Google Denies YouTube Videos Jumping to End to Combat Ad Blockers

Yesterday, LanDian News reported that some users discovered if they enabled an ad blocker (including ad-blocking extensions and software), YouTube videos would automatically skip to the end during playback, rendering the video unwatchable even if they manually clicked on the progress bar.

The current workaround for this issue is to pause the ad blocker. Doing so allows videos to resume normal playback without skipping to the video's end, affecting some ad-blocking tools.

This appeared to be YouTube's latest measure to combat ad-blocking by users. Over the past few months, YouTube has tried various methods to encourage users to disable ad blockers or to persuade them to subscribe to YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience.

Unexpectedly, Google issued a brief response denying that videos skipping to the end was a tactic to fight ad blockers. Instead, Google claimed efforts are being made to enhance YouTube's performance.

Google's response is as follows:

Ad blockers violate YouTube's terms of service, and we have consistently urged users to support their favorite creators by allowing ads on YouTube, or to try a YouTube Premium subscription for an ad-free experience.

Efforts to improve YouTube's performance and reliability might lead to a subpar viewing experience for users of ad blockers.

In short, Google continues to emphasize that users should not use ad blockers, explaining that this incident was part of YouTube's ongoing improvements to enhance the site's performance, which "coincidentally" affected some ad blocker users' viewing experience.

However, the credibility of this explanation remains questionable, especially considering YouTube's controversial history, including deliberately degrading the browsing experience on Firefox to drive more users to Chrome.

Fortunately, this situation should not affect most users. If you are impacted while watching, consider trying the open-source, free ad-blocking extension uBlock Origin.