YouTube claims video skipping isn’t due to ad blockers
There was a recent report that some users were facing some problems while watching YouTube. This was where videos would automatically skip to the end or end up muted. It was initially suspected it was due to ad blockers. Now YouTube is claiming that the video skipping has nothing to do with that.
In a statement made to 9to5Google, YouTube claims that it is due to “performance and reliability” improvements. Apparently as a result of these changes, it affected users who were watching videos on their platform with ad blockers installed. Basically whatever changes YouTube made could be interacting with the ad blockers and inadvertently caused these problems.
“Ad blockers violate YouTube’s Terms of Service, and we’ve been urging users for some time to support their favorite creators and allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience. An unrelated push to improve YouTube’s performance and reliability may be resulting in suboptimal viewing experiences for ad blocker users.”
That being said, not all users are facing these issues. It varies from user to user. Also, as per the previous report, depending on the ad blocker used, some users faced issues like video skipping while other YouTube users encountered muted videos. In any case, we doubt that this “war” with ad blockers will end anytime soon.
YouTube is expected to continue to make changes to close the loophole on ad blockers, while ad blockers will simply find new ways to get around it. You could always opt for a YouTube Premium subscription if you’d rather avoid the drama entirely.