this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2023

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YouTube begins to prepare for the Adblock war (www.theverge.com)

submitted 1 year ago by adude007@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.ml

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[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 35 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Uninstall Chrome.

Install Firefox.

Stop letting Google dictate web standards and accept that they plan on removing adblocking from Chrome.

Firefox is the last widely available, cross-platform browser that isn't based on Chromium. The only other is Safari for macOS/iOS which is not generally cross-platform.

Firefox uses Gecko/Quantum
Safari uses WebKit
Chrome/Chromium uses Blink

Drop any browsers that use Blink as the rendering engine, and yeah, it's most of them.

Google has made it completely clear where they stand on this war, which is that they will remove your access to content if you don't agree to see their ads.

[–] glitchinthematrix@lemmy.ml 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been on firefox since 2018 and I do not regret it, fuck monopolys, don't let a single company to have control and manage the web as it pleases

[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been on Firefox since way back. I understand they've made a lot of missteps and I'm not going to defend some of their worst decisions, but they're at the very least not an advertising company that wants to remove adblocks from how the web works.

[–] Kelho@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm out of the loop here, what would you say are the missteps and bad decisions from Firefox?

[–] frustbox@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A few things come to mind:

The "Mr. Robot" promotion was pretty bad - they force installed an extension without user interaction. This is IMHO still the worst thing they've done.

Their finances could be seen as a little sketchy, at times, like executive pay vs. layoffs at the start of COVID. The fact that they're hanging off the teat of Google (or maybe Microsoft, which ever search engine has the higher bid at the moment) could also be seen as a conflict of interest.

Some might criticise Mozilla for a lack of focus. While Firefox was getting stale they invested in Pocket, and VPNs and stuff.

It's a thing of the past, but there was this whole thing about Brendan Eich …

Honestly most of these things seem pretty par for the course under capitalism.

[–] Cube6392 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And if you hated Firefox because of Brandon Eich just wait until you find out about Brave

[–] alehel 1 points 1 year ago

I still don't understand why cryptocurrency has a place as a central feature of a browser.

[–] alehel 2 points 1 year ago

While Firefox was getting stale they invested in Pocket, and VPNs and stuff.

At least those products could have given Mozille a source of income in the long term if they became popular enough. Money that could have gone towards keeping Firefox going.

[–] Exec@pawb.social 4 points 1 year ago

Safari was mildly cross-platform... about 10 years ago. Then Apple realized they can't fight that specific market share.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (4 children)

What about email? Firfox have email. How will I be able to switch my android device away from Google?

I like to have alternative but they pretty much control everything on most devices I use.

[–] iSeth@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

You can degoogle android by removing or sandboxing google play services. CalyxOS and LineageOS dothisb AFAIK.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How do I do that? You have instructions or a walk through?

[–] iSeth@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Both Roms have extensive instructions on their website. The important thing is whether your device is supported.

calyxos.org

wiki.lineageos.org/devices/

You will need to unlock the bootloader and wipe the device. If you've never installed android, here be dragons. A backup device is recommendable to say the least. Not liable, etc..

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

How does that work? Can you walk me through how to do that?

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

How does that work? Have instructions?

[–] spiderman@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

how are they in terms of user interface?

[–] ebike_enjoyer@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 year ago

They use the stock android interface. They’re (oversimplification but) basically android with all the proprietary and Google stuff removed.

[–] dindjarin@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

LineageOS is derived from the normal android ROM and CalyxOS is similar to android as well, as far as I remember. The look and feel is supposed to be what people are most used to.

[–] dingus@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

K-9 Mail from Mozilla is an Android-version of their Thunderbird email client.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Shit forgot all about Thunderbird. Long time since I have used Mozilla. I have been way to comfortably with Chrome and Google.

[–] erwan@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

Just because you can't completely degooglize doesn't mean there is no value in reducing their place in your life.

Degooglize what you can, step by step.

[–] Cube6392 1 points 1 year ago

Email clients will improve your email experience while giving less of your data away. FairEmail in particular is fantastic

[–] BendyLemmy@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Stop using the word 'Google' instead of saying 'Search'. Take offense if anyone tells you to 'Google' something - fuck them!!!
Set Firefox as your default - don't keep 'defaulting' to chrome, or chromium based browsers (as this code mostly comes from Google).
Be sure to become more acquainted with more platforms, keep shortcuts handy and use them when they have content...
If you must use Youtube, use it signed out - find your channel and add it to an RSS reader. Avoid using the Youtube interface and avoid the algorithms. Search for any channels you watch on alternative platforms.

[–] WoxRocks@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Firefox on mobile caters for extensions too. Not having ads or tracking on your phone is great. FF on both mobile and desktop is fantastic tbh.

[–] Spidertax@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Firefox Focus is also a lovely little mobile browser for random queries and such. It's effectively always in private browsing mode; anytime you close it, it clears its cache.

I definitely use it more often than "regular" Firefox on mobile. I only really use regular Firefox if I need some sort of persistence or login.

[–] lemmychatwitpeeps@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Doesn't have sponsorblock though unless you use nightly and make some tweaks

[–] DestroyMegacorps@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We need to start dumping yotube and twitch and start using peertube or odysee

[–] stsquad@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

How do creators monetise on peertube?

[–] Veedems@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s well within reason to fight it just like it’s within reason that users will find other ways. I don’t think it makes Google evil to try to stop people from blocking their ads, but this is the internet and people will always find another way around it.

[–] adude007@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Definitely feels like both sides of the Adblock battle are going to get more sophisticated.

[–] fuser@quex.cc 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Youtube: "Watch our ads or else"

Reddit: "Watch our ads or else"

Fediverse: "Else"

[–] federal_explorer@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There is no way the fediverse will replace youtube.

Youtube Is very expensive to host, and the proof is that there is no actual competitor to it.

[–] fuser@quex.cc 5 points 1 year ago

Right, except we aren't trying to "replace" youtube. Those who are prepared to put up with youtube can have it. Same with spez/reddit. If people like those platforms, and happy with them then they can stay there. Those of us who don't care for them can develop communities and content elsewhere.

If you're cool with algorithms showing you ads every five minutes then by all means stick with the commercial platforms, but you're also generally welcome to help build or support a platform that provides a better user experience -- and doesn't use revenue growth as the primary motivator for everything.

[–] BrooklynMan@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

youtube has been actively fighting ad blockers for over a decade. what's this "preparing"?

[–] adude007@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

At this scale? I can’t personally had a problem blocking their ads. Yet…

[–] reeve@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

FreeTube

[–] tzutoo@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This sounds reasonable. There is no free lunch.

[–] DigitalJacobin@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Google made $7 billion from YouTube in 2021^1, might I remind you by running ads on other peoples's content. Now of course Google does provide the platform for that content, but the point still remains.

Users and content creators are what make YouTube, not the other way around. Companies like Google need to careful not to let their pursuit of profit upset the good thing they have going for them.

[–] tzutoo@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the replies. Together, we create the world we live in.

[–] Cube6392 2 points 1 year ago

I would like better ads. Not more personal ads. Just less intrusive ads for products relevant to the video I'm watching

[–] stsquad@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

And of all the content delivery networks they are one of the more equitable ones in terms of monetisation (I'm looking at you TikTok). I'm sure creators get more income per view on platforms like Nebula but it's hard to get the scale of reach of YouTube.

Of course I hate ads, but I pay my Premium fee to avoid them safe in the knowledge creators get a bigger slice of revenue per premium supported view vs ad supported. I also wouldn't give my kids access to YouTube without something to stop the ads.

I'm all for alternative distribution channels but for creators to get paid they will need to run ads, more brand integrations or have some sort of subscription setup. Most people can only avoid to sponsor a small proportion of the content they enjoy.

[–] LoreleiSankTheShip@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

It's not free even with an adblocker allowed. Google still takes my data.

[–] NENathaniel@vlemmy.net 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yea not sure why people expect the service to be free but 🤷 not a popular opinion

[–] NattyNatty2x4 1 points 1 year ago

If Google paid the median-viewed content creator fairly then I'd agree with you. As it stands, they're trying to take the lion's share of funding solely for hosting content that other people create

[–] 4L3moNemo@programming.dev 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ask me do I care, lol.

a) Linux, Firefox + uBlockOrigin + Enhancer for YouTube;

b) Android, Firefox + uBlock Origin + Video Background Play Fix;

c) I never ever use any account or login into the youtube. Playlists? Got favorites/bookmarks in browser :) Voting, comments? I don't care. Native youtube android apk? Never. So, no tracking and stats for you and no dumb auto recomendations for me. Thanks.

P.S. oh, and all cookies are auto deleted on last tab close. Bye.

So, war with or strike me how? Close whole site or put everything under paywall and die? Hahaha

[–] adude007@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Muhahahahahahahahaha

[–] Royalish@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I use NewPipe on my phone, anybody know of any PC equivalent if ad-blockers are getting blocked? Would it even work?

[–] lemmyvore@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago

NewPipe's whole gimmick is the fact it fakes being a browser as far as YouTube is concerned, and the fact that until now Google wasn't crazy enough to block visitors who aren't logged in. If they're willing to go that far there's nothing any app can do, the ad either plays and then tells YouTube it played, or it doesn't.

[–] GravityAce@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 year ago

Freetube

[–] FunzioneSperimentale@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago

"ah shit, here we go again"

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