9 ms·

I took off adblocking on Youtube just to see if I could get along with continuing to use Youtube in a frictionless way. The answer is no, because Youtube's cur

I took off adblocking on Youtube just to see if I could get along with continuing to use Youtube in a frictionless way. The answer is no, because Youtube's current crop of ads is full of outright scams and conspiracy theory stuff. Content that would probably be massively de-emphasized by the youtube algorithm or even outright banned is apparently okay to show as long as you pay Google a few thousand dollars to run it as an ad. So now I just use Invidious.

ramesh31 3y ago
This is the real problem. I don't mind good ads at all. But youtube ads are terrible. Seriously the worst of the worst crap.
realusername 3y ago
Same for me, I don't have adblock on my mobile yet and I evaluate that less than half of the ads I see on youtube are even legal in my country. Conspiracy theories, fake products, casino type games, get quick rich schemes and fake medical products are common. Then I hear PR ads on the radio on how Google supports small local businesses, when you are big enough, the reality doesn't matter anymore.
RajT88 3y ago
I had the same experience. I will say this: at least I have not seen malvertising campagins slip through (that I have seen). That is the biggest and perennially relevant reason to have an adblocker installed.
- hermitdev 3y ago
  Malware is the reason I continue to run an ad blocker. The ad purveyors won't accept responsibility for the shit they shovel (and good luck attributing to which ad network something slipped through after the fact), so they don't need to run shit on my computer. I have been bit my ad delivered malware before while at work. Not a pleasant experience, and of course everyone assumes that you _most_ have been doing something dodgy like watching porn.
  - RajT88 3y ago
    Heh. You talk about unpleasant experiences at work. I had a colleague pull me into a side call, because his Chrome browser started randomly popping up porn sites. Turns out - one of his extensions he had installed had gotten purchased by someone shady, and it started doing crazy shit. Once he removed the extension, it was fine again. But the extension was made by someone reputable, and well-reviewed in the chrome web store. Yes, the maker may have gotten hacked, but it's also apparently common for extension makers to not ask too many questions when someone shows up with a check for 10-20k.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
qsdf38100 3y ago
I got several ads from a well known scammer, full of conspiracy bullshit about how school is a way for the "elites" to hide some grand truth from the masses. It promotes his "re education" portal, which is actually a get-rich-fast type of scam, à la Andrew Tate. I reported the ad, twice, but YT claims it doesn’t violate any policies. I’m pretty sure it violates EU laws about disinformation, but no one is going to listen to me right ?
- rchaud 3y ago
  > from a well known scammer, full of conspiracy bullshit about how school is a way for the "elites" to hide some grand truth from the masses not a nice thing to say about Peter Thiel! /s
hotnfresh 3y ago
Remember when people were voluntarily allowing Google ads through their ad blockers, because they were text-only, clearly marked as ads, mostly for legit products/businesses, and often had some relevance to the site you were looking at? Those were the days.
sigmar 3y ago
Same experience. The ads weren't just things I didn't want to see, I found it viscerally disturbing that some of the scams I saw are getting pushed in front of kids and teens. Have the ads always been this way on youtube?
rchaud 3y ago
Online advertising is insidious because it isn't monitored or regulated to nearly the same extent as TV, radio and print ads. Back in the mid-2000s, Google was rife with ads for: - 'cheap RX meds from Canada', - 'free iPod' (if you sign up w CC for 12 random services) - 'mail order brides from [war torn country]' - 'legal grow at home indica buds' Those are just the ones I remember. I'm sure the modern ads aren't any better, I just don't see them thanks to Adblock.
- bastard_op 3y ago
  I get much the same - I suspect because I perpetually adblock, cookie block, script block, etc everything they can determine better what I want, for a reason. As a base, I get the most scammy ads one can imagine, which you really do not want to send to an IT professional that knows the game already. It's just so bad, a total race to the bottom...
2Gkashmiri 3y ago
Please use sponsorblock in addition to whatever you like.
tzs 3y ago
I'm getting a few of those, but mostly ads for appliances, lawn and garden tools, piano lessons, and guitar lessons. The appliance ads make sense because I am actually considering getting a new washer and dryer and have been researching that, since my nearly 20 year old GE washer is showing some signs that it might be about to have problems. The lawn and garden ads also make some sense, because I did do a fair bit of lawn work around the house over the summer, and did look into buying some of the tools I'm now seeing ads for. But I haven't looked at said tools in a couple months, so they don't make as much sense as the appliance ads. I watch a fair number of non-performance music videos (e.g., music theory, guitar technique, and similar) so the piano and guitar less ads make sense. The problem with all of them is that even the ones that actually have provided me useful information that might increase the chances I'll buy the advertised product if I end up buying a product in their category provide me all their useful information the first time I see the ad. The next dozen times I see the same ad is useless and annoying. There was also an ad for something in a category I didn't know existed (Lomi [1]) that got me curious enough to go to their site. Doesn't look like it would be useful to me, but it is an interesting idea. The oddest one was one I've gotten a single time, from Best Buy. But it wasn't advertising any particular Best Buy products. It was just an instructional video telling how to DIY mount a TV on a wall [2]. Best Buy does sell TV wall mounts, but I don't think they named the mount they used for an example in the video. It was just the "How to mount your TV" from their Geek Squad tech tips page and applies equally well to pretty much every wall mount available. I've no idea why Best Buy decided to pay to promote that. [1] https://lomi.com/ https://lomi.com/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xujwpCKBAs4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xujwpCKBAs4

ramesh31 3y ago

This is the real problem. I don't mind good ads at all. But youtube ads are terrible. Seriously the worst of the worst crap.

realusername 3y ago

Same for me, I don't have adblock on my mobile yet and I evaluate that less than half of the ads I see on youtube are even legal in my country. Conspiracy theories, fake products, casino type games, get quick rich schemes and fake medical products are common. Then I hear PR ads on the radio on how Google supports small local businesses, when you are big enough, the reality doesn't matter anymore.

RajT88 3y ago

I had the same experience. I will say this: at least I have not seen malvertising campagins slip through (that I have seen). That is the biggest and perennially relevant reason to have an adblocker installed.

hermitdev 3y ago
Malware is the reason I continue to run an ad blocker. The ad purveyors won't accept responsibility for the shit they shovel (and good luck attributing to which ad network something slipped through after the fact), so they don't need to run shit on my computer. I have been bit my ad delivered malware before while at work. Not a pleasant experience, and of course everyone assumes that you _most_ have been doing something dodgy like watching porn.
- RajT88 3y ago
  Heh. You talk about unpleasant experiences at work. I had a colleague pull me into a side call, because his Chrome browser started randomly popping up porn sites. Turns out - one of his extensions he had installed had gotten purchased by someone shady, and it started doing crazy shit. Once he removed the extension, it was fine again. But the extension was made by someone reputable, and well-reviewed in the chrome web store. Yes, the maker may have gotten hacked, but it's also apparently common for extension makers to not ask too many questions when someone shows up with a check for 10-20k.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

qsdf38100 3y ago

I got several ads from a well known scammer, full of conspiracy bullshit about how school is a way for the "elites" to hide some grand truth from the masses. It promotes his "re education" portal, which is actually a get-rich-fast type of scam, à la Andrew Tate. I reported the ad, twice, but YT claims it doesn’t violate any policies. I’m pretty sure it violates EU laws about disinformation, but no one is going to listen to me right ?

rchaud 3y ago
> from a well known scammer, full of conspiracy bullshit about how school is a way for the "elites" to hide some grand truth from the masses not a nice thing to say about Peter Thiel! /s

hotnfresh 3y ago

Remember when people were voluntarily allowing Google ads through their ad blockers, because they were text-only, clearly marked as ads, mostly for legit products/businesses, and often had some relevance to the site you were looking at? Those were the days.

sigmar 3y ago

Same experience. The ads weren't just things I didn't want to see, I found it viscerally disturbing that some of the scams I saw are getting pushed in front of kids and teens. Have the ads always been this way on youtube?

rchaud 3y ago

Online advertising is insidious because it isn't monitored or regulated to nearly the same extent as TV, radio and print ads. Back in the mid-2000s, Google was rife with ads for: - 'cheap RX meds from Canada', - 'free iPod' (if you sign up w CC for 12 random services) - 'mail order brides from [war torn country]' - 'legal grow at home indica buds' Those are just the ones I remember. I'm sure the modern ads aren't any better, I just don't see them thanks to Adblock.

bastard_op 3y ago
I get much the same - I suspect because I perpetually adblock, cookie block, script block, etc everything they can determine better what I want, for a reason. As a base, I get the most scammy ads one can imagine, which you really do not want to send to an IT professional that knows the game already. It's just so bad, a total race to the bottom...

2Gkashmiri 3y ago

Please use sponsorblock in addition to whatever you like.

tzs 3y ago

I'm getting a few of those, but mostly ads for appliances, lawn and garden tools, piano lessons, and guitar lessons. The appliance ads make sense because I am actually considering getting a new washer and dryer and have been researching that, since my nearly 20 year old GE washer is showing some signs that it might be about to have problems. The lawn and garden ads also make some sense, because I did do a fair bit of lawn work around the house over the summer, and did look into buying some of the tools I'm now seeing ads for. But I haven't looked at said tools in a couple months, so they don't make as much sense as the appliance ads. I watch a fair number of non-performance music videos (e.g., music theory, guitar technique, and similar) so the piano and guitar less ads make sense. The problem with all of them is that even the ones that actually have provided me useful information that might increase the chances I'll buy the advertised product if I end up buying a product in their category provide me all their useful information the first time I see the ad. The next dozen times I see the same ad is useless and annoying. There was also an ad for something in a category I didn't know existed (Lomi [1]) that got me curious enough to go to their site. Doesn't look like it would be useful to me, but it is an interesting idea. The oddest one was one I've gotten a single time, from Best Buy. But it wasn't advertising any particular Best Buy products. It was just an instructional video telling how to DIY mount a TV on a wall [2]. Best Buy does sell TV wall mounts, but I don't think they named the mount they used for an example in the video. It was just the "How to mount your TV" from their Geek Squad tech tips page and applies equally well to pretty much every wall mount available. I've no idea why Best Buy decided to pay to promote that. [1] https://lomi.com/ https://lomi.com/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xujwpCKBAs4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xujwpCKBAs4