that hard to edit. Unless they found a way to block installations from local files and enforce their shop, no idea if that's a thing.

[–] rdri@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

if they detect browser plugins through some public ID - how difficult is it to change those?

I actually dismissed that one from the get go since there is not confirmation of any mechanism they described in the article. Not going to spend time on technical-looking explanations from someone who calls a whole another extension a "workaround". Might as well be the case of broken or outdated filters in ABP.

I'm sure if some major site finds a way to know your extensions we'll see some major unsolvable issues.

[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 25 points 16 hours ago

Imagine using Adblock/Adblock plus in 2025.

[–] kahnclusions@lemmy.ca 53 points 21 hours ago (5 children)

Stop using Adblock Plus and start using Firefox with uBlock Origin.

If you’re on iOS, swallow your pride and install Brave and just turn off the crypto features. You’ll thank me later.

[–] Octagon9561@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 hours ago

Fyi uBlock Origin Lite was recently released on iOS

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Stop using youtube and start using peertube. WE DONT FUCKING NEED GOOGLE!

[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 10 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

WE DONT FUCKING NEED GOOGLE!

Unless you make extremely popular video with hundred thousands views in the first day, in which case, yeah, good luck with peertube.

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

That does not apply to most people. Also, peertube is really getting better recently.

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Yes even meta noticed that the qualityof videos on peertube is increased, they're illegally scraping all the content for training their closed source for-profit ai video generator

[–] Amir@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Illegally? Is training that actually illegal under any current laws?

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 1 points 58 minutes ago

I mean the content is hosted under a license that doesn't allow commercial exploitation without permission.

But this doesn't stop meta because copyright laws don't apply to them, see the over 2000 porn movies that they torrented

[–] Zubby@lemmus.org 5 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Many iOS workarounds. I’m using Vinegar extension and also the newly released uBlock Origin for iOS. Chefs kiss

[–] Nindelofocho@lemmy.world 2 points 18 hours ago

Where do you get ublock for ios? Its not mentioned on github or on the site

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[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago (6 children)

So my parents use chrome even though I constantly install Firefox and hide chrome. Problem there is they end up with Edge so I stopped doing that. (Didn't windows get in trouble for this kind of market control in the 90's?)

So I had Ublock origin on chrome for them but it's "not supported" anymore and my usual method of ignoring what it says and turning it back on are now failing.

Any help?

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

You can disable Edge if you don't want people launching it... "accidentally." There are a myriad of ways. Most recently I've used Edge Blocker, which does what it says on the label. Note that this will cause the opening of any file types associated with Edge by default to silently fail if you don't reassign them to some other program.

The install Firefox and uBlock origin. Unless your parents deliberately go out of their way to download and install Chrome (and depending how heavy-handed you want to get you could even prevent this by busting them down to a limited user account) they won't have any choice but to use the correct browser installed on their system. That is to say, the only one.

[–] Chip_Rat@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

Oh my. THANK YOU for that edgeblocker! Going to get that on every computer in my home.

Yeah I'm not "the boss" of my parents. My dad was very tech savvy, but he doesn't have the same memory and cognition as he used to so when I set it up nice he likes it, but any friction sets him off to "solve" the problem... By doing some random totally different thing that doesn't so much solve the problem as "gets it working, sort of" with a browser he recognizes. Then because there are ads he loses interest and just puts on the 24/7 news cycle. :(

[–] cley_faye@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

Beside a big whack behind the head, Ublock Origin Lite is supported on chrome. You lose some features, and it is slower to update, but should still mostly work. Unfortunately, the youtube/ublock fight move quite fast, so results won't be as good on that front.

[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

If they are technologically inept, reduce their accounts to limited, lock down the admin account. That will prevent them from uninstalling FF/installing Chrome, and if the admin account sets a shortcut on their desktop(s), they won't be able to remove it. Disable Edge (there are multiple ways to do so), install the necessary extensions on FF, then change FF's desktop icon and text to "Chrome".

Problem solved.

[–] runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 18 hours ago

change FF desktop icon and text to "Chrome"

The new incognito mode?

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[–] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 15 hours ago

AdGuard and SponsorBlock work fine on Safari on iOS.

[–] obrien_must_suffer@lemmy.world 26 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

People still use Ad Block Plus? Didn't it start allowing sponsored ads like 10 or 15 years ago?

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago

Hence the part "nobody noticed" in the headline

[–] frozenpopsicle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 16 hours ago

Article wasted my time. I want it back moe90.

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 7 points 20 hours ago
[–] Sunflier@lemmy.world 6 points 20 hours ago

Oh thank god: its only on Chrome

[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I noticed yesterday and it’s also affecting other sites where Google serves ads, like Reddit.

[–] W3dd1e@lemmy.zip 5 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

I don’t use Chrome so whatever they did is affecting Adblock elsewhere too.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 163 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (25 children)

The workaround: Switch from Adblock Plus to uBlock Origin.

ABP has had random issues that break it often for years now. It's crap.

[–] zqps@sh.itjust.works 27 points 1 day ago

ABP has also been owned and run by a shady investment firm for the past decade.

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