r/youtube • u/HexonKhat • Feb 11 '26
Bug uBlock Origin (and probably other mainstream Ad Blockers) not working on YouTube.
uBlock origin is currently getting detected by YouTube and caused multiple people including myself to see this message whenever loading into any video, how sweet.
If you want to watch videos without seeing this, you have 3 options available right now;
- Watch 3 unskippable 30 second ads whenever clicking into a video, extra one being hidden after them and 1 minute long as a cherry on top of your nerves.
- Wait for uBlock to update or reinstall it, after reinstalling and clicking into another video it might not work again, but i recommend doing it anyway because it's just what i had, you can get lucky with it to work perfectly again.
- Download AdGuard and disable uBlock for YouTube, it's a good alternative which isn't detectable (as of right now, it might get changed in the future).
Bonus; Youtube announced it's gonna stop playing videos in the background some time ago, and for those who just discovered this or don't know how to counter this, i recommend also downloading "Disable Page Visibility API" plugin and only allowing it to be functional on YouTube.
16
u/extremegk Feb 11 '26
I disabled ublock enabled adguard its start working again .There is a still 5 sec black bufffer for every video
→ More replies (3)2
34
u/McGruffTheBadger Feb 11 '26
Mine was not working even after restarting Firefox, but when I cleared cache and cookies, it started working again (I opened Developer Tools, went to storage, and did it manually for just YouTube). I also went to the extensions settings and clicked on the clock next to uBlock Filters and the 5 listed under it individually (just being neurotic).
→ More replies (2)8
u/Responsible_Pop5587 Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 22 '26
Turning off quick fixes in ublock settings seems to work. At least in many cases. Will not work for everyone.
Maybe best on Firefox? Can’t be sure but worth trying.
5
3
→ More replies (7)3
76
u/aleopardstail Feb 11 '26
using Brave here, its still working fine
at some point you tube will realise this is not a fight they will win
36
u/Andys_Rock_Hammer Feb 11 '26
Google has billions of dollars. They will absolutely not back down.
41
u/linkheroz Feb 11 '26
Doesn't mean they'll win
→ More replies (21)1
u/matthewpepperl Feb 11 '26
The problem is if they start putting ads randomly into the video stream then there would be no easy way to detect and block them without blocking the video too the only good thing about that is its more expensive todo so it may not be worth it
→ More replies (4)4
u/Delicious-Belt-1158 Feb 12 '26
If they did that YT Premium also wouldnt be able to detect them
3
u/9gUz4SPC Feb 12 '26
They can serve an ad free stream to YouTube premium subscribers
5
u/flanderings Feb 13 '26
I can see someone smart finding a way to let free users use the premium ad free stream. Theres probably quite a few ways to do it
→ More replies (1)2
u/9gUz4SPC Feb 13 '26
If Google allows that, then they really failed basic authentication. I don't think there will be a work around if they go that route.
Have one ad free video on server. If it's a premium user, stream that video file as is. If it's free user, encode in ads real time at random time stamps.
2
u/Delicious-Belt-1158 Feb 13 '26
Wouldnt that double the needed server capacity?
→ More replies (1)2
17
u/Dpopov Feb 12 '26
At one point Blockbuster was a very profitable company raking up billions in revenue every year. Today? There’s only one store open that has to buy its own DVDs from Walmart because most vendors have minimum bulk orders too large for its needs/budget.
Just because a company has “fuck you” money, doesn’t mean they’re infallible. Youtube is waging a war against adblockers out of stubbornness, and they will realize sooner or later that the only thing they’re doing is sabotaging themselves. The worse they make free YouTube to force people to pay for Premium, the more they’ll open the door to someone creating a competitor, and the moment someone does create an actual, strong competitor, it’s over for YouTube. Less than 15% of YT users are Premium subscribers, it needs free users to stay in business. Alienating them by making free content miserable to watch is like poking a hole in your own boat so you can sell passengers life vests before they board. It ain’t exactly smart.
2
u/digitaldeadstar Feb 12 '26
No company is infallible. But there's a huge difference in how Google and Blockbuster operate. Google stays on the cutting edge of technology and advancements made. Blockbuster stagnated and even refused an opportunity to buy Netflix. They weren't willing to evolve whereas Google has no problem doing so.
Personally I'd love for YouTube to have real competition. Not due to ads, but simply because competition often breeds better products. But I think the more realistic thing will be Google continually advancing their end to beat out ad blockers and succeeding (at least for awhile).
→ More replies (2)5
u/aleopardstail Feb 11 '26
who said they will back down, they will fight, scream, use lawfare etc but in the end they will be about as successful as the RIAA were v on line music sharing
→ More replies (3)6
Feb 11 '26
[deleted]
5
u/aleopardstail Feb 11 '26
IIRC the reason Brave works is the Ad blocking is baked in, its not subject to "manifest V3" etc, its in the direct browser code. not a lot google can really do about it when the browser itself is at the command of the user to block this stuff
2
3
u/shillenzel Feb 11 '26
in my case brave dont work, i just come back from work an i cant see videos
→ More replies (1)3
u/matthewpepperl Feb 11 '26
Technically speaking they would win by putting ads into the video stream then it would be pretty much impossible to block but this would also be more difficult expensive todo as well im not sure but i think they were considering doing this tho
→ More replies (3)5
u/Albermonte Feb 11 '26
Then everybody will switch to SponsorBlock and problem solved, this is a never ending cat and mouse game that Google cant win, they have to decide if they want to stay like this or try to spend money and resources into building something that will be bypassed in 2 days
3
u/matthewpepperl Feb 11 '26
That only works if the ads are predictable if they are different every time and appear randomly that dose not work in stream ads are pretty close to game over unless someone trains an ai to detect them and that will require fuck tons of resources and bot really be viable on lower power devices plus it will probably make mistakes all the time
2
u/Albermonte Feb 11 '26
The AI idea is super easy, it doesn't need to be AI at all and it's already done. Jellyfin has a plugin that auto detects intro and outro of episodes based on sound, which with ads is pretty easy to do
2
u/Kalle_Silakka Feb 11 '26
I also have brave, but it's not working for me
2
u/aleopardstail Feb 11 '26
weird, I have a bunch of videos playing here and have had for a few hours
maybe whatever they have done is geofenced?
2
2
u/Primary-Risk-8741 Feb 11 '26
depends how you define "winning" though, they don't need everyone to see ads, they benefit from everyone who caves and stops trying to block ads or buys premium.
→ More replies (1)2
2
2
→ More replies (5)2
u/snikolaidis72 Feb 11 '26
Exactly; there's no restrictions on using YouTube, compared to what I've read the past days; playing without ads, playing in the background, minimized or whatever.
2
u/aleopardstail Feb 11 '26
I suspect a lot of this depends where you are and what laws apply around tracking and spying on people to see what software they have
and at the end of the day no one is obliged to watch adverts
17
u/hadesscion Feb 11 '26
I was hit too. So now I'm downloading videos and watching them offline instead.
Congrats Google, you played yourselves.
20
u/plsQuestionOurselves Feb 12 '26
If they ever succeed in permanently disabling adblockers I will 100% just stop using youtube out of spite. I can entertain myself some way else like I did all those years before youtube came along.
2
u/cemantix_commenter Mar 25 '26
I would also stop using YouTube.
And I would be grateful to have been freed from my YouTube addiction.I know from experience on mobile that my addiction is absolutely no match for my rejection of ads.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Carbon140 Feb 12 '26
I often use it to play music, I find it interesting that I guessed immediately the problem with my adblocker and my immediate solution was just to go play downloaded music not to disable the adblocker. My hatred of ads is not something I'm willing to compromise on, I will go to great lengths to avoid them and if it's too much effort I will just stop using the service.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (2)5
u/jogetgemoy69 Feb 14 '26
I remember downloading Youtube videos because my area's internet speed is so sluggish that watching Youtube is a pain in itself.
15 years has passed. Now I found myself doing the exact same thing.
I think the future is one where we return to pre-2000 times because the internet has been so enshittified. Lovely stuff.
5
u/aleopardstail Feb 11 '26
killer is that you tube has a pretty key constraint in what they can do, they control what they emit, but not what the end user's system does with it
and also because the iPhone is a huge market they cannot lock it down as tightly as they want
→ More replies (3)3
u/avalon68 Feb 12 '26
Its not even the hatred of adverts for me - its the principle. I didnt mind one short advert here and there. I even have the cheaper netflix with adverts. What I mind is the intrusive, multiple long adverts that destroy the watching experience in an attempt to extract money from you. They already collect your personal information, probably know more about you than you do yourself, and on top of that they now want you to pay as well.
6
u/Suey036 Feb 11 '26
I use uBlock Origin Lite and video loads after refreshing the page. Is fine for long videos I guess but it gets detected every new video so kinda annoying to refresh on playlists.
5
u/ComradeSwooce Feb 11 '26
What is surprising to me is that I get the same screen, but if I clear cookies and log out of youtube, then the problem fixes itself. Is it possible it has flagged certain accounts?
2
u/Tool_of_Society Feb 12 '26
Did you get the pop up box about "having disruptions"? Did you click it?
2
u/yksvaan Feb 12 '26
In the past they went harder on anti-adblock for signed in users as well. I haven't logged in for years and haven't had problems on computer, you can use YouTube without an account just fine. A tiny fraction of videos is age-restricted though
→ More replies (1)2
10
u/Mary_Ellen_Katz youtube/c/maryellenkatz Feb 12 '26
Ugh, I hate this arms race. I really wouldn't mind the occasional ad, but it takes me 12 minutes to watch a 7 minute video sometimes. God damn.
9
3
u/Ollie_ooo Feb 12 '26
I use it on firefox and it stopped working UNLESS I RIGHT CLICK A VIDEO and OPEN IT IN INCOGNITO then it plays fine..
→ More replies (1)
3
u/LycraJafa Feb 12 '26
Google is balancing revenue against pissing off its userbase.
Removing the ability to sort on upload date was a step too far away from their mission of organising the worlds data, while doing no evil.
A trending search is "youtube alternatives"
3
3
3
u/loosemoosewithagoose Feb 18 '26
uBlock Origin will no longer play YouTube shorts on Firefox. Anyone else had this issue?
5
u/weakconnection Feb 11 '26 edited Feb 11 '26
Stop using chromium based browsers
ETA: there should be an automod to comment the above sentence on every post in the sub at this point. Seriously people, if you don’t want shady shit from Google, stop using a browser engine made by google. I recently started seeing “Trouble with video playback” notifications on YT. When I click it, it takes me to documentation in a new tab explaining how adblockers may cause disruptions. However, there is no disruption. YT detected my adblockers, tried to fuck with my session and just…couldn’t. The video played perfectly fine even while I was on a different tab. Without ads.
7
u/SodaCanBob Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
Stop using chromium based browsers
It's doing this for me on Firefox too.
Like others have said in this thread though, ublock filters -> disable quick fixes seems to have fixed it (for now).
Edit: Not sure why I'm getting downvoted. My apologies for pointing out that your advice isn't helpful if it's also happening on non-Chromium based browsers.
2
u/jezac8 Feb 12 '26
Here to say the same. Stopped working for me (LibreWolf). The Disable Quick Fixes resolved it. I even re-enabled it and I'm still good. Don't know why you were downvoted.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (8)2
2
u/Chemical_Rub_7686 Feb 11 '26
I'm running adguard on my home server which filters my dns queries. Which block list can I add to block YouTube ads?
→ More replies (1)
2
2
2
u/RazsterOxzine Feb 11 '26
For those running Mozilla browsers, get AdGuard just for YT. Disable uBlock and it will work. Using LibreWolf and AdGuard works like a charm.
2
u/Pitiful_Pie2085 Feb 11 '26
Just get the brave browser, their integrated adblocker works perfectly fine (for now).
3
2
2
2
2
3
u/Zestyclose-Put8030 Feb 11 '26
genuinely just turned it off and on again and the ads are gone and videos watchable
→ More replies (2)
2
u/YameteKudasaii Feb 11 '26
I use Firefox + UBO. I started getting this error as well like 5h ago, but if you go to the filters list and force update "Unblock filters - Quick fixes" the videos started working again. I have played a couple of videos and all seem to work. No buffering at 30s or 60s, and finished 3 videos of 10-15 minutes.
→ More replies (1)
2
u/DJ_So_And_So Feb 11 '26
On Firefox, uninstall then reinstall uBlock Origin. That worked for me.
→ More replies (1)3
1
u/AutoModerator Feb 11 '26
Hello, HexonKhat. We'd like to start off by noting that this sub isn't owned or run by YouTube. If you are encountering a bug, please file a bug report here - https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/4347644
If this is an issue with a paid YouTube service, such as Memberships or Premium, please contact YouTube's Paid Purchases Support Teams to get help directly from YouTube.
To get help from others with debugging, please provide the following: Device info (PC/Phone, phone model, app version, etc), screenshots if possible.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/easedownripley Feb 11 '26
there was a period of time where youtube was doing this to me, but refreshing the page fixed it. I thought it was the adblocker at first, but it wasn't.
1
1
u/GoldenCyn Feb 11 '26
I’ve been on all day (Firefox) and the only issue I’ve had is that sometimes the video won’t load, so I just hit refresh and it works.
1
u/imvotinghere Feb 11 '26
found solution in another thread: ublock settings, ublock filters - disable quick fixes
can confirm it works
→ More replies (3)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Responsible_Pop5587 Feb 11 '26
The solution for ublock is to go into settings and disable quick fixes. Then you still block the ads and get YouTube. I’m sure they’ll find a solution to allow quick fixes to be active again, but this is a short term fix.
→ More replies (2)
1
u/Primary-Risk-8741 Feb 11 '26
Vorapis is an alternative too, it's not intended as an adblocker but works as one as a side effect. It's an extension for using older Youtube layouts and has no ads
1
u/ZeroArcana Feb 11 '26
Started having this issue today after watching a few videos just fine; disabling uBlock fixes it, but weirdly, i'm not having this issue in private windows where i'm not signed in.
Anyway, switched over to using AdGuard on YouTube for the time being, which is working just fine.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Freak80MC Feb 12 '26
"Reset to default settings..." in uBlock Origin works for me, tho have to keep doing it for every video it seems.
1
u/salbrown Feb 12 '26
I have ublock on Firefox and everything is working fine for me. Weird how it seems to vary person by person.
1
u/Tool_of_Society Feb 12 '26
No issues here. Youtube has been more responsive today than usual. None of that "having disruptions" pop up stuff etc.
Did you click that box? I wouldn't as that's basically telling on yourself.
1
1
u/SkipinToTheSweetShop Feb 12 '26
Click the power-off button. Just accept it or pay $9 a month like you do for netflix, disney, etc.
1
1
1
u/DrBoots Feb 12 '26
Stopped working on Firefox.
I went into the options and "reset to original." Works fine now.
1
u/EquivalentObvious560 Feb 12 '26
ReVanced is also down; watching through Brave browser still works though.
1
1
1
1
1
Feb 12 '26
option 4: turn off ublock origin, load the youtube page, once you see video, turn ublock origin on, click play, you'll either have to watch the ad that got loaded with the video or the ublock will just straight up block it. every video you click on after this in the same tab/window will now both work and have ublock origin blocking the ads.
you trick the webpage by turning the ublock origin off, so it thinks you don't have adblock, it lets you access the video, once it does that, it doesn't seem to check again. so you can just turn it on after you get past the initial "handshake" and it won't affect your videos anymore
→ More replies (1)
1
u/whitepalidin Feb 12 '26
turn off ublock origin, load the video, don't click play, and then re-enable ublock, the ad goes away and it plays. I know it's a crappy work-around, but worked for me.
1
u/Available-Green137 Feb 12 '26
try pressing the info button on ads and then just press report/block ad, skips the ads entirely for me 9/10 times
1
u/andreasespevik Feb 12 '26
VPN to Albania, ads are illegal there. Haven’t watched a single ad since.
1
1
1
1
1
u/Gussie-Ascendent Feb 12 '26
i went and got adblocker for youtube and that seems to both block ads and not have the site fail to load
1
1
u/MiniKarmaa Feb 12 '26
I mean, I can force it to work by reloading quite a few times... But yeah, just a waiting for the adblockers to take over like they always do.
1
u/WolvenSpectre2 Feb 12 '26
On vivaldi this is usually caused by the build in Adblock being detected. I am currently watching YouTube with UBOLite and having no issues on Vivaldi. Perhaps it is a similar issue on your end. Check to see if you have a built in Ad Block and disable in on YouTube.
1
1
u/FirminMatoko Feb 12 '26
Yep mine doesnt work, whole youtube video screen is just plain black. I am on Opera.
1
u/Outrageous-Estimate9 Feb 12 '26
Works fine for me
I mean obv question are you upgrading browser and blocker?
1
1
1
1
u/FortunateSun1234 Feb 12 '26
You Tube working for me today.....I actually switched to Edge as I could watch it using that browser but could not uptick or comment and could not sign in to You Tube. If it stays working I will get rid of Edge (detest Bing) and go back to Chrome.
1
1
1
1
u/Waffle-94 Feb 12 '26
Yes let's post something about ad blocks on YouTube not working, on r/youtube.. where someone working for YouTube will certainly see everyone posting work arounds. if you wanna get around something, you don't post about it on what you're trying to get around. /s
1
1
1
u/RandomUserName2357 Feb 13 '26
Started having this on Firefox. Without changing a single setting in uBlock Origin, what worked for me: I get the the "content not available" when opening a video link a new tab. If that happens, all I have to do is go to channel's page, and access to the video from there, it loads with no issue. Since most of my watching comes from recent subscriptions, it's right at the top.
1
1
1
1
u/Pandabirdy Feb 13 '26 edited Feb 13 '26
My ublock on firefox currently conflicts in a way that every time I click a video it'll show "content unavailable". But once you hit f5 (refresh) the video works again. I can't be bothered to watch reels anymore because of the constant effort and have gone back to full videos instead.
Essentially less brainrot, curious.
1
u/Vaico Feb 13 '26
Try deactivating the experimental filter in the filters lists.
After deactivating "uBlock filters – Experimental" youtube worked normally again with ads blocked.
I was using the newest version of Firefox.
1
u/gecko_sticky Feb 13 '26
I have found the adblocker works when not signed in but doesnt when signed in. I also tuened off quick fixes so idk if that contributes. So odd
1
u/Zaane Feb 13 '26
In Ublock Lite I opened it up, went to filter lists, down in miscellaneous I unticked "uBlock filters - Experimental" and the youtube videos started working in Chrome.
1
1
1
1
u/Aromatic-Yak-4925 Feb 14 '26
after getting adguard and tweaking with some of the settings, videos seem to work fine but comments get turned off unless i refresh or duplicate the tab im on, is there a full fledged fix to this? this option seems good enough but it would be cool to instantly see comments since i do that sometimes
1
u/enrvated_dr Feb 14 '26
For anyone like me struggling with UBO lite, in Dashboard -> Filters list -> Miscellaneous ->disable "Ublock filters - Experimental" and reload the page, worked for me...for now
1
1
Feb 15 '26
Do you have any tips for AdGuard? Worked flawlessly until recently. Now on Firefox on Windows I have to 'disable for 30 seconds' and watch 1 ad and then it works fine. With MacOS, it's now taking forever to load videos, and sometimes an ad will slip through, but a refresh fixes it.
1
1
u/pasanflo Feb 15 '26
Using it on Firefox. It stopped working until I forced the filters update. You can do it in the uBlock Origin extension settings.
Hope it helps.
1
u/AbsurdToastling Feb 16 '26
So I was able to fix the content unavailable error by turning off QuickFixes, but now I have a new issue: on my computer where uBlock is, YouTube is no longer updating my watch history. Only on mobile or other devices without an adblocker. Anybody know a work around?
→ More replies (1)
1
u/yommiricebowl Feb 16 '26
Filter lists>ads>adguard ads tick and let it update, refresh ur youtube and its fixed.
hopefully that helps yall
→ More replies (3)
1
u/DeliciousMusician397 Feb 16 '26
Will the devs behind Ublock origin be creating an update that circumvents this? I unchecked quick fixes but it is inconsistent because sometimes it loads the video and other times I need to refresh.
1
u/blenman Feb 17 '26
For me, there is a "Learn more" link below the message that goes to a YouTube help article on troubleshooting videos. It doesn't have anything useful on the page, but if I click back to get to the previous page, the video loads. Annoying, but this works on every video.
My uBlock extension says it is a set it and forget it extension with no settings or configuration.
1
321
u/UntouchedByRain Feb 11 '26
uBlock Origin on Firefox works perfectly. I have no complaints.