YouTube has ramped up its efforts to combat mobile ad blockers, warning users accessing videos through third-party ad blocking apps that they may experience buffering issues or encounter an error message stating that the content they seek is unavailable.
Last year, YouTube initiated a global campaign urging users to either allow ads while watching videos or upgrade to its ad-free subscription service, YouTube Premium. The online video platform also began disabling videos for users employing ad blocking extensions.
According to The Verge, YouTube stated that its policies prohibit “third-party apps from turning off ads because that prevents the creator from being rewarded for viewership.” The crackdown targets third-party apps utilising YouTube’s API to deliver interruption-free videos.
“We only allow third-party apps to use our API when they follow our API Services Terms of Service,” YouTube emphasized. “When we find an app that violates these terms, we will take appropriate action to protect our platform, creators, and viewers.”
Despite this, AdGuard, an ad blocking service for Microsoft Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android and iOS, has claimed that it is unaffected by the change, since its app does not rely on YouTube’s API.
