The best part about one company revolutionizing video-sharing on the internet is that it gets the say in how awful that experience can be. After beginning to roll out a healthy nudge to turn off ad blockers or subscribe to the platform’s ad-free Premium offering, YouTube is now forcing users’ hands.
YouTube communications manager Christopher Lawton told The Verge Tuesday that using an ad blocker is actually against the platform’s terms of service. He also told the outlet that “ads support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube.” This past May, Redditors spotted YouTube toying with forcing its users to disable their ad blockers in order to watch videos, with the alternative being a subscription to YouTube Premium.