YouTube extends ad-block crackdown to third-party apps

YouTube is furthering its attempts to crack down on people using ad-block while watching videos, revealing that they’re coming after third-party apps.

For almost a year, YouTube has been cracking down on people using browser plugins to bypass ads on videos uploaded to the site.

YouTube Premium offers users ad-free viewing across all platforms, as well as access to its Spotify-esque streaming service for podcasts and music.

The company is doing so as a way to try to get more subscribers to its YouTube Premium subscription and has continued to increase the ways they’re cracking down on ad-blockers.

On April 15, 2024, YouTube made a post revealing that they’re strengthening enforcement on third-party apps that let you view YouTube without ads.

“Viewers who are using these third-party apps may experience buffering issues or see the error “The following content is not available on this app” when trying to watch a video,” it reads.

“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.”

YouTube ReVanced is a very popular third-party app that allows users to watch videos on the site without ads, but the developers haven’t commented on the change or how it’s going to affect the app in the future.