If you tried to use YouTube early Friday morning, you might have been among the many that found themselves struggling to get videos to load. Reports of YouTube being down flooded Downdetector around that time, with a peak of over 1,300 reports popping up before 9:00 a.m. ET.
While some were quick to jump to the conclusion that YouTube itself was down, it appears that users on Reddit might have found another culprit (via Windows Central). Instead of being an issue with the YouTube website or Google’s servers, it looks like the problem might have been tied to ad blockers in the Opera GX browser, as multiple people mentioned the issue persisting in Opera GX but not other browsers.
There, of course, have been some conflicting reports of exactly which browsers were having issues with YouTube, as some noted that any Chromium browsers that were signed in to YouTube and had an ad blocker were experiencing similar difficulties. Unfortunately, without any official comments from Google or YouTube, all we have to go on is speculation.
Not a technical issue
While it doesn’t seem to be affecting just a single ad blocker or browser, some users have still reported success being able to access YouTube with an ad blocker installed. Most of these users seem to suggest that accessing YouTube without signing into a Google account or even using Firefox with an ad blocker installed are ways around the new restrictions the site seems to be implementing.
This is just the latest episode in a long-running battle between YouTube and users who use ad blockers, as the site has made a concerted effort to push those users to signing up for YouTube Premium. The company has even launched additional options for Premium plans, including a Lite plan that costs less but gives you some of the same features as regular Premium does.
Ultimately, it’s up to you whether you want to give in and pick up Premium. The alternative is to continue dodging updates like these with ad blockers. While they will undoubtedly continue to work in some regard, it’s only a matter of time until we end up with another issue like this as YouTube continues to hone in on how those ad blockers are getting around its system.
