It has been claimed that YouTube, owned by Google, is showing ads for ad blockers. The company recently intensified its efforts to target individuals who use ad blockers on its platform worldwide.
The cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes claims that even though YouTube explicitly states that employing an ad blocker is against its Terms of Service, as of November 9 the platform was still displaying an advertisement for Total Adblock.
“YouTube has made it quite clear that using an ad blocker goes against its Terms of Service, reminding users that they have a choice between accepting ads or paying for a premium subscription,” according to the report.
However, as of November 9, 2023, there was still an advertisement for Total Adblock, a browser plugin that prevents advertisements, on YouTube. It’s definitely unclear and conveying conflicting meanings,” it continued.
“People don’t desire an ad-free experience in order to harm content providers on purpose. They may not have the funds to pay for a membership, but they most certainly desire an experience devoid of malware and scams,” the report said.
A record number of people have uninstalled YouTube as a result of the video-sharing platform’s efforts to crack down on users who use ad blockers. Several ad-blocking companies have reported that thousands of people are uninstalling their products after YouTube started displaying warnings to users who attempted to watch videos on its website while using ad blockers.
One of the companies, AdGuard mentioned that its Chrome extension has been uninstalled by over 11,000 people daily since October 9, up from 6,000 uninstallations per day prior to YouTube’s change, reports Wired.
