I saw this with firefox and ublock origin installed. Dismissed it and continued not seeing any ads.
this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2025
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I just refresh the page and it works fine
Just be patient for the inevitable uBlockOrigin update that will fix it.
True aha. yt-dlp still works mostly, so I suppose I could just use it to download my subscribed and watch offline. There's always a way
With or without cookies?
I've recently been told to sign in when trying to access YouTube videos not just on a VPN, but now at my own residential location
you can add "--cookies-from-browser firefox" or whatever browser you use, to the end of the yt-dlp target
I'm personally just not that excited about needing a YouTube account to be signed in, in order to view/download videos. I imagine they wouldn't take too kindly to that if they caught me. My existing account kind of matters, and apparently now you need a phone number to register a new one
you need a phone number to register a new one
So what has worked for me in the past is: Get a cheap android/ChromeOS device (or power-wash one that you're not using any more) and ensure that there's not a working SIM card in it. When you power it up and it goes through the first-time-user setup, it asks you for your Google account, and provides you with the option to create one if you (claim you) don't have one. Since there's no SIM card, the newly created Google account has no phone number attached.
I imagine that you could copy down the info about this newly-created account (after making sure it has a password and you know what it is), and then wipe/power-wash the phone/tablet/Chromebook and do the process all over again and create another Google account.
Every google-OS-running device I've ever owned has gotten a new Google account created for it.
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Downloading a video is functionally identical to watching the video. I'm not 100% sure they can't tell, but they certainly shouldn't care... You're not circumventing anything by downloading a streamed video, they just obfuscate the download functionality.
I imagine they might care because advertisements are their source of revenue on that platform, which I believe loses money regardless. They're also getting increasingly adamant about breaking people's ad blockers.
It also appears to me that every combination of functional use requires some form of identification:
- If you're logged out, they're okay with you browsing from an identifiable home IP address.
- If you're on a VPN, they're okay with showing your videos if you log in so they can track your viewing habits.
- If you're on a VPN and make a new account, they want your phone number so they can tie your identity to an actual human being.
It might be a bit paranoid, but these factors combined suggest that Google does not want us to watch videos without providing some form of (inferrable) personal identification. And if Google can't get what it wants, specifically data and ad revenue, they might be very willing to terminate an account that's draining their coffers.
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I got this with Firefox + uBlock Origin yesterday but was gone a couple videos later, uBlock must have updated.
I've been using Firefox With Ublock Origin (and YouTube ReVanced for mobile) for years, and have yet to see this message outside of a screenshot.
Firefox + uBlock Origin or Grayjay are my go to.
You can block element on that pop-up with uBlock Origin, and it starts working again.
If you can't click anything, there's a transparent layer still in the way, so you may need to do a second block element (click anywhere and the entire screen should highlight).
Weird side effect is that the scroll stops working sometimes, but if you make the video full screen then back it fixes it.
There are a few browser extensions that force a scrollbar even on pages its disabled if you need to work around it.
Though not being able to scroll down to YouTube comments should be considered a blessing.
for anyone interested:
the scroll not working is most likely due to the main container in the page (usually the tag but it can be some other element) having the overflow: hidden CSS property assigned to it.
overflow dictates the behavior of an element that has its content overflow past the parent element's boundaries.
the property can have four values:
visible, where the overflow is fully visible and allowed to extend past the parent element,scroll, which clips the overflowing content and allows the user to scroll the parent element,hidden, which clips the overflowing content and prevents scrolling, andauto, which works almost identically toscroll
most sites run a script that assigns this property with the value of hidden to the tag, making the user unable to scroll the page.
ive seen this behavior the most with sites that blast you with an unavoidable cookie banner which you have to click through to access the page. usually removing the cookie banner element is not enough to freely access the page, and so you have to additionally find which element has its overflow set to hidden and disable that property.
i reckon youtube's adblocker popup is doing the same thing, and coincidentally turning off fullscreen also runs a script that makes sure the overflow is set to either scroll or auto
It feels strangely vindicating when symptoms that just look like 'a weird bug' to my dumb ass actually make sense to folks who know what they're doing.
Thanks for the insight!
I always wondered how this worked.
Is this with Firefox + ublock origin? Things are still fine on my side.
It happened to me for the first time today and that's what I use.
I literally just clicked the x and played the video so it didn't effect anything though.
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It's already happening on librewolf.
heck. I've not had it so far in Firefox. Will keep an eye on it I guess
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Not OP but I've had it happen to me today with Firefox + ublock origin
Others have already weighed in, but:
This warning doesn't seem to be persistent. Using ublock/regularly clearing cookies seems to keep this at bay. Sometimes it helps to open new links in container tabs as well.
I got this earlier this week and clearing my cookies/using container tabs seems to reset it.
Freetube is patched often and remains usable 99% of the time for an ad(and sponsor, if wanted) free experience.
As Youtube makes changes solely to break these players, they are quick to jump through the new hoops.
Freetube also has DeArrow built in to replace clickbait thumbnails and titles!
Freetube on my PC and devices, Smartube for Fire TV.
I use pipe pipe on android, haven't had any issues and works great. Freetube on the PC, works great!
Woot woot, added that to my arsenal.
Vanced, new pipe, free tube, tubular, pipe pipe, mobile brave, yt-dlp->jellyfin, laptop->HDMI splitter-> capture card +comskip
The spice will flow.
PipePipe my beloved. Never had any problems with it either.
You just close the window. I've seen this twice in the last three years and never experienced any actual change -- still no ads or even black screens where ads should be.
You can hit the x and continue. This just a stern warning with no consequence for now
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