Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google has confirmed that the latest YouTube slowdown has nothing to do with ad blockers.
- The problem seemed to stem from the previous AdBlock and AdBlock Plus updates.
- Both ad blockers have now received a fresh update fixing the issue.
Update: January 17, 2024 (12:42 AM ET): Eyeo, the technology group that includes AdBlock and AdBlock Plus has informed Android Authority that the two ad blockers have been updated to fix the issue of YouTube and other platforms slowing down for their users. The company shared the following statement with us.
AdBlock and Adblock Plus users have recently experienced a slow down in performance and a higher use of CPU when browsing on YouTube and other websites. Our engineering team fixed the problem and released ABP 3.22.1 and AB 5.17.1. The new versions are already available in the Opera and Edge extension stores. This means the problem is solved and AdBlock and AdBlock Plus users should not experience issues that are related to the fixed bug, as soon as their extension is updated to the new version. Our team will closely monitor the situation and is ready to make further adjustments should it become necessary.
As of writing this update, the latest versions of AdBlock and AdBlock Plus have also become available on Chrome and Mozilla.
Original article: January 16, 2024 (12:07 AM ET): Google has confirmed that the latest slowdowns people are experiencing on YouTube aren’t linked to its war against ad blockers, even though it previously admitted to throttling performance for those who use ad blockers.
A fresh wave of slowdowns hit users this past week, with many taking to Reddit to complain about the problem. YouTube users reported that they are experiencing major lags on the platform with ad blockers enabled. Some with a YouTube Premium subscription are also experiencing slowdowns because they use ad blockers for other purposes. Strangely, Google has confirmed that ad blockers have nothing to do with the ongoing issue.
Recent reports of users experiencing loading delays on YouTube are unrelated to our ad blocker detection efforts,” the company said in a statement to Android Central. “Our help center offers troubleshooting tips for users experiencing issues,” the company added.
It’s definitely worth following the troubleshooting steps suggested by Google, but it’s also important to note that YouTube performance will undoubtedly be affected if you use ad blockers. It seems the issues are also related to the use of the latest versions of AdBlock and AdBlock Plus.
As per uBlock Origin developer Raymond Hill, the regression hits harder for those who had the idea of using both AdBlock and AdBlock Plus simultaneously. He explains that the problem lies with the ad blockers rather than Google pushing fresh code to slow down YouTube.
