TheRainbowegoSweet007
6148
290
6
*NEW* DuckDuckGo Users might be BANNED from YouTube!
The browser now blocks YouTube ads natively - no extensions needed. This goes against YouTube's rules and DuckDuckGo will likely have to revert the change to allow their users to keep using the browser to watch YouTube...
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/07/09/duckduckgo-browser-blocks-youtube-ads/
FiftyShadesOfTiramisu
"...will likely have to revert the change" - why? Just release an update every time YT finds a way to block the browser from accessing the site or playing videos. Just like NewPipe et al are already doing. Every other week, YT loses the arms race all over again. Everything they come up with is futile. Might as well stop trying. People have a right to block ads, it's an essential part of IT security, so just accept it and move on.
VagabondEngineer
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1cnp3dmpwd2liZ2xlY2NtMzAxdDc2bHJmc2VhYmVyZ3Z3dGN4Ymw2diZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/FNBHUqruiI1m1gLDh8/200w.webp
LeifHietala
Install SmartTube on Android smart TVs! It blocks ads and is under constant development to keep ads at bay.
EveryoneSaysEverythingHereisAI
I stopped supporting/enabling the wealth-class long ago. But occasionally I'll see a YouTube link that has needed content so I'll click on it; to this day I've still never once seen an ad on YT. To be fair, I don't see ads anywhere on the web, nor on stream sites, ever! On YT I don't know where ads would be or what it looks like; no issues either. I'm a FOSS geek so I've been Linux OS & Firefox Forks w/UBO for 2.5 decades. I use DDG as my default search; FF browser on ungoogled Android.
B0ardski
I miss napster
CPTBRUMBL3Z
Firefox, uBlock Origin.
Done.
FreePalestineAndTheWorldFromIsrael
We live in a society where you're banned for refusing to participate in Capitalism. Fuck YouTube and fuck Google.
BerryButcher
hear me out... say you reverted the chanegs and revert them but then quietly enable it again but don't advertise you did... ublock still works fine and ain't nothing they can do about it
QuatermainFT
thats like the best advert they could come up with for it.
thericfactor
VPN with your country selected as Albania will give no ads on YouTube. Works on your phone too.
putthefingerinthenose
I use DDG browser on the phone and still watch movies on youtube
PanNonOpticon
DuckDuckGo just needs a new switch in settings "Report as Chrome".
The sites don't magically know what browser you use, the browser tells them. And there is no rule that the browser can't lie.
SaturnineCult
I didn't even know DDG has browser too, though been using the search engine for months already.
Gerdwo
They do and it’s great. Has a ticker for how many trackers are blocked
Xenarion
Me neither
PauliePlaysPoorly
Got one for phones too
IDoNotWantAnAccount
NewPipe is handy for mobile. It's a digital arm's race, though.
dontrike
Duck will just tweak it and get around it, like using ad blockers gets around youtube.
ToSisPoS
Well, how about duck duck go create their own YouTube like they created their own Google?
bikett
Use VPN with location set to Albania, no ads because Albania prohibits YouTube to show ads.
khora
You can just pay youtube to not show ads.
KT8819
I wish there was a way to play YouTube videos while your phone is locked. Those were the days. Add blockers are great, but I miss being able to just lock the phone and listen the video still play
AtLeastImWearingUnderwear
Meanwhile, on Brave...
makesense
They will most likely do what Brave does and allow you to make exceptions. But still plenty of things that could be developed to stop the ads. I haven't watched an ad on YouTube for ages.
GuntherG
Brave also blocks YT ads and still works perfectly.
Only thing you need to add is Sponsor Block.
narcoleptiKnickers
Get Brave
DarkZalgo
And then your PC will be used for crypto mining.
narcoleptiKnickers
Citation needed.
DarkZalgo
Sorry was misinformed, they didn't mine crypto, they automatically added referral links to make money off of any time you visited certain crypto websites.
LumpPump
so only a problem for the crypto bros, cause i dont think i have visitied a single cryto site for years. and the only reason i looked the first time was out of curiosity to see what the heck the CBs were going nuts over
DarkZalgo
The point is they've proven they'll manipulate the URL of a website you're going to just to make money
narcoleptiKnickers
I know it has a crypto wallet and there's some kind of crypto award thing connected to advertisements. But I've always ignored that.
16KTS
YouTube is under the control of Google. So it makes sense.
FreePalestineAndTheWorldFromIsrael
Be evil.
BreakfastWithCountChocula
Dunno, DDG with YT works fine on my end.
keppler38
Firefox plays YouTube and it works with extensions.
BloodBlight
There is LibreWolf if you want even BETTER protection.
HogWashDiddler
Not needing the extensions is what DuckDuckGo was going for
keppler38
Totes. I haven’t tried it before but slowly I’ve seen extensions get removed so I’ll keep it in my back pocket for the future.
AgamemnonsMemes
youtube often stalls when you have ad blockers, you just have to refresh the page, so its just a little annoying, but it won't be long
DrDadJokes
For now. Sure they tried before, but they are still trying. The fear that they actually succeed is present for sure.
hotaru251
firefox (or waterfox if you dont trust mozilla) + UBO.
DSREX
Google has been making moves that will weaken those extensions. Duckduckgo and Brave specifically still block some of the most common things. Chrome had this method removed as functionality basically breaking the way the ad blocks work in the browser. It is only matter of time before the other Chromium based browsers get the update.
Same thing is happening to Graphine OS phones, they are being black listed because they protect you.
DukeSliscus
Yepp, and then the guy that makes the extension patches it in a day or two. Google is putting teams of engineers on this project, spending hundreds of thousands to be undone by one spiteful Geek. And as a reminder: this is for less than 1% of youtube users.
I will literally stream directly via custom app with an adblock built in and not use a browser if it comes to it. I will literally build my own workaround if it comes to it.
With my last breath I spit upon their monetization model.
Sliprunner
Main catch I see is if they start blocking browsers based on the agent, they might land in trouble for market manipulation/control, because youtube is such a major content platform to try gating access to.
DSREX
I am sure dancing around the EU rules is what they are doing. And Youtube has been pushing the edge with terms of service browser blocking for a bit now.
I would be willing to be bet there is an entire legal department in the EU attempting to figure out how to pull it off.
Also fuck all the companies that constantly try and make the internet worse because money.
Sliprunner
They did try dancing around rules with some of their adblocker checks before and got in trouble because, IIRC, it ended up being considered a breach of privacy. Think that's part of what delayed a bit of the anti-ad-blocker stuff. Seriously... I hate how the Internet's been ground down... Where's the era of 5$ runescape subscriptions, yahoo answer memes, and geocities information archives.
DSREX
The problem is the internet has always been propped up by speculation and guess work. The DotCom crash was a result of this.
If banner ads were enough we would still be in the internet you described. Now we are at a point where everyone uses 4-5 different pages and that is it.
We have massive speed and access points, and so much less to do, see and talk about.
Because without massive potential money to be made we would all still be on dial up and message boards.
DarkZalgo
It's not so much that they "protect you", they prevent Google from getting ad revenue.
DukeSliscus
I was ok with banner ads and a short ad before the video. my 15 minute YouTube vid should not have an ad break every 3 minutes. Fuck google, fuck the ads they run, and fuck anyone that wants to defend their bullshit.
DarkZalgo
And I'm sure you had just as much of a problem with it when cable TV has been doing that for decades too.
DoomSquirter
I had a pvr that removed commercials for me. fuck ads of all kinds.
DukeSliscus
Cabl ads last longer and happen less frequently, I can grab a snack or take a piss during a TV ad break - I can't do that with youtube ads
LifeIsADanceOfMinds
And the Duck makes a great Search Engine...
wadatahmydamie
A barely-functional search engine*. My favorite trick is when I add things like quotation marks and it just says “nah, I don’t feel like it” then gives a bunch of bullshit results.
Startpage seems to be working okay so far
Thehcxx
I feel this so much. Back when google wasn't complete shit quote were how I easily found anything obscure. They just don't work on any search engine anymore. Literally copy and paste a line of text from a page, put quote around it, get nothing.
ProjectDA
been using it since google went AI and sucked trumps dick. revance is great for youtube.
DragonSamurai182
How do you feel about the new duck ai?
Comet260
Meh.
ProjectDA
i have it turned off..
LifeIsADanceOfMinds
Don't know... I don't use the AI tools offered - can't always opt out (like trying to chat with a company rep).
Oh, feel. Like emotions? Sad.
SaturnineCult
I haven't seen any youtube ads in years and I've used FF, Brave, Edge and Chrome. Though not sure if Chrome has shut down uBlock now.
CarlBassett
I use Edge and UBlock Origin still works for me, though I do occasionally get a YT video that won't play. If it doesn't play I just do without it. I can live without Youtube.
Hypothesist
ubo lite seems to still block it in my experience, just always shows a "experiencing interruptions" popup briefly.
SaturnineCult
Yeah same here. They did block Brave browser shield it seems, but it doesn't matter for ads.
Hypothesist
oh... i thought you meant you had not tried
""though not sure if Chrome has shut down uBlock now.""
SaturnineCult
Yeah I ditched Chrome long time ago, even Edge is 10x better as it also has extensions now. Currently running Brave.
LionelOu
Surfing the web without an ad blocker is like fucking strangers without a condom. Sure, most of the time you'll probably be fine, but when it goes wrong it will go really wrong.
Groovechild
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1MzVlZXQ1anB5bnZ4cDF4dXBrNmlvMGZrd21oeHYwbnUyNjFkaWI1cSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/2xPGQWsvyztoneIerN/200w.webp
DarkZalgo
I dunno, if you're on shady enough sites that your PC is fucked without an ad blocker, you probably shouldn't be on those sites to begin with. Tbh that's more of a reason to not use an ad blocker because you know pretty quick if it's gonna be that bad. And you could just as easily be fucked without an ad blocker on those.
IHateTransphobes
Shady like facebook? 'Cause that's a prime target for malvertising.
kithylin
Imgur that you're browsing right now makes connections to !SEVEN! user data tracking and analyatics websites every time you load a page.
mikeatike
Just fucking visiting sites without an ad blocker is eye-bleed-inducing.
Like how do boomers visit local news sites? When I acciently visit wihtout adblock on, there's a flood of banners and popups and taboola and outbrain slop.
kithylin
It's not just ads. We also need to block all of the 3rd party monitoring and internet usage tracking connections too.
kithylin
Use ublock origin and start with the website monitoring tool just to see how much 3rd party tracking bullshit LITERALLY EVERY WEBSITE USES.
DarkZalgo
My dude those numbers are so horribly inflated just to make you feel like they're doing something.
kithylin
I have yet to find any website that doesn't make a connection to some sort of either tracking, usage, or analyatics server. Imgur it's self connects to 7 tracking and analyatics servers every time you load a page here.
DarkZalgo
And what counts as tracking, usage, or analytics, specifically?
LionelOu
Yeah, no. The shadiness of the site doesn't matter when it's the ad network that delivers the ad that is compromised. I can decide for myself to trust specific sites, I have no control over how well any particular ad network clears their ads.
PhailRaptor
Most of them don't without a specific complaint. I had that issue with PornHub once, of all places. Automated response to the first email (which I assume no person ever read) was to recommend their Premium subscription, presumably because Premium doesn't serve ads.
DarkZalgo
My dude, I've spent nearly every day online for the past couple decades and I've never had a malicious ad served to me by anything other than shady sites.
Koriania
I personally have never been shot at, gotten cancer, broken a bome, or been homeless, so it's never happened to anyone ever. <\s>
DarkZalgo
Would I not be at more risk than the average user since I'm always doing something online? I'm literally in front of 3 monitors doing something online 6-14 hours a day nearly every day for at least the past 15 years.
Badprenup
There's been repeated instances of imgur serving malicious ads to users over the years. Also:
https://www.pcworld.com/article/435838/youtube-served-malicious-advertisements-trend-micro-says.html<l">https://www.pcworld.com/article/435838/youtube-served-malicious-advertisements-trend-micro-say/">l">https://www.pcworld.com/article/435838/youtube-served-malicious-advertisem">s">/">l">https://www.pcworld.com/article/435838/youtube-served-malicious-advertisements-trend-micro-says.htmla>
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/16/major-sites-new-york-times-bbc-ransomware-malvertising
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ransomware-gangs-use-seo-poisoning-to-infect-visitors/
https://www.techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/malvertising-google-ads-malware
DarkZalgo
Wait do people actually click on ads? Why would you ever click a link that you don't know where it goes?
IHateTransphobes
Are you sure you aren't doing a post-hoc to your memory? As in, misidentifying the source of your malware infection?
DarkZalgo
I haven't had a malware problem on a PC since I was a child. I run Malwarebytes every once in a while and the only hits I ever get are misidentified things like cheat engine.
NotSoFastener
Forbes had malware injected through ads. Are you saying Forbes is a shady site?
DarkZalgo
If they serve malware ads then yes absolutely.
mikeatike
Define a non-shady site.
DarkZalgo
One that actually monitors the content that is displayed on their site.
IHateTransphobes
Presumably a site with no ads, since that's what it takes to never serve a malvert.
Jarjarthejedi
...You're on one of those sites right now dude. Imgur ads have installed malware multiple times in the past. If you browse THIS SITE YOU ARE CURRENTLY ON without ad blocked you are risking infection. Acting like "oh, it's your fault your computer got infected, you shouldn't have been browsing those sites" when you're ON ONE OF THEM MAKING THAT COMMENT is the biggest "idiots in glass houses throwing stones at themselves" I've seen in a while...
DarkZalgo
My dude I have never once got served a malicious ad on imgur, but I also haven't had an ad on imgur in several years.
Jarjarthejedi
"I've never gotten stabbed here so clearly anyone who has is lying" - Man standing in bar known for it's 17 stabbing cases.
IHateTransphobes
You must be using an adblocker, then.
DarkZalgo
Adblocker doesn't work on mobile even if I was. You just get free emerald at 100k points.