Google appears to be cracking down on Adblock for its Chrome browser, forcing users to watch full, unskippable, YouTube ads.
The “Adblock” ethical debate is one that has divided people on the internet for a long time (NB: pretty please white-list The Escapist from your Adblock!) and it now looks like Google is taking some forceful steps to block the blocker, at least within its own Chrome browser. Reports are coming in that users watching YouTube videos on Chrome with the extension installed are being forced to watch full, 3+ minute commercials, without the option to skip them after ~10 seconds like non-Adblock users can.
The workaround seems to be affecting not just the original Adblock, but other similar extensions such as uBlock. Essentially, the workaround tricks the extension into seeing the “Skip Ad” button as an advertisement itself, meaning the only way you can restore your ability to skip ads is to either uninstall the extension, or whitelist YouTube.
You can bet that this is a result of YouTube’s dismal profits, that hasn’t really been making Google any money since it bought the service back in 2006.
I’m certain it won’t be long before Adblock updates itself to get around the workaround, but for now users have discovered that uninstalling the YouTube App from Chrome seems to stop the Adblock bypass.
Source: Neowin
