Credit: Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
- YouTube is enforcing its terms of service to prevent third-party apps from blocking ads.
- Users of mobile ad-blocking apps may see error messages or experience buffering issues.
- YouTube previously implemented similar restrictions on desktop ad-blockers.
YouTube Premium, an ad-free subscription service that bundles video and music access, has been available for several years. Despite it recently reaching 100 million subscribers, YouTube continues to battle the widespread use of ad-blocking technology, hoping to drive more subscriptions to the Premium tier.
Last year, YouTube began aggressively targeting ad blockers on desktop platforms. In the latest escalation, YouTube announced a crackdown on mobile ad blockers. “We only allow third-party apps to use our API when they follow our API Services Terms of Service,” an official blog post stated. “When we find an app that violates these terms, we will take appropriate action to protect our platform, creators, and viewers.”