DuckDuckGo's Browser Now Blocks Most YouTube Ads (nerds.xyz)
- Reference: 0184414648
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/07/11/2045206/duckduckgos-browser-now-blocks-most-youtube-ads
- Source link: https://nerds.xyz/2026/07/duckduckgo-youtube-ad-blocking-browser/
> DuckDuckGo just gave its browser a feature that a lot of people have been waiting for. The privacy-focused browser [2]can now block most video ads on YouTube , letting users watch videos without sitting through the pre-roll and mid-roll interruptions that have become part of everyday life on the platform. The feature is already enabled by default for iPhone, Windows, and Mac users running the latest version of the browser. Android users can turn it on manually... with DuckDuckGo planning to enable it by default in a future update...
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> To make it work, DuckDuckGo relies on the same community-maintained filter lists used by uBlock Origin, along with some of its own compatibility rules. The company says you might notice a bit of extra buffering before a video starts, but once playback begins, most ads should be gone.
Slashdot reader [3]BrianFagioli argues that the feature raises questions about how creators are compensated when ad revenue is bypassed.
[1] https://nerds.xyz/2026/07/duckduckgo-youtube-ad-blocking-browser/
[2] https://spreadprivacy.com/youtube-ad-blocking/
[3] https://www.slashdot.org/~BrianFagioli
Pffft (Score:3, Funny)
I use firefox under linux with ublock origin and Privacy Badger. I haven't seen any of these ads since people started bitching about them, and I watch youtube almost every day. I suppose this makes it easier for windows & mac users, but they should probably be running their browsers in a vm anyway just to avoid malware.
How creators are compensated .. (Score:2)
Slashdot reader BrianFagioli argues that the feature raises questions about how creators are compensated when ad revenue is bypassed.
The problem is the adverts are too intrusive. Put up a link to the product and we'll click on it!
Re: How creators are compensated .. (Score:2)
Agree++. Make them more palatable, or even artistic, and I wonâ(TM)t feel compelled to block.
As to creator compensation, of course they need it, but they make so little on ad revenue it doesnâ(TM)t matter to block. Support on patreon or wherever they are.
In the beginning (Score:3)
In the beginning, websites hosted their own ads. Then they farmed them out to someone else to manage, then that was (almost instantly) abused to deliver malware, then people started using adblockers and websites started implementing adblocker detection and refusing to serve people with such protections enabled.
Nobody seems to be willing to route both the original video and the ads through the same server to seamlessly splice the ads in and make ad detection and suppression more or less impossible.
Re: (Score:1)
I am guessing that broadcast copyright standards make that impractical and making other content part of the stream also makes someone responsible for such content who does not want to be. Then again broadcast networks would produce much of the adverts they showed and they had contracts with each other to show such content. I imagine a similar environment would complicate the idea of personal video posts quite a bit.
Re: (Score:1)
> In the beginning, websites hosted their own ads.
In the beginning, there were no ads. Commerce on the Internet was verboten. Google invaded.