With YouTube’s notoriously rolling at least two unskippable ads per video – which is quite annoying, users either have to pay for YouTube Premium or rely on ad blockers to have an enjoyable viewing experience. Using ad blockers has not always been a smooth experience.
In the recent week, users with an ad blocker enabled have been reporting YouTube videos are either skipping to the end or playing muted.
Trying to replay the video or skip to a certain part of the part does not seem to work as the video also (almost immediately) skips to the end. Additionally, some users claim that even if the video plays, it does so with no audio; trying to adjust the volume similarly doesn’t work. This issue appears to be primarily affecting users with AdBlock Plus installed and enabled.
Most users believe that this is the latest tactic that YouTube is deploying to discourage ad blockers, understandably so, given the platform’s stance on the use of ad blockers on its site.
YouTube has been on a campaign to eliminate the use of ad blockers. This campaign seeks to boost the service’s premium subscription. In the past year, the crackdown has seen the platform introduce a three-strike policy that would block videos from playing if the ad blocker wasn’t disabled.
However, it appears that YouTube (or its parent company Google – they really dislike ad blockers) is not behind rather a bug with AdBlock Plus is responsible. Notably, most other ad blockers do not have this issue and are working fine. If you’re still experiencing this, try disabling your ad blocker.
This isn’t the first time AdBlock Plus has affected the viewing experience on YouTube. Earlier this year, users experienced delays in playing videos or accessing the platform’s URL regardless of the browser choice. This slowdown also affected device performance with some users reporting a spike in CPU usage.
