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Youtube's Anti-adblock is illegal in the EU
(eupolicy.social)
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this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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I think the internet is turning to shit and that Google/Youtube is greedy like every other conglomerate.
But… they have to get something from people using there services. I personally use YouTube like an iPad kid so I have premium. I like the EUs tech laws but I don’t think they should rule that a computer can’t push ads (assuming the ads are not malicious)
They're not ruling that YT can't push ads, though. They're ruling that they're sniffing around the user's computer for things that aren't preventing them provide the service.
In the end, Google has options. One would be, and I'm not saying this is the best one, that they charge everyone to access their site. You know... they way some newspapers do. I'm sure there are other options.
As a free user they get engagement, which may or may not offset what they get out of those that do provide them income. It seems like that was good enough for a couple decades.
I...really don't think it was ever about engagement. I think most free users just didn't have an adblocker.
I think ublock orgin's adoption just picked up over the years, and it's not as if Youtube gets cheaper (I'd imagine it just gets more expensive)
I mean engagement is great, they make the algorithm work (well, "work") but I'm pretty sure the ads were the selling point (for google) before premium was even an option.
Google is an advertising company. That's how they make money. Everything else they do -- search, youtube, apps, phones -- is just an ancillary sideshow that's a vehicle to showing people ads, or gathering data on them to use in showing them ads. So you are 100% correct.
All ads are malicious.
EU techs law don't ban to push ads, they say that you cannot look into my device to check it I (could) see them without asking for my permission for something that you don't need to provide a service.
If the ads weren't absolutely overwhelming (easily around 50% of all watch time, last time I watched without blockers) and if they weren't so poorly implemented (starting ads at random times and not even caring if they're cutting someone off mid-sentence, making 2min+ ads unskippable, accepting ads from very questionable advertisers) it might feel a bit less onerous.
I was fine paying the premium light subscription price and now they're killing it and forcing me off that plan and to pay 50% more to add features I 100% don't use and don't want to use. And of course they'll just jack up the price again in 6-12 months because it's never enough.
YouTube's ads have been malicious for years. If now they try to push the ads they used to have people wouldn't have a reason to complain. But the way YouTube and Google are maximizing all their cash grabs they need to be put down in any way possible.