Youtube doesn't like ad blockers

[bknaggs]

Is anyone else running Smoothwall (Leeds 78 but in this case the user is purely Cloud Filter) blocking adverts but running into Problems accessing YouTube?

 

I've had two reports this week from Teachers that they can't play videos and are instead getting a message saying Ad blockers violate YouTube's terms of service.

 

 

Short of removing my content modification that Removes YouTube adverts is there anything that can be done?

[tom_newton]

Probably not. We will look to work with google to see if there is a sensible way to turn off ads that does not involve us fighting with them

[dapaulio]

Ahh is that why I am getting numerous videos that don’t play? They say they are blocked when I’m almost certain they are not. I have content modification in Smoothwall that removes ads.

[thimon]

I’ve been using Ublock Origin for years and can still watch YouTube videos without ads fine, it’s about the only one that still works. Perhaps look at rolling out the browser extension?

[Bumhug360]

I’ve been using Ublock Origin for years and can still watch YouTube videos without ads fine, it’s about the only one that still works. Perhaps look at rolling out the browser extension?

 

Google Chrome drops support for the most popular ad blocker, leaving over 30 million users stranded | Windows Central

 

yeah that's not an option either unfortunately.

[stevenlong1985]

I'm trying Brave browsers at the moment, that seems to be blocking adverts

[Rob_D]

Google Chrome drops support for the most popular ad blocker, leaving over 30 million users stranded | Windows Central

yeah that's not an option either unfortunately.

Which is strange, because google keep saying this, but it still works fine for me at home.

 

 

At school, we have the remove ads content modification policy running, but it doesn't seem to stop youtube ads for us (which we put down Smoothwall not being able to keep up with google's attempts to bypass adblockers).

[Bumhug360]

Depends what version of Chrome you are using, as of today manifest v2 is still working on current release, some versions of chrome though (think stable release) are starting to display a warning that it will stop working soon, and think a dev build that came out last week had it disabled completely

[tom_newton]

That's right. The smoothwall extension conforms to manifest v3 (which was a painful process)

[thimon]

Yeah I removed Chrome from all devices years ago. Only run Edge now.

[sparker1977]

We are experiencing exactly the same issue at many of our schools. Lots of calls with SW but no solution as yet, and very unhappy staff.

This is through the Edge browser not Chrome

Edited October 15, 2024 by sparker1977

[thimon]

It's a free video platform, paid for by adverts. They can't grumble too much.

[sparker1977]

Are you not seeing the message in Edge? What version are you on ?

[thimon]

uBlock Origin working fine. Edge version shown below.

 

[sparker1977]

Thanks, I will try updating Edge and installing add-on

[bknaggs]

Thanks for the suggestion. My setup is actually Edge + Ublock origin and I've not seen ads or the alert from YouTube. Having said that even when I've tried in Chrome without Ublock I've still not seen the warning or before I changed the Smoothwall policy any adverts.

 

This could actually be the push I needed to convince people to let me get rid of Chrome and just have Edge installed.

[thimon]

Is so much nicer being in a one browser environment. Being a MS school it also kinda made sense to switch.

[lukefowler2024]

youtube has been cracking down on ad blockers alot in the past year, the only ad blocker that is still able to work most of the time is ublock origin, recently chrome moved from manifest v2 to manifest v3 so there is now a more basic version of ublock origin for chrome called ublock origin lite

[gwendes]

Ublock Origin has been working here until today. Any recommendations?

[paulkerton]

Do you all do everything for free because it's education, do your teachers or do we just expect the people who create these videos not to get any form of compensation?

[gwendes]

Do you all do everything for free because it's education, do your teachers or do we just expect the people who create these videos not to get any form of compensation?

 

Give us some control over the safety of the adverts and we will 'happily' have them. No idea what is going to display in a school environment is not right at all.

 

You want crypto currency adverts showing to 10 year olds?

[sigma]

Do you all do everything for free because it's education, do your teachers or do we just expect the people who create these videos not to get any form of compensation?

 

That is a very valid point, and as such I do expects ads, but not the tracking, and not some of the malware some of our pupils have been served lately. I also object to companies that charge, but still retain the ads/tracking.

 

But:

 

From KCSIE (my bold):

 

135. The breadth of issues classified within online safety is considerable and ever

evolving, but can be categorised into four areas of risk:

 

content: being exposed to illegal, inappropriate, or harmful content, for example:

pornography, fake news, racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicide, anti-Semitism,

radicalisation, and extremism.

 

contact: being subjected to harmful online interaction with other users; for

example: peer to peer pressure, commercial advertising and adults posing as

children or young adults with the intention to groom or exploit them for sexual,

criminal, financial or other purposes.

 

conduct: online behaviour that increases the likelihood of, or causes, harm; for

example, making, sending and receiving explicit images (e.g. consensual and non-

consensual sharing of nudes and semi-nudes and/or pornography, sharing other

explicit images and online bullying, and

 

commerce: risks such as online gambling, inappropriate advertising, phishing and

or financial scams. If you feel your pupils, students or staff are at risk, please

report it to the Anti-Phishing Working Group (https://apwg.org/)

 

[paulkerton]

You want crypto currency adverts showing to 10 year olds?

 

Guessing they're not allowed to watch.... any sports whatsoever?

[gwendes]

Guessing they're not allowed to watch.... any sports whatsoever?

 

You can see that it's different in a classroom setting, right? Please tell me you can.

[gwendes]

 

Just got this one on my school Google Workspace for Education account.