What you should know
- Google has been accused of slowing down YouTube video buffering for users who have ad-block enabled, which was reported widely on Reddit.
- Ad-blockers are known to affect YouTube’s monetization model and content creators’ earnings, and their use goes against the platform’s terms of service.
- Despite the accusations, Google denied that the video slowdowns were linked to ad-blocker use, but did not provide any specific reasons for the slowdowns.
- The latest versions of Adblock and Adblock Plus (5.17) appear to be causing performance issues, according to uBlock Origin developer Raymond Hill.
Full Story
Google’s in hot water again this week. Reddit’s been buzzing with claims that YouTube’s video buffer has been slowing down for those with ad-block enabled.
We all thought Google was just stepping up its game. Trying to stop YouTube users from using ad-blockers, you know? It’s messing with their money-making model, after all.
YouTube’s said it before and they’ll say it again: ad-blockers are a no-go. They’re against the terms of service and they’re taking money out of content creators’ pockets. So, it wasn’t a stretch to think that these recent video slowdowns had something to do with ad-blockers.
But then Google said “nope”. They denied the reports, but didn’t really give us a reason for the video slowdowns. Probably because YouTube’s not the one to blame here.
YouTube gave AndroidCentral a quick statement. They said, “recent reports users experiencing loading delays on YouTube are unrelated to our ad blocker detection efforts. Our help center offers troubleshooting tips for users experiencing issues.”
Now here’s the kicker. The latest versions of Adblock and Adblock Plus (5.17) seem to be the only ones causing these performance problems. At least that’s what Raymond Hill, the developer of uBlock Origin, is saying.
