YouTube continues its war on ad blockers, slowing performance for users who visit the site with ad-blocking plugins enabled.
Reports began surfacing that YouTube was forcing users to wait for five seconds before loading a video when using Firefox with ad blockers enabled. The reports sparked an uproar, with many believing YouTube was targeting Firefox and exempting its own Chrome browser from the slowdowns.
According to a statement provided to Android Central, however, YouTube says it is applying the slowdown to all browsers that use ad blockers, including its own Chrome.
“To support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube, we’ve launched an effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience,” the company said in an email to the outlet. “Users who have ad blockers installed may experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using.”
YouTube clearly has every intention of continuing its efforts to making using ad blockers as painful as possible.