YouTube will start taking stronger action against third-party apps that are used to block the ads playing before its videos, the company warned in a blog post on Tuesday.
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The Google-owned video giant said that people using such apps might see buffering issues or a notice that states ‘The following content is not available on this app.’
“We want to emphasize that our terms don’t allow third-party apps to turn off ads because that prevents the creator from being rewarded for viewership, and Ads on YouTube help support creators and let billions of people around the world use the streaming service. We also understand that some people prefer an entirely ad-free experience, which is why we offer YouTube Premium,” said the company’s post.
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For now, people can still freely view YouTube videos without ads through privacy browsers such as Brave, as well as options like Firefox and DuckDuckGo.
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YouTube has warned on previous occasions that it will work to disrupt third-party tools that disable its ads for viewers, claiming such actions violate its Terms of Service.
Third-party ad-blocking apps are available on both Google and Apple app stores. They are helpful for browsing the internet without being distracted by pop-up advertisements or flashing banners that impede the user experience.