YouTube users with ad blockers enabled in their browsers have unexpectedly encountered a black screen issue when trying to watch videos. The issue has been spotted in multiple browsers, including Firefox and Edge, and lasts for about six seconds before the video starts playing.
Image source: Alexander Shatov/Unsplash
YouTube is actively fighting ad blockers, in part to attract users to its $14 per month Premium subscription. In this context, the company has introduced server-side advertising, which is embedded directly into the video stream, which creates insurmountable difficulties for blockers, since their technology works on the client browser side, reports details Ghacks edition. YouTube has previously used various methods, such as delaying playback for users, showing warnings for those who block ads, but this did not lead to significant results.
According to users from Redditwho encountered a problem when trying to play a video with the blocker enabled, a black screen appears instead of the video, and playback stops. Disabling the blocker solves the problem, but users have to watch ads.
At this point, YouTube representatives have not officially commented on the appearance of a black screen for users. It is unknown whether blocking videos for users with blockers is a deliberate measure or a mistake. However, YouTube’s actions have caused a wave of criticism from users accusing the company of unfair practices and attempts to bypass blockers at any cost. At the same time, many point out that they use them because YouTube advertising has become too intrusive.
It is not yet known how YouTube plans to solve this situation. Perhaps the company will find a way to implement server-side advertising without blocking users with blockers. However, it seems that YouTube will continue its policy in this direction and, perhaps, for this reason, introduced the display of ads embedded in the video stream itself. In response to the black screen problem, users can manually update their blocker filters, excluding YouTube from it.
If you notice an error, select it with your mouse and press CTRL+ENTER.
