Consumer Rights Wiki - User contributions [en]

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-05-03T10:49:12Z

JodyBruchonFan: source, improved wording

<div style="background-color:#FFC; color:black; padding:0 1em; border-radius:10px; border:1px solid black; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 black, 2px 2px 2px 2px white inset; background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #FFF, #FFC); margin-bottom:1em;">
<div class="center" style="font-size:200%; letter-spacing: 0.1em; color:#777;">They will not save us.</div>
<div class="center" style="font-size:60%; letter-spacing:0.1em;">Lose your faith in the legal system.</div>
The legal system will probably not save us. In fact, it has been '''protecting''' the big tech oligopoly all along.

Examples include the [[DMCA Section 1201]] outlawing the removal of digital restrictions malware (DRM) and making some kinds of repair a legal mine field, and patent laws making it a legal mine field for anyone to create products competing with the oligopoly, if they even get that far.<ref>[https://www.defectivebydesign.org/faq#circumvent DRM Frequently Asked Questions | Defective by Design]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251023035930/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/patent.html Patent - LRS Wiki]</ref> Also, remember what treatment the hero who leaked the iPhone 4 prototype to the public back in 2010 has received?<ref>Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLQkoZX9Mog Real Thoughts on Tech Leaks!] - Marques Brownlee</ref> Now they are increasing surveillance with mandatory age verification in operating systems.<ref>Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!] - Jody Bruchon</ref><ref>[https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2026/03/msg00000.html On the unfortunate need for an "age verification" API for legal compliance reasons in some U.S. states] - lists.debian.org</ref>

As you can see, the nepotist legal system has a history of overwhelmingly siding with the '''big corporations against the users''', not the other way round. It has been '''actively''' (and passively through inaction and inertia) '''supporting''' the big corporations in taking away nice things. And now we are begging to the very same legal system to come and save ''us''?

What do I mean by "inertia"? We have to fight battles to get governors to notice us and gracefully give us back tiny bits of repairability and freedom, all while technofascists in skyscrapers only had to snap their fingers and DRM was law.

We have been waiting since over 20 years for the law against non-replaceable batteries.<ref>Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuTcavAzopg iPod's Dirty Secret - from 2003] - Casey Neistat</ref> In a system that sided with consumers, this shouldn't have taken until the next sunrise, let alone 20 years. Did the technofascist RIAA have to wait 20 years to realize its wet dream of DMCA, a stupid law that bankrupted entire families because someone harmlessly copied a dozen music tracks?<ref>Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUm6no5MXYA The People Who Were Sued for Downloading Music... What Ever Happened?] - Bandsplaining</ref> Even if you believe this should not go unpunished, it is safe to say that these punishments are wildly disproportionate.

It probably won't be long until the Linux Foundation (headquartered in California) will be forced to implement backdoors like Microsoft, and technocrats in skyscrapers will, without further ado, make a law against removing those backdoors - the very same thing they did with DRM.<ref>[https://digdeeper.club/articles/technological_slavery.xhtml Technological slavery] - Dig Deeper</ref> Yes, they can.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can] - Miloslav Číž</ref> If ''you'' can think of it, so can ''they''.

We have to - in one way or the other - take matters into our own hands.

As for how we are going to accomplish this, I unfortunately don't have the answers. But what I ''do'' know is that hoping for some legal miracle to give us back our freedoms and ownership over what we paid for - is not it.

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<div class="center" style="font-size:200%; letter-spacing: 0.1em; color:#777;">Footnotes</div>
<references />

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<div class="center" style="font-size:60%; margin:1em;">I hereby release this text into the public domain under [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ CC0 1.0].</div>
</div>

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

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<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

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One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

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DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

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Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

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I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

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== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
File:Android dev verif 1984.png|1984 (made by [[User:Rudxain|Rudxain]])
</gallery>

Unfortunately, most people won't care until it is too late. Most people just want to satisfy their daily dose of WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or whatever instant gratification there is. They don't see the long term loss of freedom. It is the [https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131043/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/slowly_boiling_the_frog.html boiling frog effect] metaphor. Or, as Louis Rossman calls it, death by a thousand cuts.

See also: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEY906hRoG4 Jody Bruchon's response to "It's okay because hackers will always find a way to hack around it!"].

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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

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[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

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Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

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To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
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== How to insult Google's user interface designers ==
By adding this to your website's CSS:
<pre>
html, body { overscroll-behavior: contain; }
</pre>

This will insult the lack of intelligence of whoever thought [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|making pull-to-refresh mandatory in Chrome]] was a brilliant idea.

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

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== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

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Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

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Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

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== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

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<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]'', 7:44.

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<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

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== Should you feel sorry for the Starmer UK government? ==
A poetic masterpiece by Jody Bruchon on the Starmer UK government!
(Source: ''[https://preservetube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs Time To Cut Off Internet To The UK And Australia, F Them - ROLLIN' RAMPAGE - Jody Bruchon]'', 11:29)


<div style="text-align:center; font-family:'Script MT Font','times new roman',serif; white-space:pre;">
The UK government is actually saying to X:
''"Hey, don't do that, you're gonna make us look bad!"''

Well, ____ you!
____ you!

Oh, I'll make you look bad!
Oh, you ____ with me, and then I make you look bad,
by doing what you told me to do?

Oh, boohoo!
Oh, oh, what a tragedy!
I feel so bad for the poor Starmer UK government!

Aww, I made you look bad on the Internet
by doing exactly what you told me to do?

And it had exactly the response
that I told you it would have?

Oh, how sudden, couldn't see this coming.
Oh, that's hoooorrible!
I feel so baaaaaaaaaaaaad!

Except I ____ing '''don't.'''
</div>

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If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

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{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-05-03T08:54:23Z

JodyBruchonFan: The legal system is a false hope.

<div style="background-color:#FFC; color:black; padding:0 1em; border-radius:10px; border:1px solid black; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 black, 2px 2px 2px 2px white inset; background-image: linear-gradient(to bottom, #FFF, #FFC); margin-bottom:1em;">
<div class="center" style="font-size:200%; letter-spacing: 0.1em; color:#777;">They will not save us.</div>
<div class="center" style="font-size:60%; letter-spacing:0.1em;">Lose your faith in the legal system.</div>
The legal system will probably not save us. In fact, it has been '''protecting''' the big tech oligopoly all along.

Examples include the [[DMCA Section 1201]] outlawing the removal of digital restrictions malware (DRM) and making some kinds of repair a legal mine field, and patent laws making it a legal mine field for anyone to create products competing with the oligopoly, if they even get that far.<ref>[https://www.defectivebydesign.org/faq#circumvent DRM Frequently Asked Questions | Defective by Design]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251023035930/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/patent.html Patent - LRS Wiki]</ref> Also, remember what treatment the hero who leaked the iPhone 4 prototype to the public back in 2010 has received?<ref>Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLQkoZX9Mog Real Thoughts on Tech Leaks!] - Marques Brownlee</ref> Now they are increasing surveillance with mandatory age verification in operating systems.<ref>Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!] - Jody Bruchon</ref>

As you can see, the nepotist legal system has a history of overwhelmingly siding with the '''big corporations against the users''', not the other way round. It has been '''actively''' (and passively through inaction and inertia) '''supporting''' the big corporations in taking away nice things. And now we are begging to the very same legal system to come and save ''us''?

What do I mean by "inertia"? We have to fight battles to get governors to notice us and gracefully give us back tiny bits of repairability and freedom, all while technofascists in skyscrapers snipped their fingers and DRM was law.

We have been waiting since over 20 years for the law against non-replaceable batteries.<ref>Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuTcavAzopg iPod's Dirty Secret - from 2003] - Casey Neistat</ref> In a system that sided with consumers, this shouldn't have taken until the next sunrise, let alone 20 years. Did the technofascist RIAA have to wait 20 years to realize its wet dream of DMCA, a stupid law that bankrupted entire families because someone harmlessly copied a dozen music tracks?<ref>Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUm6no5MXYA The People Who Were Sued for Downloading Music... What Ever Happened?] - Bandsplaining</ref> Even if you believe this should not go unpunished, it is safe to say that these punishments are wildly disproportionate.

It probably won't be long until the Linux Foundation (headquartered in California) will be forced to implement backdoors like Microsoft, and technocrats in skyscrapers will, without further ado, make a law against removing those backdoors - the very same thing they did with DRM.<ref>[https://digdeeper.club/articles/technological_slavery.xhtml Technological slavery] - Dig Deeper</ref> Yes, they can.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can] - Miloslav Číž</ref> If ''you'' can think of it, so can ''they''.

We have to - in one way or the other - take matters into our own hands.

As for how we are going to accomplish this, I unfortunately don't have the answers. But what I ''do'' know is that hoping for some legal miracle to give us back our freedoms and ownership over what we paid for - is not it.

----
<div class="center" style="font-size:200%; letter-spacing: 0.1em; color:#777;">Footnotes</div>
<references />

----
<div class="center" style="font-size:60%; margin:1em;">I hereby release this text into the public domain under [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ CC0 1.0].</div>
</div>

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
File:Android dev verif 1984.png|1984 (made by [[User:Rudxain|Rudxain]])
</gallery>

Unfortunately, most people won't care until it is too late. Most people just want to satisfy their daily dose of WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or whatever instant gratification there is. They don't see the long term loss of freedom. It is the [https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131043/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/slowly_boiling_the_frog.html boiling frog effect] metaphor. Or, as Louis Rossman calls it, death by a thousand cuts.

See also: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEY906hRoG4 Jody Bruchon's response to "It's okay because hackers will always find a way to hack around it!"].

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
| info-op = #0f0

| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
}}
</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== How to insult Google's user interface designers ==
By adding this to your website's CSS:
<pre>
html, body { overscroll-behavior: contain; }
</pre>

This will insult the lack of intelligence of whoever thought [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|making pull-to-refresh mandatory in Chrome]] was a brilliant idea.

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]'', 7:44.

----

<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

----

== Should you feel sorry for the Starmer UK government? ==
A poetic masterpiece by Jody Bruchon on the Starmer UK government!
(Source: ''[https://preservetube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs Time To Cut Off Internet To The UK And Australia, F Them - ROLLIN' RAMPAGE - Jody Bruchon]'', 11:29)


<div style="text-align:center; font-family:'Script MT Font','times new roman',serif; white-space:pre;">
The UK government is actually saying to X:
''"Hey, don't do that, you're gonna make us look bad!"''

Well, ____ you!
____ you!

Oh, I'll make you look bad!
Oh, you ____ with me, and then I make you look bad,
by doing what you told me to do?

Oh, boohoo!
Oh, oh, what a tragedy!
I feel so bad for the poor Starmer UK government!

Aww, I made you look bad on the Internet
by doing exactly what you told me to do?

And it had exactly the response
that I told you it would have?

Oh, how sudden, couldn't see this coming.
Oh, that's hoooorrible!
I feel so baaaaaaaaaaaaad!

Except I ____ing '''don't.'''
</div>

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

Screenshot blocking

2026-04-26T20:36:59Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* On Android */ Better wording.

{{ToneWarning}}{{Incomplete|Issue 1=Makes specific claims without citations}}
'''Screenshot blocking''' prevents the owner of a computing device from capturing screenshots and screen recordings. Some operating systems such as [[Android]] and [[Apple]] [[iOS]] let app makers block the device owners from capturing screenshots and screen recordings of certain content. This may be done to prevent copyrighted content from being copied, such as [[Netflix]] blocking screenshots of the app<ref name="netflix-vdocipher">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Vishal |date=2026-01-14 |title=Netflix DRM: How & Why of Encrypted Video Security (2025)? |url=https://www.vdocipher.com/blog/2022/05/netflix-drm/ |access-date=2026-02-21 |website=vdocipher |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251015170902/https://www.vdocipher.com/blog/2022/05/netflix-drm/ |archive-date=15 Oct 2025}}</ref>. However, some instances of screenshot blocking may be seen as excessive and unnecessary in some cases, thus violating ownership of consumers by unreasonably limiting what they are allowed to do with their devices.

==How it works==
Blocking screenshots is typically a restriction set by individual apps, not something that automatically applies across all apps or devices. Here's how it works, depending on the platform:

=== On Android ===
On [[Android]], apps can block screenshots using a flag called: <code>WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE</code>. When this flag is set on an activity, it prevents the content from being captured in screenshots, screen recordings, and even in the app switcher (recent apps view). This is often used by apps like, banking apps, media streaming services (e.g. Netflix), and secure messaging apps.<ref>[https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/WindowManager.LayoutParams WindowManager.LayoutParams | API reference | Android Developers] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260401090300/https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/WindowManager.LayoutParams Archived])</ref><ref name="netflix-vdocipher" />

On the Android developer website, Google encourages app makers to add an option to temporarily allow screenshots:

<blockquote>
Note: To provide transparency and user control, consider adding a setting in your app that allows users to toggle this flag.
</blockquote>
<ref>{{cite web |url=https://developer.android.com/about/versions/14/features/screenshot-detection |title=Detect when users take device screenshots |website=Android Developers |access-date=2026-04-26 }}</ref>

At the same time, Google failed to provide a built-in option in Android that would let device owners have the final choice to override this restriction without having to rely on permission from the app.

=== On iOS ===
On [[iOS]], iOS does not give developers an official flag like <code>FLAG_SECURE</code>, but they use workarounds, like displaying sensitive content in a <code>UIView</code> with custom rendering, then hiding or blurring it when the app detects screenshot events or apps going into background or app switcher{{Citation needed}}.

On desktop systems, blocking screenshots is more difficult because users typically have full control over the operating system, and there is no built-in API to prevent screenshots. Third-party tools or system-level protections are needed. Although, enterprise apps may block screenshots using [[digital rights management]] (DRM), [[wikipedia:Desktop_virtualization|virtual desktop infrastructure]] (VDI), or overlay detection / screen capture prevention libraries{{Citation needed}}.

==Why it happens==
Companies tend to cite the following reasons for blocking screenshots:

'''Protecting sensitive information'''

Apps that handle financial data (banks, payment apps) or confidential documents may block screenshots to reduce the risk of accidental data leaks. Screenshots could be captured and shared without consent, which could expose personal information like account numbers or passwords.

'''Content protection and licensing'''

Media apps (streaming services, e-books, and some news apps) sometimes block screenshots or recordings to prevent piracy or unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted content. Examples include Netflix and [[Spotify]]. However, there are legitimate uses such as quotations, which falls under fair use.

'''Privacy of other users'''

Messaging apps may prevent screenshots in certain contexts to protect the privacy of the other party. One such example are "disappearing messages" in [[WhatsApp]].

'''Regulatory or contractual requirements'''

In some industries, companies must comply with legal rules around data protection or digital content licensing, which may include preventing local copies from being made.

==Why it is a problem==

===Impedes ownership===
On desktop operating systems like [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] and [[wikipedia:Linux|Linux]], users have always been able to take screenshots or recordings of whatever is on their screen, without programs being able to block it. By contrast, many mobile apps restrict or disable this feature. This raises concerns because it limits a device owner’s ability to fully use their own device. Since a smartphone is personal property, users should retain control over its features, including the ability to capture their own screen rather than having that option dictated by app developers.

===Overuse===
Some apps implement screenshot blocking in situations where it is unnecessary. For example, since 2018, [[Google Chrome|Chrome]] has blocked screenshots while in Incognito mode. It is unclear what this restriction is meant to protect against, given that Incognito browsing already functions by not saving history or [[Web cookie|cookies]].

There are legitimate reasons to take a screenshot in Incognito mode. Developers may need to capture how a website looks to first-time visitors, or users might want to save information temporarily without adding it to their browsing history. In these cases, blocking screenshots serves no meaningful security purpose and only prevents the device owner from using their phone’s features as intended.

===Ineffective===
Screens can be photographed from an external device. The quality of the image is likely to be lower, but it generally does not prevent someone from being able to reach alphanumerical information such as banking details and text-based messages.

===Prevention of bug reports===
Screenshot blocking and screen recorder blocking might discourage users from reporting bugs by making it more difficult to document the bugs.

==Incidents==

===ALDI TALK===
Earlier in 2025, the German cellular provider ALDI TALK blocked screenshots throughout its entire app.{{CitationNeeded}} The app displays information such as how much high-speed data a subscriber has remaining. Blocking screenshots of such basic information seems unnecessary, and applying the restriction across the entire app because some “private” content might appear in certain sections is excessive.

===WhatsApp===
The developers of WhatsApp have threatened with blocking screenshots inside chats with "advanced chat privacy" enabled:

<blockquote>
The company has stated that this is the first iteration of the feature, with plans to introduce even more robust protections in future updates, potentially including measures to block screenshots<ref>[https://cybersecuritynews.com/whatsapp-advanced-chat-privacy-feature/ WhatsApp’s New Advanced Chat Privacy Feature to Protect Sensitive Conversations] ([https://megalodon.jp/2026-0416-0213-11/https://cybersecuritynews.com:443/whatsapp-advanced-chat-privacy-feature/ Archived])</ref>.
</blockquote>WhatsApp blocked screenshots of profile pictures in 2024, citing it as a measure to protect privacy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 Feb 2026 |title=About profile photo screenshot blocking |url=https://faq.whatsapp.com/1799783917198636 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2024-1223-0217-58/https://faq.whatsapp.com:443/1799783917198636 |archive-date=23 Dec 2024 |access-date=25 Feb 2026 |website=WhatsApp Help Center}}</ref> However, once a profile picture has been uploaded to WhatApp, it is no longer a private image.

==It's a local file==
When you take a screenshot, the screenshot is stored locally inside the encrypted internal storage of your smartphone, protected by a user's lockscreen credentials. As a local file, it remains fully under the user's control.

==External displays==
The "<code>SECURE</code>" flag on Android is responsible for screenshot blocking and screen recording blocking. However, it has another purpose: It prevents content from appearing on external displays such as HDMI and [[wikipedia:Miracast|Miracast]].

Screen contents can only appear on an external screens if the smartphone owner has chosen to connect an external screen. If the owner does private stuff, they should disconnect the external screen anyway.

Ways to solve this would be to let the user choose which apps can appear on external displays, or let the user decide whether they want to hide content flagged by the app developers as "<code>SECURE</code>".

The "<code>SECURE</code>" flag is not just used to hide "sensitive" content, but also by streaming service providers to prevent screenshots and screen recordings, even though there are legitimate purposes for it (fair use). As a side effect, you can not connect your phone to a TV or monitor to watch on a big screen, so you have to hope the TV has native support for your streaming provider.

In any case, the device owner must have the final say.

==Third-party screen recorders==
Another reason cited for screenshot/screen recorder blocking is the narrow possibility that third-party screen recorder apps contain [[spyware]].

Third-party apps can only capture the screen if the phone owner allows them. It would make sense to let the user decide which third-party apps can capture content marked as "<code>SECURE</code>". But the pre-installed screenshot and screen recording tool should never be blocked because they don't contain spyware (unless the phone maker chose to put it in, in which case you would have a much greater problem). If users wish to guarantee that their screen recorder software does not contain spyware, they can utilise [[wikipedia:Open-source_software|open source]]  screen recorders.

In any case, there is no reason to block the '''built-in''' screenshot and screen recording tools just because misbehaving third-party apps may be out there.

==Screenshot detection==
Android 14 has added a "screenshot event" and Android 15 a "screen recording event". This allows apps to register when the owner takes a screenshot or screen recording. An online poll shows most users are opposed to screenshot detection.<ref>[https://www.androidauthority.com/android-14-screenshot-detection-api-3389527/ Android 14's screenshot detection system is getting adopted by more apps] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251212004411/https://www.androidauthority.com/android-14-screenshot-detection-api-3389527/ Archived])</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Data lock-in]]

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Common terms]]

Screenshot blocking

2026-04-26T20:32:48Z

JodyBruchonFan: It prevents bug reports.

{{ToneWarning}}{{Incomplete|Issue 1=Makes specific claims without citations}}
'''Screenshot blocking''' prevents the owner of a computing device from capturing screenshots and screen recordings. Some operating systems such as [[Android]] and [[Apple]] [[iOS]] let app makers block the device owners from capturing screenshots and screen recordings of certain content. This may be done to prevent copyrighted content from being copied, such as [[Netflix]] blocking screenshots of the app<ref name="netflix-vdocipher">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Vishal |date=2026-01-14 |title=Netflix DRM: How & Why of Encrypted Video Security (2025)? |url=https://www.vdocipher.com/blog/2022/05/netflix-drm/ |access-date=2026-02-21 |website=vdocipher |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251015170902/https://www.vdocipher.com/blog/2022/05/netflix-drm/ |archive-date=15 Oct 2025}}</ref>. However, some instances of screenshot blocking may be seen as excessive and unnecessary in some cases, thus violating ownership of consumers by unreasonably limiting what they are allowed to do with their devices.

==How it works==
Blocking screenshots is typically a restriction set by individual apps, not something that automatically applies across all apps or devices. Here's how it works, depending on the platform:

=== On Android ===
On [[Android]], apps can block screenshots using a flag called: <code>WindowManager.LayoutParams.FLAG_SECURE</code>. When this flag is set on an activity, it prevents the content from being captured in screenshots, screen recordings, and even in the app switcher (recent apps view). This is often used by apps like, banking apps, media streaming services (e.g. Netflix), and secure messaging apps.<ref>[https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/WindowManager.LayoutParams WindowManager.LayoutParams | API reference | Android Developers] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260401090300/https://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/WindowManager.LayoutParams Archived])</ref><ref name="netflix-vdocipher" />

On the Android developer website, Google encourages app makers to add an option to temporarily allow screenshots:

<blockquote>
Note: To provide transparency and user control, consider adding a setting in your app that allows users to toggle this flag.
</blockquote>
<ref>{{cite web |url=https://developer.android.com/about/versions/14/features/screenshot-detection |title=Detect when users take device screenshots |website=Android Developers |access-date=2026-04-26 }}</ref>

At the same time, Google failed to provide a built-in option to let device owners have the final choice to override this restriction without having to rely on permission from the app.

=== On iOS ===
On [[iOS]], iOS does not give developers an official flag like <code>FLAG_SECURE</code>, but they use workarounds, like displaying sensitive content in a <code>UIView</code> with custom rendering, then hiding or blurring it when the app detects screenshot events or apps going into background or app switcher{{Citation needed}}.

On desktop systems, blocking screenshots is more difficult because users typically have full control over the operating system, and there is no built-in API to prevent screenshots. Third-party tools or system-level protections are needed. Although, enterprise apps may block screenshots using [[digital rights management]] (DRM), [[wikipedia:Desktop_virtualization|virtual desktop infrastructure]] (VDI), or overlay detection / screen capture prevention libraries{{Citation needed}}.

==Why it happens==
Companies tend to cite the following reasons for blocking screenshots:

'''Protecting sensitive information'''

Apps that handle financial data (banks, payment apps) or confidential documents may block screenshots to reduce the risk of accidental data leaks. Screenshots could be captured and shared without consent, which could expose personal information like account numbers or passwords.

'''Content protection and licensing'''

Media apps (streaming services, e-books, and some news apps) sometimes block screenshots or recordings to prevent piracy or unauthorized redistribution of copyrighted content. Examples include Netflix and [[Spotify]]. However, there are legitimate uses such as quotations, which falls under fair use.

'''Privacy of other users'''

Messaging apps may prevent screenshots in certain contexts to protect the privacy of the other party. One such example are "disappearing messages" in [[WhatsApp]].

'''Regulatory or contractual requirements'''

In some industries, companies must comply with legal rules around data protection or digital content licensing, which may include preventing local copies from being made.

==Why it is a problem==

===Impedes ownership===
On desktop operating systems like [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] and [[wikipedia:Linux|Linux]], users have always been able to take screenshots or recordings of whatever is on their screen, without programs being able to block it. By contrast, many mobile apps restrict or disable this feature. This raises concerns because it limits a device owner’s ability to fully use their own device. Since a smartphone is personal property, users should retain control over its features, including the ability to capture their own screen rather than having that option dictated by app developers.

===Overuse===
Some apps implement screenshot blocking in situations where it is unnecessary. For example, since 2018, [[Google Chrome|Chrome]] has blocked screenshots while in Incognito mode. It is unclear what this restriction is meant to protect against, given that Incognito browsing already functions by not saving history or [[Web cookie|cookies]].

There are legitimate reasons to take a screenshot in Incognito mode. Developers may need to capture how a website looks to first-time visitors, or users might want to save information temporarily without adding it to their browsing history. In these cases, blocking screenshots serves no meaningful security purpose and only prevents the device owner from using their phone’s features as intended.

===Ineffective===
Screens can be photographed from an external device. The quality of the image is likely to be lower, but it generally does not prevent someone from being able to reach alphanumerical information such as banking details and text-based messages.

===Prevention of bug reports===
Screenshot blocking and screen recorder blocking might discourage users from reporting bugs by making it more difficult to document the bugs.

==Incidents==

===ALDI TALK===
Earlier in 2025, the German cellular provider ALDI TALK blocked screenshots throughout its entire app.{{CitationNeeded}} The app displays information such as how much high-speed data a subscriber has remaining. Blocking screenshots of such basic information seems unnecessary, and applying the restriction across the entire app because some “private” content might appear in certain sections is excessive.

===WhatsApp===
The developers of WhatsApp have threatened with blocking screenshots inside chats with "advanced chat privacy" enabled:

<blockquote>
The company has stated that this is the first iteration of the feature, with plans to introduce even more robust protections in future updates, potentially including measures to block screenshots<ref>[https://cybersecuritynews.com/whatsapp-advanced-chat-privacy-feature/ WhatsApp’s New Advanced Chat Privacy Feature to Protect Sensitive Conversations] ([https://megalodon.jp/2026-0416-0213-11/https://cybersecuritynews.com:443/whatsapp-advanced-chat-privacy-feature/ Archived])</ref>.
</blockquote>WhatsApp blocked screenshots of profile pictures in 2024, citing it as a measure to protect privacy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=25 Feb 2026 |title=About profile photo screenshot blocking |url=https://faq.whatsapp.com/1799783917198636 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2024-1223-0217-58/https://faq.whatsapp.com:443/1799783917198636 |archive-date=23 Dec 2024 |access-date=25 Feb 2026 |website=WhatsApp Help Center}}</ref> However, once a profile picture has been uploaded to WhatApp, it is no longer a private image.

==It's a local file==
When you take a screenshot, the screenshot is stored locally inside the encrypted internal storage of your smartphone, protected by a user's lockscreen credentials. As a local file, it remains fully under the user's control.

==External displays==
The "<code>SECURE</code>" flag on Android is responsible for screenshot blocking and screen recording blocking. However, it has another purpose: It prevents content from appearing on external displays such as HDMI and [[wikipedia:Miracast|Miracast]].

Screen contents can only appear on an external screens if the smartphone owner has chosen to connect an external screen. If the owner does private stuff, they should disconnect the external screen anyway.

Ways to solve this would be to let the user choose which apps can appear on external displays, or let the user decide whether they want to hide content flagged by the app developers as "<code>SECURE</code>".

The "<code>SECURE</code>" flag is not just used to hide "sensitive" content, but also by streaming service providers to prevent screenshots and screen recordings, even though there are legitimate purposes for it (fair use). As a side effect, you can not connect your phone to a TV or monitor to watch on a big screen, so you have to hope the TV has native support for your streaming provider.

In any case, the device owner must have the final say.

==Third-party screen recorders==
Another reason cited for screenshot/screen recorder blocking is the narrow possibility that third-party screen recorder apps contain [[spyware]].

Third-party apps can only capture the screen if the phone owner allows them. It would make sense to let the user decide which third-party apps can capture content marked as "<code>SECURE</code>". But the pre-installed screenshot and screen recording tool should never be blocked because they don't contain spyware (unless the phone maker chose to put it in, in which case you would have a much greater problem). If users wish to guarantee that their screen recorder software does not contain spyware, they can utilise [[wikipedia:Open-source_software|open source]]  screen recorders.

In any case, there is no reason to block the '''built-in''' screenshot and screen recording tools just because misbehaving third-party apps may be out there.

==Screenshot detection==
Android 14 has added a "screenshot event" and Android 15 a "screen recording event". This allows apps to register when the owner takes a screenshot or screen recording. An online poll shows most users are opposed to screenshot detection.<ref>[https://www.androidauthority.com/android-14-screenshot-detection-api-3389527/ Android 14's screenshot detection system is getting adopted by more apps] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251212004411/https://www.androidauthority.com/android-14-screenshot-detection-api-3389527/ Archived])</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Data lock-in]]

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Common terms]]

Internet Archive

2026-04-22T16:47:45Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) */ + minimalist browsers

{{StubNotice}}
{{CompanyCargo
|Description=American digital library hosting scanned books, music, videos, software, and archived websites.
|Founded=1996
|Industry=Archive, Library
|Logo=Internet Archive.png
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Non-profit
|Website=https://archive.org/
}}
The '''{{Wplink|Internet Archive}}''' is an American non-profit digital library founded in 1996 to provide free "universal access to all knowledge" and preserve digital history.

==Consumer-impact summary==
The archive can be a useful resource for consumers to access information about discontinued products, companies which are no longer operating, and articles which are removed from web sites.

[TBA]

==Incidents==

===Login-only items for legally dubious content (2016-present)===
On January 13, 2016, Hank Bromley (hank_b) of the Internet Archive created a collection of uploads considered legally dubious and only viewable with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Download & Streaming : Log In Required : Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/loggedin?tab=about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2024-0311-0532-32/https://archive.org:443/details/loggedin?tab=about |archive-date=2024-03-11 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

These uploads cannot be viewed or downloaded by logged-out users but can be accessed by anyone with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive Forums: Log In Required, after logging in. |url=https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260222222400/https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |archive-date=22 Feb 2026|access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

===Archived website removal===
{{Main|Internet Archive/Blocked companies}}
The Archive accepts DMCA takedown requests of websites whose owners no longer want their sites archived<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bixenspan |first=David |date=2018-11-28 |title=When the Internet Archive Forgets |url=https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250805030527/https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |archive-date=2025-08-05 |access-date=2025-08-31 |work=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref> causing certain sites to be inaccessible.

The Internet Archive ''used'' to hide material covered by robots.txt restrictions but that was changed on April 17, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Mark |date=2017-04-17 |title=Robots.txt meant for search engines don’t work well for web archives |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417131508/http://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |archive-date=2017-04-17 |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Removal of noindex function on uploaded items===
On 2023 the Internet Archive reportedly removed the ability for users to use the noindex function, which used to result in the items being hidden from its internal search engine, while making the items whose noindex value is true to appear on the search engine. The decision was criticized on the grounds that it may jeopardize users' rights, including privacy. When confronted about it, Jason Scott, who's a staffmember of the Internet Archive, reportedly responded with the following:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-22 |title=The removal of "noindex" from the Internet Archive, and associated risks. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214121917/https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |archive-date=2024-12-14 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-06 |title=Internet Archive Ish |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215072041/https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |archive-date=2024-12-15 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref>

<blockquote>''There is no bug or mistake in removing no-index settings for many Internet Archive items in the Community collection.''

''At no point was the Archive contacted to arrange a situation of no-indexing (or Darking) items with an intention of later release; the no-index setting was not documented for this use, and represented a security hole that was closed. Tens of thousands of items were found, being used for encrypted files hidden from the search engine, and represented a major problem, so many items have been removed or set noindex quickly.''

''A number of people have contacted us explaining situations where items might need to be made no-indexed, in a collection for later or timed release for example, but they've done it with communication and discussing their needs, not just uploading files under disposable accounts and then assuming the archive would keep them un-accessible in perpetuity. In some cases their requests have gotten arrangements so that community items that were noindex are noindex again, in separate collections.''

''A situation can theoretically exist where the original uploader can e-mail us from their e-mail address and discuss arrangements, but you've indicated you intentionally obfuscated your location and have disposed your addresses. If you're able to gain access again, you can mail through those addresses.''

''An additional situation is you can e-mail info@archive.org if you want to report items at the archive (by identifier) that you believe might need to be removed from the archive; we receive a number of these requests throughout the months and respond according to policy.''</blockquote>

The following pseudocode was shared by a user who criticized the decision, if the Internet Archive decides to reinstate the ability for users to use the noindex function while re-hiding all the formerly noindexed items from the search engines:

<blockquote>noindex items if:

(

items-noindexed-by-user-in-the-past = true;

OR items-noindexed-by-IA-in-the-past = true);

AND (

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-USER-before-May-2023 = false;

OR

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-IA-before-May-2023 = false;

)</blockquote>

===Data breaches (2012-2024)===
On May 19, 2017, The Archive's Development Manager made a blog post detailing that anyone who had created their account before 2012 had to change their password as the site had been breached with user's public information and lightly encrypted passwords being leaked.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barrett |first=Katie |date=2017-05-19 |title=Re: User account breach {{!}} Internet Archive Blogs |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520030556/https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |archive-date=2025-05-20 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

On October 9, 2024, users on the Internet Archive got pop-ups that the website had been hacked with notifications appearing from the perpetrators at around 9PM CST,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-09 |title=Dark Web Informer on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321121941/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref> and an hour later Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned confirmed the breach.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Troy |date=2024-10-09 |title=Troy Hunt on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321122129/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref>

Around 31 million users were affected with their user IDs, Emails, encrypted passwords and usernames being leaked.<ref>{{Cite news |last=LeClair |first=Dave |date=2024-10-11 |title=31 million users impacted by Internet Archive data breach — what we know |url=https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241109231711/https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |archive-date=2024-11-09 |access-date=2025-08-16 |work=Tom's Guide}}</ref>

=== Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) ===
Up until 2022, Archive.org was one of the few remaining major websites that could be browsed and searched without [[JavaScript]]. JavaScript was only used where necessary, for example to enable bottomless scrolling. This is known as progressive enhancement.<ref name=jakearchibald>{{cite web |url=https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important/ |title=Progressive enhancement is still important - JakeArchibald.com |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

Since 2023 however, large parts of the Archive.org website (including the home page, collection pages, and the search engine) can no longer be browsed at all without JavaScript, because the legacy HTML-based user interface was replaced with a Google Lit web app. As of April 2026, only individual item pages remain viewable without JavaScript.<ref>Before change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/3vxC8 2023-06-28]. After change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/sdLIp 2023-09-28]</ref>

This made it impossible to browse the site on legacy systems that do not support modern web browsers, as well as minimalist web browser alternatives to the Google-Mozilla duopoly, and slowed down loading on modern web browsers because lots of code has to be executed before any content can appear on screen, putting the content at the end of the rendering path.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critical rendering path – Mozilla Developer Network |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance/Guides/Critical_rendering_path |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Internet Archive]]

JavaScript

2026-04-22T07:55:24Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Consumer impact summary */ It's not just about old browsers but also minimalist lightweight ones that are alternatives to the Google-Mozilla duopoly.

{{Cleanup}}
{{Irrelevant}}
{{ProductCargo
|Company=
|ReleaseYear=1995
|InProduction=Yes
|Category=Software
|Website=https://openjsf.org/,https://tc39.es/ecma262/multipage/
|Description=A high-level programming language that's also the "lingua franca of the web"
|Logo=JavaScript-logo.png}}

'''{{Wplink|JavaScript}}''' (JS), not to be confused with {{Wplink|ECMAScript}} (ES), is a {{Wplink|programming language}} and core technology of {{Wplink|World_Wide_Web|the Web}}, alongside [[wikipedia:HTML|HTML]] and [[wikipedia:CSS|CSS]]. It was created by [[wikipedia:Brendan_Eich|Brendan Eich]] in 1995.<ref>https://exploringjs.com/es5/ch04.html</ref> As of 2025, the overwhelming majority of [[wikipedia:Website|websites]] (98.9%) uses JS for [[wikipedia:Client_(computing)|client]]-side [[wikipedia:Web_page|webpage]] behavior.<ref name="deployedstats">{{cite web |title=Usage Statistics of JavaScript as Client-side Programming Language on Websites |url=https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cp-javascript |access-date=27 Feb 2024 |website=W3Techs}}</ref> It's even used on the [[wikipedia:Server_(computing)|server]]-side (see [[wikipedia:Node.js|Node.js]]).

JS is also known to enhance the [[wikipedia:User_experience|user-experience]] (UX). The [[wikipedia:World_Wide_Web_Consortium|World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C) provides comprehensive guidelines for such purposes.<ref>https://www.w3.org/wiki/The_principles_of_unobtrusive_JavaScript</ref>

For the entirety of this article (unless stated otherwise) the terms "JavaScript" and "JS" will be defined as "ECMAScript with access to [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API Web APIs]" or "ES+WebAPI" for short.

==Consumer impact summary==

*'''Degraded accessibility''': Dynamic and/or active content is well-known to have poor accessibility for users with visual and/or cognitive impairments. While standards such as [[wikipedia:WAI-ARIA|WAI-ARIA]] were created to mitigate this, it's no silver bullet, especially when developers aren't aware of ARIA.
*'''Degraded compatibility''': While HTML and CSS degrade gracefully, meaning web browsers not supporting a certain feature will simply ignore it and load the rest of the page, JavaScript does not. If any JavaScript feature is not supported by a web browser and not caught using a <code>try</code>...<code>catch</code> block, the rest of the script is not executed, which usually breaks the entire site if it requires JavaScript for basic functions, as "web apps" usually do. This makes accessing a website impossible from legacy systems that do not support recent web browser versions or minimalist web browsers that challenge the Google-Mozilla duopoly, rather than being able to use some parts of a website.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important/ |title=Progressive enhancement is still important - JakeArchibald.com |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://digdeeper.club/articles/browsers.xhtml#minimal |title=How to choose a browser for everyday use? § Why "minimalist" browsers suck. |author=Dig Deeper |access-date=2026-04-22 }}</ref>
*'''Lack of transparency''': To optimize network bandwidth, JS code is typically served in [[wikipedia:Minification_(programming)|minified]] form, which makes it harder to understand for humans. This is particularly problematic if the original source is not publicly [[wikipedia:Source-available_software|available]], which is typically the case of [[wikipedia:Proprietary_software|proprietary software]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gross |first=Carson |date=21 Sep 2023 |title=The #ViewSource Affordance |url=https://htmx.org/essays/right-click-view-source/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260228105626/https://htmx.org/essays/right-click-view-source/ |archive-date=28 Feb 2026 |access-date=24 Mar 2026 |website=</> htmx ~ Essays}}</ref>
*'''Excessive tracking''': JS is much more capable than HTML and [[CSS]] '''combined''' to track user behavior.<ref>https://clickclickclick.click/</ref> JS can communicate with almost any server (only limited by [[wikipedia:Cross-origin_resource_sharing|CORS]]) at any time (limited by connection availability), using a plethora of protocols. JS can get hardware information and compute a [[Device fingerprint|fingerprint of the device]], user, or both.<ref>https://privacycheck.sec.lrz.de/</ref><ref>https://abrahamjuliot.github.io/creepjs</ref><ref>https://www.deviceinfo.me/</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Learn how identifiable you are on the Internet |url=https://www.amiunique.org/ |url-status=live |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Am I Unique ?}}</ref>
*'''Market control''': JS is built into almost every web-browser and [[wikipedia:User_agent|user-agent]] (UA), including "light-weight" ones (such as [[wikipedia:W3m|w3m]]), incentivizing companies to use it for everything, since "there's no need to worry about compatibility or portability".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Everyone has JavaScript, right? |url=https://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/everyonehasjs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260316024516/https://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/everyonehasjs.html |archive-date=16 Mar 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Kryogenix Consulting}}</ref>
*'''Security risks''': It is well-known that JS is poorly-designed,<ref>https://github.com/denysdovhan/wtfjs</ref><ref>https://github.com/brianleroux/wtfjs</ref><ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/ideas/blob/aa9a80252a4b7c9c51f32eda5c716e96220ed96e/software/evar/with_bf.js</ref> even [[wikipedia:Ecma_International|tc39]] acknowledges that{{Citation needed}}. This leads to programmers and even experienced software-devs to accidentally add vulnerabilities to their code. That, and the fact that ES is [[wikipedia:Turing_completeness|Turing-complete]] (both [https://gavinhoward.com/2024/03/what-computers-cannot-do-the-consequences-of-turing-completeness/#mathematical-vs-practical in practice and in theory]), makes [[wikipedia:Debugging|debugging]] and [[wikipedia:Reverse_engineering|reverse-engineering]] impractical in big code-bases. It's worth noting that tooling, such as [[wikipedia:TypeScript|TypeScript]] and [[wikipedia:ESLint|ESLint]], exist to substantially minimize the likelihood of [[wikipedia:Software_bug|bugs]].
*'''Degraded performance (web apps)''': "Web apps" load slower than traditional web sites because lots of code has to be processed by the web browser before any content can appear on screen, putting the content at the end of the rendering path.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critical rendering path – Mozilla Developer Network |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance/Guides/Critical_rendering_path |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

==How it works==
Whenever a user visits a webpage, an average web-browser will execute the JS code it finds in <code><script></code> [[wikipedia:HTML_element|tags]]. This code could do anything from updating part of the [[wikipedia:Document_Object_Model|DOM]]-tree only when the user requests it, to showing a [[wikipedia:Pop-up_ad|popup/popunder]].

When JS tries to access a "privacy-sensitive" API (such as the microphone) the browser pauses it until the user has granted access for the first time. This is typically done on a per-domain basis. However, as mentioned earlier, many other APIs don't need to ask permission before fetching data.

It's worth noting that JS has a privileged position, relative to [[wikipedia:WebAssembly|Wasm]], because of its first-class access to Web APIs.

==Why it is a problem==

===Tracking===
Many webpages (and even entire websites), force the user to keep JS enabled, otherwise they break or deliberately refuse to work. CSS stylesheets combined with HTML should be fine with most basic websites or webpages that do not need complex client side interaction.

The data collected by malicious JS makes it trivial to serve [[personalized ads]], even across unrelated sites. Some sites collect so much data that they are indistinguishable from [[spyware]] (see also [[wikipedia:Keystroke_logging|key-logging]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Kashmir |date=20 Jun 2017 |title=Before You Hit ‘Submit,’ This Company Has Already Logged Your Personal Data |url=https://gizmodo.com/before-you-hit-submit-this-company-has-already-logge-1795906081 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260220091637/https://gizmodo.com/before-you-hit-submit-this-company-has-already-logge-1795906081 |archive-date=20 Feb 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Gizmodo}}</ref>

===Security===
Browser-engine developers (such as [[Google]] and [[Mozilla]]) not only feel compelled, but are financially incentivized to optimize JS to its limits. This leads to complex code-bases that are harder to verify for correctness. Browser vendors mitigate this via [[wikipedia:Sandbox_(computer_security)|sandboxing]]. Unfortunately, since modern browsers compile JS to native CPU code (see [[wikipedia:Just-in-time_compilation|JIT]]) to improve performance, this introduces a higher risk of sandbox-escape.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Norman |first=Johnathan |date=4 Aug 2021 |title=Super Duper Secure Mode |url=https://microsoftedge.github.io/edgevr/posts/Super-Duper-Secure-Mode/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260218110912/https://microsoftedge.github.io/edgevr/posts/Super-Duper-Secure-Mode |archive-date=18 Feb 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research}}</ref> Some examples of this are as follows:

*[[wikipedia:Cross-site_scripting|XSS]], which [[wikipedia:NoScript|NoScript]] tries to mitigate
*[[wikipedia:Arbitrary_code_execution|Arbitrary code execution]] and [[wikipedia:Code_injection|code injection]]. Typically caused by <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/eval eval]</code> (part of ES), but there are Web APIs (such as <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/setTimeout setTimeout]</code> and <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/setInterval setInterval]</code>) that can be misused as well.
*Remote code execution. This is used by hackers and crackers to build [[wikipedia:Botnet|bot-nets]] for [[wikipedia:Ddos#Distributed_DoS|DDoS]] or [[wikipedia:Cryptocurrency|crypto]]-mining, but it's mostly used for spyware since it can hide more easily.

===Performance===
{{See also|Bloatware}}
If the DOM-tree is dynamically generated by JS (such as [[wikipedia:Web_framework|frameworks]]), the user must wait longer before the browser can display content. This is because HTML+CSS can be parsed and rendered incrementally (immediately as the bytes arrive to the client), while JS must (typically) be completely parsed and then executed.

If the JS fails to load for any reason, the user is left with no content.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Luu |first=Dan |title=How web bloat impacts users with slow connections |url=https://danluu.com/web-bloat/ |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> If the page relies on JS to display content from the main document, the browser will waste bandwidth and time downloading data that won't be shown to the user; this is the case of sites with "splash screens" or "spinners" that use CSS to hide content until it's "ready to be seen" and then un-hidden by JS.<ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/uBO-rules/blob/b1086023e7db98dee55d425edc20722e641dd4b8/rx.abp#L71-L75</ref>

===Scraping===
{{Main|Artificial intelligence/training}}
Since the rise of big LLM's many brokers have started offering scraping services for companies that want more training data for their AI. And to that end, a lot of [[wikipedia:Headless_browser|headless browser]] agents have begun to scrape (collect a sites information provided) even with the site's <code>robots.txt</code> provided as a common standard to tell agents not to do so. This has lead to many forums and websites that had not used JS before to start implementing [[CAPTCHA|CAPTCHAS]] (or [[wikipedia:Anubis_(software)|Anubis]]), to prevent increased overhead and bandwidth costs.

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents related to this technology. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].

===Google Search requires JS (2025)===
In January 2025, Google's web-search engine mandates that user-agents must have JS enabled. Google's justification was that it's a defense mechanism against abusive bots (see also [[Deceptive language frequently used against consumers]]).<ref>https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/17/google-begins-requiring-javascript-for-google-search/</ref><ref>https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/18/google-search-javascript</ref><ref>https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/</ref> However, some people claim that it's an invalid justification.<ref>https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/javascript-required/</ref>

==Proposals and alternatives==

*'''Extension''': turning JS into an [[wikipedia:Browser_extension|extension]] or [[wikipedia:Plug-in_(computing)|plug-in]], so that users can choose to install it, is a way to discourage abuse and incentivize static/passive pages. To do this, JS must be deprecated as a Web Standard, but not deprecated as language or API.
*'''Deprecation''': John Gruber says that JS should never have been added to browsers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=John |date=22 Jun 2017 |title=Gizmodo Investigation Exposes Websites Collecting Form Data Before You Hit 'Submit' |url=https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/22/navistone-form-data |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260319180650/https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/22/navistone-form-data |archive-date=19 Mar 2026 |access-date=20 Mar 2026 |website=Daring Fireball}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=John |date=27 Jun 2017 |title=Using Today's Web Without JavaScript |url=https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/27/web-without-javascript |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260319180612/https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/27/web-without-javascript |archive-date=19 Mar 2026 |access-date=20 Mar 2026 |website=Daring Fireball}}</ref> The [[wikipedia:Gopher_(protocol)|Gopher]] and [[wikipedia:Gemini_(protocol)|Gemini]] projects advocate for a simpler web.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Project Gemini |url=https://geminiprotocol.net/ |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> If JS were to be completely removed from the web, this would allow users to navigate without worrying about invisible tracking.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 Sep 2023 |title=Project Gemini FAQ § Why not just use a subset of HTTP and HTML? |url=https://geminiprotocol.net/docs/faq-section-7.gmi#79-why-not-just-use-a-subset-of-http-and-html |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> Even if not all JS was removed, this would allow tools like [[wikipedia:UBlock_Origin|uBO]] to adapt their filters for non-JS users.<ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/a326c9db28c9f7eb6e30e6a737ca4aeae0d2ee39/post/js-abuse.md#to-do</ref>
*'''Feature-freeze''': There has been discussion about feature-freezing JS so that it becomes "JS0" (for lack of better name).<ref>https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ylROTu3N6MyHzNzWJXQAc7Bo1O0FHO3lNKfQMfPOA4o/</ref> The main purpose is to make it easier for browser implementers to keep browsers secure and stable.

==External links==

*[https://libredirect.github.io/faq.html LibRedirect explaining why it exists], and how [[Google Chrome]]'s MV3 limits it
*Google being anti-competitive towards [[Firefox]]: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/discussions/3240
*[https://github.com/iam-py-test/my_filters_001/blob/fc5f61eff0b0d821cb426bea76b18937072bc390/no-js-warnings.txt Websites that nag users to enable JS, even when it provides negligible value]
*Discord being extremely bloated to the point of crashing when opening Developer-tools: https://github.com/Rudxain/uBO-rules/blob/42220bd4f80052ee15136dff7269df19529c43ec/rx.ubo#L3-L19. This is not the fault of bloated JS, it's likely a bloated DOM-tree, but discord only bloats the DOM when JS is enabled.
*[https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/enough-withthejavascriptalready/23262138 "Enough with the JavaScript already!"]
*[https://eev.ee/blog/2016/03/06/maybe-we-could-tone-down-the-javascript "Maybe we could tone down the JavaScript"]
*[https://www.kryogenix.org/code/dont-need-that-js "You really don't need all that JavaScript, I promise"]
*https://gomakethings.com/why-progressive-enhancement-still-matters/
*https://www.viget.com/articles/the-case-against-progressive-enhancements-flimsy-moral-foundation
*[https://youtu.be/xE9W9Ghe4Jk "Shipping a button in 2026…"], by Kai Lentit. This illustrates the burnout and fatigue software developers can experience on a daily basis
*[https://grugbrain.dev/#grug-on-front-end-development HTMX developer advocating for less JS]
*[https://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm "Web Obesity Crisis"]
*[https://tonsky.me/blog/js-bloat JS bloat (2024)]
*[https://tonsky.me/blog/disenchantment How JS makes web apps more unstable]
*[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html GNU/FSF explaining why JS takes freedom away]
*[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/wwworst-app-store.html GNU/FSF explaining why "web apps" shouldn't exist]. '''WARNING''': contains overzealous claims! ([https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/main/post/re_twwwas.md according to Rudxain]). Related: [[wikipedia:Local-first_software|Local-first]]
*[https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/05/using-the-web-with-javascript-turned-off/ "I Used The Web For A Day With JavaScript Turned Off"]
*[https://tobyho.com/2010/03/11/how-much-of-the-web-actually/ "How Much of the Web Actually Work Without Javascript"]
*[https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/main/post/js-abuse.md Blog-post with more sources]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

Internet Archive

2026-04-18T20:52:36Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) */ typo

{{StubNotice}}
{{CompanyCargo
|Description=American digital library hosting scanned books, music, videos, software, and archived websites.
|Founded=1996
|Industry=Archive, Library
|Logo=Internet Archive.png
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Non-profit
|Website=https://archive.org/
}}
The '''{{Wplink|Internet Archive}}''' is an American non-profit digital library founded in 1996 to provide free "universal access to all knowledge" and preserve digital history.

==Consumer-impact summary==
The archive can be a useful resource for consumers to access information about discontinued products, companies which are no longer operating, and articles which are removed from web sites.

[TBA]

==Incidents==

===Login-only items for legally dubious content (2016-present)===
On January 13, 2016, Hank Bromley (hank_b) of the Internet Archive created a collection of uploads considered legally dubious and only viewable with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Download & Streaming : Log In Required : Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/loggedin?tab=about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2024-0311-0532-32/https://archive.org:443/details/loggedin?tab=about |archive-date=2024-03-11 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

These uploads cannot be viewed or downloaded by logged-out users but can be accessed by anyone with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive Forums: Log In Required, after logging in. |url=https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260222222400/https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |archive-date=22 Feb 2026|access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

===Archived website removal===
{{Main|Internet Archive/Blocked companies}}
The Archive accepts DMCA takedown requests of websites whose owners no longer want their sites archived<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bixenspan |first=David |date=2018-11-28 |title=When the Internet Archive Forgets |url=https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250805030527/https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |archive-date=2025-08-05 |access-date=2025-08-31 |work=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref> causing certain sites to be inaccessible.

The Internet Archive ''used'' to hide material covered by robots.txt restrictions but that was changed on April 17, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Mark |date=2017-04-17 |title=Robots.txt meant for search engines don’t work well for web archives |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417131508/http://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |archive-date=2017-04-17 |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Removal of noindex function on uploaded items===
On 2023 the Internet Archive reportedly removed the ability for users to use the noindex function, which used to result in the items being hidden from its internal search engine, while making the items whose noindex value is true to appear on the search engine. The decision was criticized on the grounds that it may jeopardize users' rights, including privacy. When confronted about it, Jason Scott, who's a staffmember of the Internet Archive, reportedly responded with the following:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-22 |title=The removal of "noindex" from the Internet Archive, and associated risks. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214121917/https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |archive-date=2024-12-14 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-06 |title=Internet Archive Ish |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215072041/https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |archive-date=2024-12-15 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref>

<blockquote>''There is no bug or mistake in removing no-index settings for many Internet Archive items in the Community collection.''

''At no point was the Archive contacted to arrange a situation of no-indexing (or Darking) items with an intention of later release; the no-index setting was not documented for this use, and represented a security hole that was closed. Tens of thousands of items were found, being used for encrypted files hidden from the search engine, and represented a major problem, so many items have been removed or set noindex quickly.''

''A number of people have contacted us explaining situations where items might need to be made no-indexed, in a collection for later or timed release for example, but they've done it with communication and discussing their needs, not just uploading files under disposable accounts and then assuming the archive would keep them un-accessible in perpetuity. In some cases their requests have gotten arrangements so that community items that were noindex are noindex again, in separate collections.''

''A situation can theoretically exist where the original uploader can e-mail us from their e-mail address and discuss arrangements, but you've indicated you intentionally obfuscated your location and have disposed your addresses. If you're able to gain access again, you can mail through those addresses.''

''An additional situation is you can e-mail info@archive.org if you want to report items at the archive (by identifier) that you believe might need to be removed from the archive; we receive a number of these requests throughout the months and respond according to policy.''</blockquote>

The following pseudocode was shared by a user who criticized the decision, if the Internet Archive decides to reinstate the ability for users to use the noindex function while re-hiding all the formerly noindexed items from the search engines:

<blockquote>noindex items if:

(

items-noindexed-by-user-in-the-past = true;

OR items-noindexed-by-IA-in-the-past = true);

AND (

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-USER-before-May-2023 = false;

OR

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-IA-before-May-2023 = false;

)</blockquote>

===Data breaches (2012-2024)===
On May 19, 2017, The Archive's Development Manager made a blog post detailing that anyone who had created their account before 2012 had to change their password as the site had been breached with user's public information and lightly encrypted passwords being leaked.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barrett |first=Katie |date=2017-05-19 |title=Re: User account breach {{!}} Internet Archive Blogs |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520030556/https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |archive-date=2025-05-20 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

On October 9, 2024, users on the Internet Archive got pop-ups that the website had been hacked with notifications appearing from the perpetrators at around 9PM CST,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-09 |title=Dark Web Informer on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321121941/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref> and an hour later Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned confirmed the breach.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Troy |date=2024-10-09 |title=Troy Hunt on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321122129/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref>

Around 31 million users were affected with their user IDs, Emails, encrypted passwords and usernames being leaked.<ref>{{Cite news |last=LeClair |first=Dave |date=2024-10-11 |title=31 million users impacted by Internet Archive data breach — what we know |url=https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241109231711/https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |archive-date=2024-11-09 |access-date=2025-08-16 |work=Tom's Guide}}</ref>

=== Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) ===
Up until 2022, Archive.org was one of the few remaining major websites that could be browsed and searched without [[JavaScript]]. JavaScript was only used where necessary, for example to enable bottomless scrolling. This is known as progressive enhancement.<ref name=jakearchibald>{{cite web |url=https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important/ |title=Progressive enhancement is still important - JakeArchibald.com |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

Since 2023 however, large parts of the Archive.org website (including the home page, collection pages, and the search engine) can no longer be browsed at all without JavaScript, because the legacy HTML-based user interface was replaced with a Google Lit web app. As of April 2026, only individual item pages remain viewable without JavaScript.<ref>Before change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/3vxC8 2023-06-28]. After change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/sdLIp 2023-09-28]</ref>

This made it impossible to browse the site on legacy systems that do not support modern web browsers, and slowed down loading on modern web browsers because lots of code has to be executed before any content can appear on screen, putting the content at the end of the rendering path.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critical rendering path – Mozilla Developer Network |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance/Guides/Critical_rendering_path |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Internet Archive]]

Internet Archive

2026-04-18T20:46:33Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) */ more readable

{{StubNotice}}
{{CompanyCargo
|Description=American digital library hosting scanned books, music, videos, software, and archived websites.
|Founded=1996
|Industry=Archive, Library
|Logo=Internet Archive.png
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Non-profit
|Website=https://archive.org/
}}
The '''{{Wplink|Internet Archive}}''' is an American non-profit digital library founded in 1996 to provide free "universal access to all knowledge" and preserve digital history.

==Consumer-impact summary==
The archive can be a useful resource for consumers to access information about discontinued products, companies which are no longer operating, and articles which are removed from web sites.

[TBA]

==Incidents==

===Login-only items for legally dubious content (2016-present)===
On January 13, 2016, Hank Bromley (hank_b) of the Internet Archive created a collection of uploads considered legally dubious and only viewable with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Download & Streaming : Log In Required : Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/loggedin?tab=about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2024-0311-0532-32/https://archive.org:443/details/loggedin?tab=about |archive-date=2024-03-11 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

These uploads cannot be viewed or downloaded by logged-out users but can be accessed by anyone with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive Forums: Log In Required, after logging in. |url=https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260222222400/https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |archive-date=22 Feb 2026|access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

===Archived website removal===
{{Main|Internet Archive/Blocked companies}}
The Archive accepts DMCA takedown requests of websites whose owners no longer want their sites archived<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bixenspan |first=David |date=2018-11-28 |title=When the Internet Archive Forgets |url=https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250805030527/https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |archive-date=2025-08-05 |access-date=2025-08-31 |work=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref> causing certain sites to be inaccessible.

The Internet Archive ''used'' to hide material covered by robots.txt restrictions but that was changed on April 17, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Mark |date=2017-04-17 |title=Robots.txt meant for search engines don’t work well for web archives |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417131508/http://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |archive-date=2017-04-17 |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Removal of noindex function on uploaded items===
On 2023 the Internet Archive reportedly removed the ability for users to use the noindex function, which used to result in the items being hidden from its internal search engine, while making the items whose noindex value is true to appear on the search engine. The decision was criticized on the grounds that it may jeopardize users' rights, including privacy. When confronted about it, Jason Scott, who's a staffmember of the Internet Archive, reportedly responded with the following:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-22 |title=The removal of "noindex" from the Internet Archive, and associated risks. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214121917/https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |archive-date=2024-12-14 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-06 |title=Internet Archive Ish |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215072041/https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |archive-date=2024-12-15 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref>

<blockquote>''There is no bug or mistake in removing no-index settings for many Internet Archive items in the Community collection.''

''At no point was the Archive contacted to arrange a situation of no-indexing (or Darking) items with an intention of later release; the no-index setting was not documented for this use, and represented a security hole that was closed. Tens of thousands of items were found, being used for encrypted files hidden from the search engine, and represented a major problem, so many items have been removed or set noindex quickly.''

''A number of people have contacted us explaining situations where items might need to be made no-indexed, in a collection for later or timed release for example, but they've done it with communication and discussing their needs, not just uploading files under disposable accounts and then assuming the archive would keep them un-accessible in perpetuity. In some cases their requests have gotten arrangements so that community items that were noindex are noindex again, in separate collections.''

''A situation can theoretically exist where the original uploader can e-mail us from their e-mail address and discuss arrangements, but you've indicated you intentionally obfuscated your location and have disposed your addresses. If you're able to gain access again, you can mail through those addresses.''

''An additional situation is you can e-mail info@archive.org if you want to report items at the archive (by identifier) that you believe might need to be removed from the archive; we receive a number of these requests throughout the months and respond according to policy.''</blockquote>

The following pseudocode was shared by a user who criticized the decision, if the Internet Archive decides to reinstate the ability for users to use the noindex function while re-hiding all the formerly noindexed items from the search engines:

<blockquote>noindex items if:

(

items-noindexed-by-user-in-the-past = true;

OR items-noindexed-by-IA-in-the-past = true);

AND (

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-USER-before-May-2023 = false;

OR

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-IA-before-May-2023 = false;

)</blockquote>

===Data breaches (2012-2024)===
On May 19, 2017, The Archive's Development Manager made a blog post detailing that anyone who had created their account before 2012 had to change their password as the site had been breached with user's public information and lightly encrypted passwords being leaked.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barrett |first=Katie |date=2017-05-19 |title=Re: User account breach {{!}} Internet Archive Blogs |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520030556/https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |archive-date=2025-05-20 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

On October 9, 2024, users on the Internet Archive got pop-ups that the website had been hacked with notifications appearing from the perpetrators at around 9PM CST,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-09 |title=Dark Web Informer on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321121941/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref> and an hour later Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned confirmed the breach.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Troy |date=2024-10-09 |title=Troy Hunt on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321122129/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref>

Around 31 million users were affected with their user IDs, Emails, encrypted passwords and usernames being leaked.<ref>{{Cite news |last=LeClair |first=Dave |date=2024-10-11 |title=31 million users impacted by Internet Archive data breach — what we know |url=https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241109231711/https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |archive-date=2024-11-09 |access-date=2025-08-16 |work=Tom's Guide}}</ref>

=== Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) ===
Up until 2022, Archive.org was one of the few remaining major websites that could be browsed and searched without [[JavaScript]]. JavaScript was only used where necessary, for example to enable bottomless scrolling. This is known as progressive enhancement.<ref name=jakearchibald>{{cite web |url=https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important/ |title=Progressive enhancement is still important - JakeArchibald.com |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

Since 2023 however, large parts of the Archive.org website (including the home page, collection pages, and the search engine) can no longer be browsed at all without JavaScript, because the legacy HTML-based user interface was replaced with a Google Lit web app. As of April 2026, only individual item pages remain viewable without JavaScript.<ref>Before change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/3vxC8 2023-06-28]. After change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/sdLIp 2023-09-28]</ref>

This made it impossible to browsing the site on legacy systems that do not support modern web browsers, and slowed down loading on modern web browsers because lots of code has to be executed before any content can appear on screen, putting the content at the end of the rendering path.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critical rendering path – Mozilla Developer Network |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance/Guides/Critical_rendering_path |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Internet Archive]]

JavaScript

2026-04-18T20:39:39Z

JodyBruchonFan: rendering path

{{Cleanup}}
{{Irrelevant}}
{{ProductCargo
|Company=
|ReleaseYear=1995
|InProduction=Yes
|Category=Software
|Website=https://openjsf.org/,https://tc39.es/ecma262/multipage/
|Description=A high-level programming language that's also the "lingua franca of the web"
|Logo=JavaScript-logo.png}}

'''{{Wplink|JavaScript}}''' (JS), not to be confused with {{Wplink|ECMAScript}} (ES), is a {{Wplink|programming language}} and core technology of {{Wplink|World_Wide_Web|the Web}}, alongside [[wikipedia:HTML|HTML]] and [[wikipedia:CSS|CSS]]. It was created by [[wikipedia:Brendan_Eich|Brendan Eich]] in 1995.<ref>https://exploringjs.com/es5/ch04.html</ref> As of 2025, the overwhelming majority of [[wikipedia:Website|websites]] (98.9%) uses JS for [[wikipedia:Client_(computing)|client]]-side [[wikipedia:Web_page|webpage]] behavior.<ref name="deployedstats">{{cite web |title=Usage Statistics of JavaScript as Client-side Programming Language on Websites |url=https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cp-javascript |access-date=27 Feb 2024 |website=W3Techs}}</ref> It's even used on the [[wikipedia:Server_(computing)|server]]-side (see [[wikipedia:Node.js|Node.js]]). JS is also known to enhance the [[wikipedia:User_experience|user-experience]] (UX). The [[wikipedia:World_Wide_Web_Consortium|World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C) provides comprehensive guidelines for such purposes.<ref>https://www.w3.org/wiki/The_principles_of_unobtrusive_JavaScript</ref>

For the entirety of this article (unless stated otherwise) the terms "JavaScript" and "JS" will be defined as "ECMAScript with access to [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API Web APIs]" or "ES+WebAPI" for short.

==Consumer impact summary==

*'''Degraded accessibility''': Dynamic and/or active content is well-known to have poor accessibility for users with visual and/or cognitive impairments. While standards such as [[wikipedia:WAI-ARIA|WAI-ARIA]] were created to mitigate this, it's no silver bullet, especially when developers aren't aware of ARIA.
*'''Degreaded compatibility''': While HTML and CSS degrade gracefully, meaning web browsers not supporting a certain feature will simply ignore it and load the rest of the page, JavaScript does not. If any JavaScript feature is not supported by a web browser and not caught using a <code>try</code>...<code>catch</code> block, the rest of the script is not executed, which usually breaks the entire site if it requires JavaScript for basic functions, as "web apps" usually do. This makes it impossible for legacy systems to access a website at all, rather than being able to use some parts of a website.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important/ |title=Progressive enhancement is still important - JakeArchibald.com |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>
*'''Lack of transparency''': To optimize network bandwidth, JS code is typically served in [[wikipedia:Minification_(programming)|minified]] form, which makes it harder to understand for humans. This is particularly problematic if the original source is not publicly [[wikipedia:Source-available_software|available]], which is typically the case of [[wikipedia:Proprietary_software|proprietary software]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gross |first=Carson |date=21 Sep 2023 |title=The #ViewSource Affordance |url=https://htmx.org/essays/right-click-view-source/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260228105626/https://htmx.org/essays/right-click-view-source/ |archive-date=28 Feb 2026 |access-date=24 Mar 2026 |website=</> htmx ~ Essays}}</ref>
*'''Excessive tracking''': JS is much more capable than HTML and [[CSS]] '''combined''' to track user behavior.<ref>https://clickclickclick.click/</ref> JS can communicate with almost any server (only limited by [[wikipedia:Cross-origin_resource_sharing|CORS]]) at any time (limited by connection availability), using a plethora of protocols. JS can get hardware information and compute a [[Device fingerprint|fingerprint of the device]], user, or both.<ref>https://privacycheck.sec.lrz.de/</ref><ref>https://abrahamjuliot.github.io/creepjs</ref><ref>https://www.deviceinfo.me/</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Learn how identifiable you are on the Internet |url=https://www.amiunique.org/ |url-status=live |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Am I Unique ?}}</ref>
*'''Market control''': JS is built into almost every web-browser and [[wikipedia:User_agent|user-agent]] (UA), including "light-weight" ones (such as [[wikipedia:W3m|w3m]]), incentivizing companies to use it for everything, since "there's no need to worry about compatibility or portability".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Everyone has JavaScript, right? |url=https://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/everyonehasjs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260316024516/https://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/everyonehasjs.html |archive-date=16 Mar 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Kryogenix Consulting}}</ref>
*'''Security risks''': It is well-known that JS is poorly-designed,<ref>https://github.com/denysdovhan/wtfjs</ref><ref>https://github.com/brianleroux/wtfjs</ref><ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/ideas/blob/aa9a80252a4b7c9c51f32eda5c716e96220ed96e/software/evar/with_bf.js</ref> even [[wikipedia:Ecma_International|tc39]] acknowledges that{{Citation needed}}. This leads to programmers and even experienced software-devs to accidentally add vulnerabilities to their code. That, and the fact that ES is [[wikipedia:Turing_completeness|Turing-complete]] (both [https://gavinhoward.com/2024/03/what-computers-cannot-do-the-consequences-of-turing-completeness/#mathematical-vs-practical in practice and in theory]), makes [[wikipedia:Debugging|debugging]] and [[wikipedia:Reverse_engineering|reverse-engineering]] impractical in big code-bases. It's worth noting that tooling, such as [[wikipedia:TypeScript|TypeScript]] and [[wikipedia:ESLint|ESLint]], exist to substantially minimize the likelihood of [[wikipedia:Software_bug|bugs]].
*'''Degraded performance (web apps)''': "Web apps" load slower than traditional web sites because lots of code has to be processed by the web browser before any content can appear on screen, putting the content at the end of the rendering path.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critical rendering path – Mozilla Developer Network |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance/Guides/Critical_rendering_path |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

==How it works==
Whenever a user visits a webpage, an average web-browser will execute the JS code it finds in <code><script></code> [[wikipedia:HTML_element|tags]]. This code could do anything from updating part of the [[wikipedia:Document_Object_Model|DOM]]-tree only when the user requests it, to showing a [[wikipedia:Pop-up_ad|popup/popunder]].

When JS tries to access a "privacy-sensitive" API (such as the microphone) the browser pauses it until the user has granted access for the first time. This is typically done on a per-domain basis. However, as mentioned earlier, many other APIs don't need to ask permission before fetching data.

It's worth noting that JS has a privileged position, relative to [[wikipedia:WebAssembly|Wasm]], because of its first-class access to Web APIs.

==Why it is a problem==

===Tracking===
Many webpages (and even entire websites), force the user to keep JS enabled, otherwise they break or deliberately refuse to work. CSS stylesheets combined with HTML should be fine with most basic websites or webpages that do not need complex client side interaction.

The data collected by malicious JS makes it trivial to serve [[personalized ads]], even across unrelated sites. Some sites collect so much data that they are indistinguishable from [[spyware]] (see also [[wikipedia:Keystroke_logging|key-logging]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Kashmir |date=20 Jun 2017 |title=Before You Hit ‘Submit,’ This Company Has Already Logged Your Personal Data |url=https://gizmodo.com/before-you-hit-submit-this-company-has-already-logge-1795906081 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260220091637/https://gizmodo.com/before-you-hit-submit-this-company-has-already-logge-1795906081 |archive-date=20 Feb 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Gizmodo}}</ref>

===Security===
Browser-engine developers (such as [[Google]] and [[Mozilla]]) not only feel compelled, but are financially incentivized to optimize JS to its limits. This leads to complex code-bases that are harder to verify for correctness. Browser vendors mitigate this via [[wikipedia:Sandbox_(computer_security)|sandboxing]]. Unfortunately, since modern browsers compile JS to native CPU code (see [[wikipedia:Just-in-time_compilation|JIT]]) to improve performance, this introduces a higher risk of sandbox-escape.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Norman |first=Johnathan |date=4 Aug 2021 |title=Super Duper Secure Mode |url=https://microsoftedge.github.io/edgevr/posts/Super-Duper-Secure-Mode/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260218110912/https://microsoftedge.github.io/edgevr/posts/Super-Duper-Secure-Mode |archive-date=18 Feb 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research}}</ref> Some examples of this are as follows:

*[[wikipedia:Cross-site_scripting|XSS]], which [[wikipedia:NoScript|NoScript]] tries to mitigate
*[[wikipedia:Arbitrary_code_execution|Arbitrary code execution]] and [[wikipedia:Code_injection|code injection]]. Typically caused by <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/eval eval]</code> (part of ES), but there are Web APIs (such as <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/setTimeout setTimeout]</code> and <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/setInterval setInterval]</code>) that can be misused as well.
*Remote code execution. This is used by hackers and crackers to build [[wikipedia:Botnet|bot-nets]] for [[wikipedia:Ddos#Distributed_DoS|DDoS]] or [[wikipedia:Cryptocurrency|crypto]]-mining, but it's mostly used for spyware since it can hide more easily.

===Performance===
{{See also|Bloatware}}
If the DOM-tree is dynamically generated by JS (such as [[wikipedia:Web_framework|frameworks]]), the user must wait longer before the browser can display content. This is because HTML+CSS can be parsed and rendered incrementally (immediately as the bytes arrive to the client), while JS must (typically) be completely parsed and then executed.

If the JS fails to load for any reason, the user is left with no content.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Luu |first=Dan |title=How web bloat impacts users with slow connections |url=https://danluu.com/web-bloat/ |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> If the page relies on JS to display content from the main document, the browser will waste bandwidth and time downloading data that won't be shown to the user; this is the case of sites with "splash screens" or "spinners" that use CSS to hide content until it's "ready to be seen" and then un-hidden by JS.<ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/uBO-rules/blob/b1086023e7db98dee55d425edc20722e641dd4b8/rx.abp#L71-L75</ref>

===Scraping===
{{Main|Artificial intelligence/training}}
Since the rise of big LLM's many brokers have started offering scraping services for companies that want more training data for their AI. And to that end, a lot of [[wikipedia:Headless_browser|headless browser]] agents have begun to scrape (collect a sites information provided) even with the site's <code>robots.txt</code> provided as a common standard to tell agents not to do so. This has lead to many forums and websites that had not used JS before to start implementing [[CAPTCHA|CAPTCHAS]] (or [[wikipedia:Anubis_(software)|Anubis]]), to prevent increased overhead and bandwidth costs.

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents related to this technology. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].

===Google Search requires JS (2025)===
In January 2025, Google's web-search engine mandates that user-agents must have JS enabled. Google's justification was that it's a defense mechanism against abusive bots (see also [[Deceptive language frequently used against consumers]]).<ref>https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/17/google-begins-requiring-javascript-for-google-search/</ref><ref>https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/18/google-search-javascript</ref><ref>https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/</ref> However, some people claim that it's an invalid justification.<ref>https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/javascript-required/</ref>

==Proposals and alternatives==

*'''Extension''': turning JS into an [[wikipedia:Browser_extension|extension]] or [[wikipedia:Plug-in_(computing)|plug-in]], so that users can choose to install it, is a way to discourage abuse and incentivize static/passive pages. To do this, JS must be deprecated as a Web Standard, but not deprecated as language or API.
*'''Deprecation''': John Gruber says that JS should never have been added to browsers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=John |date=22 Jun 2017 |title=Gizmodo Investigation Exposes Websites Collecting Form Data Before You Hit 'Submit' |url=https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/22/navistone-form-data |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260319180650/https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/22/navistone-form-data |archive-date=19 Mar 2026 |access-date=20 Mar 2026 |website=Daring Fireball}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=John |date=27 Jun 2017 |title=Using Today's Web Without JavaScript |url=https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/27/web-without-javascript |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260319180612/https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/27/web-without-javascript |archive-date=19 Mar 2026 |access-date=20 Mar 2026 |website=Daring Fireball}}</ref> The [[wikipedia:Gopher_(protocol)|Gopher]] and [[wikipedia:Gemini_(protocol)|Gemini]] projects advocate for a simpler web.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Project Gemini |url=https://geminiprotocol.net/ |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> If JS were to be completely removed from the web, this would allow users to navigate without worrying about invisible tracking.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 Sep 2023 |title=Project Gemini FAQ § Why not just use a subset of HTTP and HTML? |url=https://geminiprotocol.net/docs/faq.gmi#79-why-not-just-use-a-subset-of-http-and-html |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> Even if not all JS was removed, this would allow tools like [[wikipedia:UBlock_Origin|uBO]] to adapt their filters for non-JS users.<ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/a326c9db28c9f7eb6e30e6a737ca4aeae0d2ee39/post/js-abuse.md#to-do</ref>
*'''Feature-freeze''': There has been discussion about feature-freezing JS so that it becomes "JS0" (for lack of better name).<ref>https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ylROTu3N6MyHzNzWJXQAc7Bo1O0FHO3lNKfQMfPOA4o/</ref> The main purpose is to make it easier for browser implementers to keep browsers secure and stable.

==External links==

*[https://libredirect.github.io/faq.html LibRedirect explaining why it exists], and how [[Google Chrome]]'s MV3 limits it
*Google being anti-competitive towards [[Firefox]]: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/discussions/3240
*[https://github.com/iam-py-test/my_filters_001/blob/fc5f61eff0b0d821cb426bea76b18937072bc390/no-js-warnings.txt Websites that nag users to enable JS, even when it provides negligible value]
*Discord being extremely bloated to the point of crashing when opening Developer-tools: https://github.com/Rudxain/uBO-rules/blob/42220bd4f80052ee15136dff7269df19529c43ec/rx.ubo#L3-L19. This is not the fault of bloated JS, it's likely a bloated DOM-tree, but discord only bloats the DOM when JS is enabled.
*[https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/enough-withthejavascriptalready/23262138 "Enough with the JavaScript already!"]
*[https://eev.ee/blog/2016/03/06/maybe-we-could-tone-down-the-javascript "Maybe we could tone down the JavaScript"]
*[https://www.kryogenix.org/code/dont-need-that-js "You really don't need all that JavaScript, I promise"]
*[https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important "Progressive Enhancement Still Important"]
*https://gomakethings.com/why-progressive-enhancement-still-matters/
*https://www.viget.com/articles/the-case-against-progressive-enhancements-flimsy-moral-foundation
*[https://youtu.be/xE9W9Ghe4Jk "Shipping a button in 2026…"], by Kai Lentit. This illustrates the burnout and fatigue software developers can experience on a daily basis
*[https://grugbrain.dev/ HTMX developer advocating for less JS]
*[https://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm "Web Obesity Crisis"]
*[https://tonsky.me/blog/js-bloat JS bloat (2024)]
*[https://tonsky.me/blog/disenchantment How JS makes web apps more unstable]
*[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html GNU/FSF explaining why JS takes freedom away]
*[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/wwworst-app-store.html GNU/FSF explaining why "web apps" shouldn't exist]. '''WARNING''': contains overzealous claims! ([https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/main/post/re_twwwas.md according to Rudxain]). Related: [[wikipedia:Local-first_software|Local-first]]
*[https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/05/using-the-web-with-javascript-turned-off/ "I Used The Web For A Day With JavaScript Turned Off"]
*[https://tobyho.com/2010/03/11/how-much-of-the-web-actually/ "How Much of the Web Actually Work Without Javascript"]
*[https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/main/post/js-abuse.md Blog-post with more sources]

==See also==

*[[Electron]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

Internet Archive

2026-04-18T20:37:42Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) */ Clarifying it is not the entire site, just large parts thereof.

{{StubNotice}}
{{CompanyCargo
|Description=American digital library hosting scanned books, music, videos, software, and archived websites.
|Founded=1996
|Industry=Archive, Library
|Logo=Internet Archive.png
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Non-profit
|Website=https://archive.org/
}}
The '''{{Wplink|Internet Archive}}''' is an American non-profit digital library founded in 1996 to provide free "universal access to all knowledge" and preserve digital history.

==Consumer-impact summary==
The archive can be a useful resource for consumers to access information about discontinued products, companies which are no longer operating, and articles which are removed from web sites.

[TBA]

==Incidents==

===Login-only items for legally dubious content (2016-present)===
On January 13, 2016, Hank Bromley (hank_b) of the Internet Archive created a collection of uploads considered legally dubious and only viewable with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Download & Streaming : Log In Required : Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/loggedin?tab=about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2024-0311-0532-32/https://archive.org:443/details/loggedin?tab=about |archive-date=2024-03-11 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

These uploads cannot be viewed or downloaded by logged-out users but can be accessed by anyone with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive Forums: Log In Required, after logging in. |url=https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260222222400/https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |archive-date=22 Feb 2026|access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

===Archived website removal===
{{Main|Internet Archive/Blocked companies}}
The Archive accepts DMCA takedown requests of websites whose owners no longer want their sites archived<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bixenspan |first=David |date=2018-11-28 |title=When the Internet Archive Forgets |url=https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250805030527/https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |archive-date=2025-08-05 |access-date=2025-08-31 |work=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref> causing certain sites to be inaccessible.

The Internet Archive ''used'' to hide material covered by robots.txt restrictions but that was changed on April 17, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Mark |date=2017-04-17 |title=Robots.txt meant for search engines don’t work well for web archives |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417131508/http://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |archive-date=2017-04-17 |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Removal of noindex function on uploaded items===
On 2023 the Internet Archive reportedly removed the ability for users to use the noindex function, which used to result in the items being hidden from its internal search engine, while making the items whose noindex value is true to appear on the search engine. The decision was criticized on the grounds that it may jeopardize users' rights, including privacy. When confronted about it, Jason Scott, who's a staffmember of the Internet Archive, reportedly responded with the following:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-22 |title=The removal of "noindex" from the Internet Archive, and associated risks. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214121917/https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |archive-date=2024-12-14 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-06 |title=Internet Archive Ish |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215072041/https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |archive-date=2024-12-15 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref>

<blockquote>''There is no bug or mistake in removing no-index settings for many Internet Archive items in the Community collection.''

''At no point was the Archive contacted to arrange a situation of no-indexing (or Darking) items with an intention of later release; the no-index setting was not documented for this use, and represented a security hole that was closed. Tens of thousands of items were found, being used for encrypted files hidden from the search engine, and represented a major problem, so many items have been removed or set noindex quickly.''

''A number of people have contacted us explaining situations where items might need to be made no-indexed, in a collection for later or timed release for example, but they've done it with communication and discussing their needs, not just uploading files under disposable accounts and then assuming the archive would keep them un-accessible in perpetuity. In some cases their requests have gotten arrangements so that community items that were noindex are noindex again, in separate collections.''

''A situation can theoretically exist where the original uploader can e-mail us from their e-mail address and discuss arrangements, but you've indicated you intentionally obfuscated your location and have disposed your addresses. If you're able to gain access again, you can mail through those addresses.''

''An additional situation is you can e-mail info@archive.org if you want to report items at the archive (by identifier) that you believe might need to be removed from the archive; we receive a number of these requests throughout the months and respond according to policy.''</blockquote>

The following pseudocode was shared by a user who criticized the decision, if the Internet Archive decides to reinstate the ability for users to use the noindex function while re-hiding all the formerly noindexed items from the search engines:

<blockquote>noindex items if:

(

items-noindexed-by-user-in-the-past = true;

OR items-noindexed-by-IA-in-the-past = true);

AND (

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-USER-before-May-2023 = false;

OR

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-IA-before-May-2023 = false;

)</blockquote>

===Data breaches (2012-2024)===
On May 19, 2017, The Archive's Development Manager made a blog post detailing that anyone who had created their account before 2012 had to change their password as the site had been breached with user's public information and lightly encrypted passwords being leaked.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barrett |first=Katie |date=2017-05-19 |title=Re: User account breach {{!}} Internet Archive Blogs |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520030556/https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |archive-date=2025-05-20 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

On October 9, 2024, users on the Internet Archive got pop-ups that the website had been hacked with notifications appearing from the perpetrators at around 9PM CST,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-09 |title=Dark Web Informer on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321121941/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref> and an hour later Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned confirmed the breach.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Troy |date=2024-10-09 |title=Troy Hunt on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321122129/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref>

Around 31 million users were affected with their user IDs, Emails, encrypted passwords and usernames being leaked.<ref>{{Cite news |last=LeClair |first=Dave |date=2024-10-11 |title=31 million users impacted by Internet Archive data breach — what we know |url=https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241109231711/https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |archive-date=2024-11-09 |access-date=2025-08-16 |work=Tom's Guide}}</ref>

=== Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) ===
Up until 2022, Archive.org was one of the few remaining major websites that could be browsed and searched without [[JavaScript]]. JavaScript was only used where necessary, for example to enable bottomless scrolling. This is known as progressive enhancement.<ref name=jakearchibald>{{cite web |url=https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important/ |title=Progressive enhancement is still important - JakeArchibald.com |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

Since 2023 however, large parts of the Archive.org website (including the home page, collection pages, and the search engine) can no longer be browsed at all without JavaScript, because the legacy HTML-based user interface was replaced with a Google Lit web app. As of April 2026, only individual item pages are viewable without JavaScript.<ref>Before change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/3vxC8 2023-06-28]. After change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/sdLIp 2023-09-28]</ref>

This made it impossible to browsing the site on legacy systems that do not support modern web browsers, and slowed down loading on modern web browsers because lots of code has to be executed before any content can appear on screen, because it is put at the end of the rendering path.<ref>{{cite web |title=Critical rendering path – Mozilla Developer Network |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Performance/Guides/Critical_rendering_path |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Internet Archive]]

Internet Archive

2026-04-18T19:35:54Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Incidents */ As much as I love archive.org, they sadly joined the list of JavaScript-only web sites in 2023.

{{StubNotice}}
{{CompanyCargo
|Description=American digital library hosting scanned books, music, videos, software, and archived websites.
|Founded=1996
|Industry=Archive, Library
|Logo=Internet Archive.png
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Non-profit
|Website=https://archive.org/
}}
The '''{{Wplink|Internet Archive}}''' is an American non-profit digital library founded in 1996 to provide free "universal access to all knowledge" and preserve digital history.

==Consumer-impact summary==
The archive can be a useful resource for consumers to access information about discontinued products, companies which are no longer operating, and articles which are removed from web sites.

[TBA]

==Incidents==

===Login-only items for legally dubious content (2016-present)===
On January 13, 2016, Hank Bromley (hank_b) of the Internet Archive created a collection of uploads considered legally dubious and only viewable with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Download & Streaming : Log In Required : Internet Archive |url=https://archive.org/details/loggedin?tab=about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://megalodon.jp/2024-0311-0532-32/https://archive.org:443/details/loggedin?tab=about |archive-date=2024-03-11 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

These uploads cannot be viewed or downloaded by logged-out users but can be accessed by anyone with an account.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Archive Forums: Log In Required, after logging in. |url=https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260222222400/https://archive.org/post/1092552/log-in-required-after-logging-in |archive-date=22 Feb 2026|access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

===Archived website removal===
{{Main|Internet Archive/Blocked companies}}
The Archive accepts DMCA takedown requests of websites whose owners no longer want their sites archived<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bixenspan |first=David |date=2018-11-28 |title=When the Internet Archive Forgets |url=https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250805030527/https://gizmodo.com/when-the-internet-archive-forgets-1830462131 |archive-date=2025-08-05 |access-date=2025-08-31 |work=[[Gizmodo]]}}</ref> causing certain sites to be inaccessible.

The Internet Archive ''used'' to hide material covered by robots.txt restrictions but that was changed on April 17, 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Graham |first=Mark |date=2017-04-17 |title=Robots.txt meant for search engines don’t work well for web archives |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417131508/http://blog.archive.org/2017/04/17/robots-txt-meant-for-search-engines-dont-work-well-for-web-archives/ |archive-date=2017-04-17 |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Removal of noindex function on uploaded items===
On 2023 the Internet Archive reportedly removed the ability for users to use the noindex function, which used to result in the items being hidden from its internal search engine, while making the items whose noindex value is true to appear on the search engine. The decision was criticized on the grounds that it may jeopardize users' rights, including privacy. When confronted about it, Jason Scott, who's a staffmember of the Internet Archive, reportedly responded with the following:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-22 |title=The removal of "noindex" from the Internet Archive, and associated risks. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241214121917/https://old.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/156s7di/the_removal_of_noindex_from_the_internet_archive/ |archive-date=2024-12-14 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-06 |title=Internet Archive Ish |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215072041/https://old.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/142nm9h/internet_archive_ish/ |archive-date=2024-12-15 |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=Reddit}}</ref>

<blockquote>''There is no bug or mistake in removing no-index settings for many Internet Archive items in the Community collection.''

''At no point was the Archive contacted to arrange a situation of no-indexing (or Darking) items with an intention of later release; the no-index setting was not documented for this use, and represented a security hole that was closed. Tens of thousands of items were found, being used for encrypted files hidden from the search engine, and represented a major problem, so many items have been removed or set noindex quickly.''

''A number of people have contacted us explaining situations where items might need to be made no-indexed, in a collection for later or timed release for example, but they've done it with communication and discussing their needs, not just uploading files under disposable accounts and then assuming the archive would keep them un-accessible in perpetuity. In some cases their requests have gotten arrangements so that community items that were noindex are noindex again, in separate collections.''

''A situation can theoretically exist where the original uploader can e-mail us from their e-mail address and discuss arrangements, but you've indicated you intentionally obfuscated your location and have disposed your addresses. If you're able to gain access again, you can mail through those addresses.''

''An additional situation is you can e-mail info@archive.org if you want to report items at the archive (by identifier) that you believe might need to be removed from the archive; we receive a number of these requests throughout the months and respond according to policy.''</blockquote>

The following pseudocode was shared by a user who criticized the decision, if the Internet Archive decides to reinstate the ability for users to use the noindex function while re-hiding all the formerly noindexed items from the search engines:

<blockquote>noindex items if:

(

items-noindexed-by-user-in-the-past = true;

OR items-noindexed-by-IA-in-the-past = true);

AND (

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-USER-before-May-2023 = false;

OR

items-get-reindexed-voluntarily-by-IA-before-May-2023 = false;

)</blockquote>

===Data breaches (2012-2024)===
On May 19, 2017, The Archive's Development Manager made a blog post detailing that anyone who had created their account before 2012 had to change their password as the site had been breached with user's public information and lightly encrypted passwords being leaked.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barrett |first=Katie |date=2017-05-19 |title=Re: User account breach {{!}} Internet Archive Blogs |url=https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250520030556/https://blog.archive.org/2017/05/19/re-user-account-breach/ |archive-date=2025-05-20 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

On October 9, 2024, users on the Internet Archive got pop-ups that the website had been hacked with notifications appearing from the perpetrators at around 9PM CST,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-10-09 |title=Dark Web Informer on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321121941/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/DarkWebInformer/status/1844123206413943274 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref> and an hour later Troy Hunt of HaveIBeenPwned confirmed the breach.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hunt |first=Troy |date=2024-10-09 |title=Troy Hunt on X |url=https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321122129/https://nitter.us.catsarch.com/troyhunt/status/1844136762727448644 |archive-date=21 Mar 2026 |access-date=2025-08-16 |website=[[Twitter]]}}</ref>

Around 31 million users were affected with their user IDs, Emails, encrypted passwords and usernames being leaked.<ref>{{Cite news |last=LeClair |first=Dave |date=2024-10-11 |title=31 million users impacted by Internet Archive data breach — what we know |url=https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241109231711/https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/31-million-users-impacted-by-internet-archive-data-breach-what-we-know |archive-date=2024-11-09 |access-date=2025-08-16 |work=Tom's Guide}}</ref>

=== Website no longer usable without JavaScript (2023) ===
Up until 2022, Archive.org was one of the few remaining major websites that could be browsed and searched without [[JavaScript]]. JavaScript was only used where necessary, for example to enable bottomless scrolling. This is known as progressive enhancement.

Since 2023 however, the Archive.org website can no longer be browsed at all without JavaScript, because the legacy HTML-based user interface was replaced with a Google Lit web app.<ref>Before change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/3vxC8 2023-06-28]. After change: [https://ghostarchive.org/archive/sdLIp 2023-09-28]</ref>

This made it impossible to view the site on legacy systems that do not support modern web browsers, and slowed down loading on modern web browsers because lots of code has to be executed before any content can appear on screen.

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Internet Archive]]

JavaScript

2026-04-18T19:27:44Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Consumer impact summary */ + Degreaded compatibility

{{Cleanup}}
{{Irrelevant}}
{{ProductCargo
|Company=
|ReleaseYear=1995
|InProduction=Yes
|Category=Software
|Website=https://openjsf.org/,https://tc39.es/ecma262/multipage/
|Description=A high-level programming language that's also the "lingua franca of the web"
|Logo=JavaScript-logo.png}}

'''{{Wplink|JavaScript}}''' (JS), not to be confused with {{Wplink|ECMAScript}} (ES), is a {{Wplink|programming language}} and core technology of {{Wplink|World_Wide_Web|the Web}}, alongside [[wikipedia:HTML|HTML]] and [[wikipedia:CSS|CSS]]. It was created by [[wikipedia:Brendan_Eich|Brendan Eich]] in 1995.<ref>https://exploringjs.com/es5/ch04.html</ref> As of 2025, the overwhelming majority of [[wikipedia:Website|websites]] (98.9%) uses JS for [[wikipedia:Client_(computing)|client]]-side [[wikipedia:Web_page|webpage]] behavior.<ref name="deployedstats">{{cite web |title=Usage Statistics of JavaScript as Client-side Programming Language on Websites |url=https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cp-javascript |access-date=27 Feb 2024 |website=W3Techs}}</ref> It's even used on the [[wikipedia:Server_(computing)|server]]-side (see [[wikipedia:Node.js|Node.js]]). JS is also known to enhance the [[wikipedia:User_experience|user-experience]] (UX). The [[wikipedia:World_Wide_Web_Consortium|World Wide Web Consortium]] (W3C) provides comprehensive guidelines for such purposes.<ref>https://www.w3.org/wiki/The_principles_of_unobtrusive_JavaScript</ref>

For the entirety of this article (unless stated otherwise) the terms "JavaScript" and "JS" will be defined as "ECMAScript with access to [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API Web APIs]" or "ES+WebAPI" for short.

==Consumer impact summary==

*'''Degraded accessibility''': Dynamic and/or active content is well-known to have poor accessibility for users with visual and/or cognitive impairments. While standards such as [[wikipedia:WAI-ARIA|WAI-ARIA]] were created to mitigate this, it's no silver bullet, especially when developers aren't aware of ARIA.
*'''Degreaded compatibility''': While HTML and CSS degrade gracefully, meaning web browsers not supporting a certain feature will simply ignore it and load the rest of the page, JavaScript does not. If any JavaScript feature is not supported by a web browser and not caught using a <code>try</code>...<code>catch</code> block, the rest of the script is not executed, which usually breaks the entire site if it requires JavaScript for basic functions, as "web apps" usually do. This makes it impossible for legacy systems to access a website at all, rather than being able to use some parts of a website.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important/ |title=Progressive enhancement is still important - JakeArchibald.com |date=2013-07-03 |access-date=2026-04-18 }}</ref>
*'''Lack of transparency''': To optimize network bandwidth, JS code is typically served in [[wikipedia:Minification_(programming)|minified]] form, which makes it harder to understand for humans. This is particularly problematic if the original source is not publicly [[wikipedia:Source-available_software|available]], which is typically the case of [[wikipedia:Proprietary_software|proprietary software]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gross |first=Carson |date=21 Sep 2023 |title=The #ViewSource Affordance |url=https://htmx.org/essays/right-click-view-source/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260228105626/https://htmx.org/essays/right-click-view-source/ |archive-date=28 Feb 2026 |access-date=24 Mar 2026 |website=</> htmx ~ Essays}}</ref>
*'''Excessive tracking''': JS is much more capable than HTML and [[CSS]] '''combined''' to track user behavior.<ref>https://clickclickclick.click/</ref> JS can communicate with almost any server (only limited by [[wikipedia:Cross-origin_resource_sharing|CORS]]) at any time (limited by connection availability), using a plethora of protocols. JS can get hardware information and compute a [[Device fingerprint|fingerprint of the device]], user, or both.<ref>https://privacycheck.sec.lrz.de/</ref><ref>https://abrahamjuliot.github.io/creepjs</ref><ref>https://www.deviceinfo.me/</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Learn how identifiable you are on the Internet |url=https://www.amiunique.org/ |url-status=live |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Am I Unique ?}}</ref>
*'''Market control''': JS is built into almost every web-browser and [[wikipedia:User_agent|user-agent]] (UA), including "light-weight" ones (such as [[wikipedia:W3m|w3m]]), incentivizing companies to use it for everything, since "there's no need to worry about compatibility or portability".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Everyone has JavaScript, right? |url=https://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/everyonehasjs |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260316024516/https://www.kryogenix.org/code/browser/everyonehasjs.html |archive-date=16 Mar 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Kryogenix Consulting}}</ref>
*'''Security risks''': It is well-known that JS is poorly-designed,<ref>https://github.com/denysdovhan/wtfjs</ref><ref>https://github.com/brianleroux/wtfjs</ref><ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/ideas/blob/aa9a80252a4b7c9c51f32eda5c716e96220ed96e/software/evar/with_bf.js</ref> even [[wikipedia:Ecma_International|tc39]] acknowledges that{{Citation needed}}. This leads to programmers and even experienced software-devs to accidentally add vulnerabilities to their code. That, and the fact that ES is [[wikipedia:Turing_completeness|Turing-complete]] (both [https://gavinhoward.com/2024/03/what-computers-cannot-do-the-consequences-of-turing-completeness/#mathematical-vs-practical in practice and in theory]), makes [[wikipedia:Debugging|debugging]] and [[wikipedia:Reverse_engineering|reverse-engineering]] impractical in big code-bases. It's worth noting that tooling, such as [[wikipedia:TypeScript|TypeScript]] and [[wikipedia:ESLint|ESLint]], exist to substantially minimize the likelihood of [[wikipedia:Software_bug|bugs]].

==How it works==
Whenever a user visits a webpage, an average web-browser will execute the JS code it finds in <code><script></code> [[wikipedia:HTML_element|tags]]. This code could do anything from updating part of the [[wikipedia:Document_Object_Model|DOM]]-tree only when the user requests it, to showing a [[wikipedia:Pop-up_ad|popup/popunder]].

When JS tries to access a "privacy-sensitive" API (such as the microphone) the browser pauses it until the user has granted access for the first time. This is typically done on a per-domain basis. However, as mentioned earlier, many other APIs don't need to ask permission before fetching data.

It's worth noting that JS has a privileged position, relative to [[wikipedia:WebAssembly|Wasm]], because of its first-class access to Web APIs.

==Why it is a problem==

===Tracking===
Many webpages (and even entire websites), force the user to keep JS enabled, otherwise they break or deliberately refuse to work. CSS stylesheets combined with HTML should be fine with most basic websites or webpages that do not need complex client side interaction.

The data collected by malicious JS makes it trivial to serve [[personalized ads]], even across unrelated sites. Some sites collect so much data that they are indistinguishable from [[spyware]] (see also [[wikipedia:Keystroke_logging|key-logging]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Kashmir |date=20 Jun 2017 |title=Before You Hit ‘Submit,’ This Company Has Already Logged Your Personal Data |url=https://gizmodo.com/before-you-hit-submit-this-company-has-already-logge-1795906081 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260220091637/https://gizmodo.com/before-you-hit-submit-this-company-has-already-logge-1795906081 |archive-date=20 Feb 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Gizmodo}}</ref>

===Security===
Browser-engine developers (such as [[Google]] and [[Mozilla]]) not only feel compelled, but are financially incentivized to optimize JS to its limits. This leads to complex code-bases that are harder to verify for correctness. Browser vendors mitigate this via [[wikipedia:Sandbox_(computer_security)|sandboxing]]. Unfortunately, since modern browsers compile JS to native CPU code (see [[wikipedia:Just-in-time_compilation|JIT]]) to improve performance, this introduces a higher risk of sandbox-escape.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Norman |first=Johnathan |date=4 Aug 2021 |title=Super Duper Secure Mode |url=https://microsoftedge.github.io/edgevr/posts/Super-Duper-Secure-Mode/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260218110912/https://microsoftedge.github.io/edgevr/posts/Super-Duper-Secure-Mode |archive-date=18 Feb 2026 |access-date=19 Mar 2026 |website=Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research}}</ref> Some examples of this are as follows:

*[[wikipedia:Cross-site_scripting|XSS]], which [[wikipedia:NoScript|NoScript]] tries to mitigate
*[[wikipedia:Arbitrary_code_execution|Arbitrary code execution]] and [[wikipedia:Code_injection|code injection]]. Typically caused by <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/eval eval]</code> (part of ES), but there are Web APIs (such as <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/setTimeout setTimeout]</code> and <code>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/setInterval setInterval]</code>) that can be misused as well.
*Remote code execution. This is used by hackers and crackers to build [[wikipedia:Botnet|bot-nets]] for [[wikipedia:Ddos#Distributed_DoS|DDoS]] or [[wikipedia:Cryptocurrency|crypto]]-mining, but it's mostly used for spyware since it can hide more easily.

===Performance===
{{See also|Bloatware}}
If the DOM-tree is dynamically generated by JS (such as [[wikipedia:Web_framework|frameworks]]), the user must wait longer before the browser can display content. This is because HTML+CSS can be parsed and rendered incrementally (immediately as the bytes arrive to the client), while JS must (typically) be completely parsed and then executed.

If the JS fails to load for any reason, the user is left with no content.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Luu |first=Dan |title=How web bloat impacts users with slow connections |url=https://danluu.com/web-bloat/ |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> If the page relies on JS to display content from the main document, the browser will waste bandwidth and time downloading data that won't be shown to the user; this is the case of sites with "splash screens" or "spinners" that use CSS to hide content until it's "ready to be seen" and then un-hidden by JS.<ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/uBO-rules/blob/b1086023e7db98dee55d425edc20722e641dd4b8/rx.abp#L71-L75</ref>

===Scraping===
{{Main|Artificial intelligence/training}}
Since the rise of big LLM's many brokers have started offering scraping services for companies that want more training data for their AI. And to that end, a lot of [[wikipedia:Headless_browser|headless browser]] agents have begun to scrape (collect a sites information provided) even with the site's <code>robots.txt</code> provided as a common standard to tell agents not to do so. This has lead to many forums and websites that had not used JS before to start implementing [[CAPTCHA|CAPTCHAS]] (or [[wikipedia:Anubis_(software)|Anubis]]), to prevent increased overhead and bandwidth costs.

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents related to this technology. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].

===Google Search requires JS (2025)===
In January 2025, Google's web-search engine mandates that user-agents must have JS enabled. Google's justification was that it's a defense mechanism against abusive bots (see also [[Deceptive language frequently used against consumers]]).<ref>https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/17/google-begins-requiring-javascript-for-google-search/</ref><ref>https://daringfireball.net/linked/2025/01/18/google-search-javascript</ref><ref>https://serpapi.com/blog/google-now-requires-javascript/</ref> However, some people claim that it's an invalid justification.<ref>https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/javascript-required/</ref>

==Proposals and alternatives==

*'''Extension''': turning JS into an [[wikipedia:Browser_extension|extension]] or [[wikipedia:Plug-in_(computing)|plug-in]], so that users can choose to install it, is a way to discourage abuse and incentivize static/passive pages. To do this, JS must be deprecated as a Web Standard, but not deprecated as language or API.
*'''Deprecation''': John Gruber says that JS should never have been added to browsers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=John |date=22 Jun 2017 |title=Gizmodo Investigation Exposes Websites Collecting Form Data Before You Hit 'Submit' |url=https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/22/navistone-form-data |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260319180650/https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/22/navistone-form-data |archive-date=19 Mar 2026 |access-date=20 Mar 2026 |website=Daring Fireball}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruber |first=John |date=27 Jun 2017 |title=Using Today's Web Without JavaScript |url=https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/27/web-without-javascript |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260319180612/https://daringfireball.net/linked/2017/06/27/web-without-javascript |archive-date=19 Mar 2026 |access-date=20 Mar 2026 |website=Daring Fireball}}</ref> The [[wikipedia:Gopher_(protocol)|Gopher]] and [[wikipedia:Gemini_(protocol)|Gemini]] projects advocate for a simpler web.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Project Gemini |url=https://geminiprotocol.net/ |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> If JS were to be completely removed from the web, this would allow users to navigate without worrying about invisible tracking.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2 Sep 2023 |title=Project Gemini FAQ § Why not just use a subset of HTTP and HTML? |url=https://geminiprotocol.net/docs/faq.gmi#79-why-not-just-use-a-subset-of-http-and-html |access-date=13 Apr 2026}}</ref> Even if not all JS was removed, this would allow tools like [[wikipedia:UBlock_Origin|uBO]] to adapt their filters for non-JS users.<ref>https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/a326c9db28c9f7eb6e30e6a737ca4aeae0d2ee39/post/js-abuse.md#to-do</ref>
*'''Feature-freeze''': There has been discussion about feature-freezing JS so that it becomes "JS0" (for lack of better name).<ref>https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ylROTu3N6MyHzNzWJXQAc7Bo1O0FHO3lNKfQMfPOA4o/</ref> The main purpose is to make it easier for browser implementers to keep browsers secure and stable.

==External links==

*[https://libredirect.github.io/faq.html LibRedirect explaining why it exists], and how [[Google Chrome]]'s MV3 limits it
*Google being anti-competitive towards [[Firefox]]: https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/discussions/3240
*[https://github.com/iam-py-test/my_filters_001/blob/fc5f61eff0b0d821cb426bea76b18937072bc390/no-js-warnings.txt Websites that nag users to enable JS, even when it provides negligible value]
*Discord being extremely bloated to the point of crashing when opening Developer-tools: https://github.com/Rudxain/uBO-rules/blob/42220bd4f80052ee15136dff7269df19529c43ec/rx.ubo#L3-L19. This is not the fault of bloated JS, it's likely a bloated DOM-tree, but discord only bloats the DOM when JS is enabled.
*[https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/enough-withthejavascriptalready/23262138 "Enough with the JavaScript already!"]
*[https://eev.ee/blog/2016/03/06/maybe-we-could-tone-down-the-javascript "Maybe we could tone down the JavaScript"]
*[https://www.kryogenix.org/code/dont-need-that-js "You really don't need all that JavaScript, I promise"]
*[https://jakearchibald.com/2013/progressive-enhancement-still-important "Progressive Enhancement Still Important"]
*https://gomakethings.com/why-progressive-enhancement-still-matters/
*https://www.viget.com/articles/the-case-against-progressive-enhancements-flimsy-moral-foundation
*[https://youtu.be/xE9W9Ghe4Jk "Shipping a button in 2026…"], by Kai Lentit. This illustrates the burnout and fatigue software developers can experience on a daily basis
*[https://grugbrain.dev/ HTMX developer advocating for less JS]
*[https://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm "Web Obesity Crisis"]
*[https://tonsky.me/blog/js-bloat JS bloat (2024)]
*[https://tonsky.me/blog/disenchantment How JS makes web apps more unstable]
*[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html GNU/FSF explaining why JS takes freedom away]
*[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/wwworst-app-store.html GNU/FSF explaining why "web apps" shouldn't exist]. '''WARNING''': contains overzealous claims! ([https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/main/post/re_twwwas.md according to Rudxain]). Related: [[wikipedia:Local-first_software|Local-first]]
*[https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/05/using-the-web-with-javascript-turned-off/ "I Used The Web For A Day With JavaScript Turned Off"]
*[https://tobyho.com/2010/03/11/how-much-of-the-web-actually/ "How Much of the Web Actually Work Without Javascript"]
*[https://github.com/Rudxain/blog/blob/main/post/js-abuse.md Blog-post with more sources]

==See also==

*[[Electron]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

YouTube

2026-04-12T22:15:06Z

JodyBruchonFan: template fix

{{ProductLineCargo
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Streaming, Video
|Company=Google
|Description=YouTube is a video-sharing platform founded in 2005.
|InProduction=Yes
|Logo=YouTube.png
|ReleaseYear=2005
|Website=https://youtube.com
}}

'''{{Wplink|YouTube}}''', founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, is a global video-sharing platform and one of the most visited websites in the world. Acquired by [[Google]] in 2006, YouTube has since become the dominant platform for sharing videos on the internet.

YouTube's business model is built around advertising revenue, with creators earning money through ad views, subscriptions, and other monetization options. The platform hosts a wide range of content, including music videos, tutorials, news, video logs ("vlogs"), and live streams. YouTube has also begun offering subscription services, such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, for ad-free experiences, exclusive content, and live television.

YouTube has faced criticism and regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts. Concerns have been raised about content moderation policies, the platform's role in the spread of misinformation, and its impact on user privacy, particularly in relation to data collection practices. Additionally, YouTube has been under fire for its algorithms, which some argue promote harmful or divisive content to maximize engagement.

==Consumer impact summary==
*'''User freedom:''' Questionable and highly contradictory due rampant bots, falsely accusing others of using their intellectual properties or “IP” for short (although it’s usually either others’ IPs, or it’s criticism, parodies, documentation, commentary, or other fair uses), and [[Elsagate]] suggest negligent moderation.
*'''User privacy:''' Poor; Since August 2025, accessing mature content without identification is a gamble. User data is also sold to advertisers and the site is owned by [[Google]].
*'''Business model:''' [[Advertising overload|Excessive advertising]], YouTube Premium, YouTube Premium Lite
*'''Market competition:''' Despite several platforms that follow its niche, such as Odysee, [[PeerTube]], and [[DailyMotion]], they provide no significant competition.

==Incidents==
===Elsagate===
{{Main|Elsagate}}

The first "Elsagate" incident arose sometime during the mid-2010s on YouTube, though it was not discovered and named until 2016. It has since been used as a catch-all term for content that appears child-friendly at first glance but, in actuality, contains suggestive or outright illicit material targeted at minors. This is accomplished by using major intellectual properties for children, such as the Elsa character from the 2013 [[Disney]] film ''{{Wplink|Frozen (2013 film)|Frozen}}'' and [[Minecraft]].

Although the problem is not unique to the YouTube platform, its dominance in the video sphere makes it an attractive target.

===Restricting users that don't share their personal information===
{{Main|YouTube age verification}}

On 30 July 2025, in response to the [[UK Online Safety Act]], YouTube announced a verification update that asks for either a government-issued ID, a photo, or credit card, otherwise they could not access content.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ingram |first=Michael |title=YouTube is Rolling Out A New Controversial Feature |url=https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |website=GameRant |date=30 Jul 2025 |access-date=14 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250730234131/https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |archive-date=30 Jul 2025}}</ref>

YouTube will estimate the age of a user from various sources, including the videos watched, and will ask for previously mentioned personal information when it believes that the user falls below 18.

===Advertising overload on YouTube===
{{Main|Advertising overload}}

Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=How YouTube Works |url=https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/ |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260101140008/https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/creator-economy/ |archive-date=1 Jan 2026}}</ref> This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Jordan |date=20 Jan 2024 |title=Why YouTube Has So Many Ads (and Why There Will Probably Be More) |url=https://www.33rdsquare.com/software-app/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/GjC82 |archive-date=24 Feb 2026 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |website=33rd Square}}</ref> such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads, longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |first=Aamir |title=Frustrated YouTube viewers seek explanation for hour-long unskippable ads (Updated: Clarification) |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128162022/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dirscherl |first=Hans-Christian |last2=Lee |first2=Joel |title=Hours-long unskippable ads spotted on YouTube. What’s going on? |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |website=PCWorld |date=28 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129183554/https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |archive-date=29 Jan 2025}}</ref> and most prevalent on YouTube TV<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adegbola |first=Anu
|title=YouTube tests longer CTV ad breaks |url=https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |website=Search Engine Land |date=16 Aug 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816143812/https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |archive-date=16 Aug 2024}}</ref>), increased ad frequency in videos,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Arol |title=YouTube is Adding Even More Ads |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |website=How-To-Geek |date=26 Apr 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426192258/https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |archive-date=26 Apr 2024}}</ref> and poorer quality ads.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |author=T3rr0r |title=BAD Mobile Game Ads |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |website=YouTube |date=17 Oct 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Knoblauch |first=Max |title=Why are mobile game ads so weird and bad? |url=https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |website=Sherwood News |date=14 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614151756/https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |archive-date=14 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=The DISGUSTING State of Mobile Game Ads (and why YouTube LOVES IT) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |website=YouTube |date=18 Sep 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref> Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEC |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=6 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260206072120/https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AED |archive-date=6 Feb 2026}}</ref>

Furthermore, even if a user pays for YouTube premium, they do not necessarily receive an ad-free experience<ref>{{Cite web |author=CaptainMystery_123 |title=I have YouTube premium, why am I getting adds. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=18 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525154227/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |archive-date=25 May 2025}}</ref> — they may still see ads within the video they watch, such as sponsored segments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Can you still see ads if you have YouTube Premium? Here's what Google has to say |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |website=Android Authority |date=10 May 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251211123241/https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |archive-date=11 Dec 2025}}</ref> YouTube has added a "skip" feature, but it has been reported that this does not work consistently.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Anurag |title=YouTube now lets you skip sponsored segments — but you’ll have to pay for it |url=https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |website=Dexerto |date=22 Aug 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822211151/https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2024}}</ref>

====Refusal to handle malicious ads====
A common phenomenon on YouTube's advertisements is content that is mature and/or malicious in nature.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Beyond The Internet |title=YouTube Ads are inappropriate... |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |website=YouTube |date=22 Feb 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |archive-date=23 Feb 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Explicit ads are plaguing YouTube, and it’s only getting worse
|url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127062033/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |archive-date=27 Jan 2025}}</ref> The content of these advertisements include pornography,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=YouTube's Ads Have Hit A New Low...(it's literally p*rn) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |website=YouTube |date=31 Mar 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |archive-date=2 Apr 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> false advertising,<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> scams,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Jakob_G |title=YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=12 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217150604/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |archive-date=17 Dec 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=JerryRigEverything |title=I CAUGHT THE YOUTUBE SCAMMER - $1000 dollars EVERY DAY?! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |website=YouTube |date=9 Mar 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=LoganAH |title=Why does YouTube run blatant scams as advertisements? |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=22 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713054442/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |archive-date=13 Jul 2025}}</ref> and far more. Rather than working towards clearing these ads, or acknowledging this advertising content that has been harming consumers on the platform, YouTube moderation has only cut the revenue for these videos that attempt to call out these ads,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Deep Humor |title=Watch This Before YouTube Deletes It. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |website=YouTube |date=24 Feb 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |archive-date=26 Feb 2025}}</ref> which has been known to make said videos be less-showcased.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |author=Sealow |title=Extensive evidence of algorithm censorship of demonetised videos |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |website=YouTube |date=29 Nov 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |author=Karlaplan |title=Monetisation analysis / research |url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/155yNpfR7dGKuN-4rbrvbJLcJkhGa_HqvVuyPK7UEfPo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.jou9rc5d49jl |website=[[Google]] |date=20 Nov 2017 |access-date=3 Apr 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://consumerrights.wiki/images/5/5c/Karlaplan_Monetisation_analysis_research.pdf |archive-date=11 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Demonetization and censorship===
Since at least 2016, YouTube has had an extensive record of censoring content that is demonetized.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Within understandable circumstances, legitimately malicious or offensive videos would be demonetized and should not be shown on the platform; however, how videos are considered to be demonetized has had a harmful impact upon both viewers and content creators. Transgender creators on YouTube, for example, have experienced unfair censorship via demonetization since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Disney |first=Malia |title=Trans YouTubers Say They Are Being Censored. Is It The Algorithm? |url=https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |website=Youth Radio Media
|date=4 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130035845/https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |archive-date=30 Jan 2023}}</ref> Content creators affected by this unfairly balanced moderation via algorithms<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cantz |first=Randy |title=Adpocalypse: How YouTube Demonetization Imperils the Future of Free Speech |url=https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |website=Berkeley Political Review |date=1 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424095310/https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |archive-date=24 Apr 2024}}</ref> have dubbed these events as "adpocalypses".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |title=YouTubers fear looming ‘adpocalypse’ after child exploitation controversy
|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |website=The Verge |date=20 Feb 2019 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220205927/https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |archive-date=20 Feb 2019}}</ref>

====Irresponsibly automated moderation====
When YouTube integrated the ability to take down videos via the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] (DMCA), they decided to often handle take-down requests in an automated manner.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Jines |first=Chuck |title=ABUSE – How DMCA automated takedown notices violate free speech |url=https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |website=Chuck Jines |date=4 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250303201747/https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |archive-date=3 Mar 2025}}</ref> This automation has led to an excess in fraudulent DMCA take-downs of content,<ref>{{Cite web |author=itanshi |title=I'd like to talk about the problem with anonymous DMCA take down notices. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Mar 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606184354/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |archive-date=6 Jun 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=The Last Civil Rights Lawyer |title=“Lackluster” Gets a Fraudulent Copyright Strike for Dashcam Footage and Now We Sue |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |website=YouTube |date=21 Jul 2021 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |archive-date=2 Feb 2026}}</ref> even going so far as to have [[Bungie]] call out YouTube in a legal case for their negligence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodkin
|first=John |title=Bungie slams YouTube’s DMCA system in lawsuit against ''Destiny'' takedown fraudsters |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |website=Ars Technica |date=28 Mar 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329203809/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |archive-date=29 Mar 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maxwell |first=Andy |title=Digital Trails: How Bungie Identified a Mass Sender of Fake DMCA Notices |url=https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |website=TorrentFreak |date=24 Jun 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624070824/https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |archive-date=24 Jun 2022}}</ref> These take-down requests have ranged from users impersonating corporations, to users impersonating other users.<ref name=":3" />

===Crackdown against ad-blockers===

The prevalence of advertising on the platform, coupled with the repeated appearance of harmful and deceptive ads within YouTube's advertising system, led a significant number of users to employ ad-blocking tools to facilitate their viewing experience.

In response, Google initiated technical countermeasures to limit the functionality of these tools. This has resulted in an ongoing cycle where ad-blocker developers adapt to new restrictions, and the platform subsequently implements further detection methods. A key strategy in this effort involves the implementation of advanced code integrity checks designed to ensure ad content is delivered to viewers.

However, these measures typically exhibit limited efficacy before ad-blocking tools develop new methods of circumvention,<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Flaherty |first=Kate |title=YouTube’s Ad Blocker Ban Just Got Even Bigger |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |url-access=subscription |website=Forbes |date=20 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620123932/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |archive-date=20 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harding |first=Scharon |title=YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown escalates, aggravating users |url=https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |website=Ars Technica |date=1 Nov 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101170643/https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |archive-date=1 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube blocks adblockers; will this be their downfall? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |website=YouTube |date=12 Oct 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |archive-date=13 Oct 2023}}</ref> a dynamic that some analysts suggest exemplifies the {{Wplink|Streisand effect}}.<ref>{{Cite web |author=phub |title=Brave no longer blocking youtube ads as of March 27, 2024 |url=https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |website=Brave |date=27 Mar 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240801101510/https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |archive-date=1 Aug 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube's adblock war is backfiring in the worst way possible 🤣 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |website=YouTube |date=5 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |archive-date=5 Nov 2023}}</ref>

Additional strategies have involved the integration of advertisements directly into video streams. This approach has impaired the functionality of certain browser extensions, including SponsorBlock, a community-driven tool designed to skip sponsored segments within videos. The extension relies on user-submitted timestamps to identify these segments; its effectiveness is significantly reduced when personalized advertisements, which vary in duration and placement for each viewer, are embedded into the stream itself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis
|title=Youtube is dedicated to making this website worse; destroys sponsorblock with ad injection changes |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |website=YouTube |date=18 Jun 2024
|access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |archive-date=28 Jul 2024}}</ref>

Google has publicly acknowledged implementing code that degrades the user experience for individuals using ad blockers. This includes introducing artificial latency, which has been documented to slow page load times, a measure that also affected users of the Firefox browser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Youtube confirms intentional slowdown of adblock users 🤦‍♂️ |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |website=YouTube |date=23 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |archive-date=23 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Is Youtube making firefox load slow on purpose? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |website=YouTube |date=21 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |archive-date=21 Nov 2023}}</ref>

===Offline video DRM===
The YouTube Mobile application permits users with a YouTube Premium subscription to download videos for offline viewing. However, the downloaded content is protected by [[Digital rights management|Digital Rights Management]] (DRM) that requires the application to establish an online connection with YouTube's servers at least once every 48 hours to maintain playback functionality. This requirement is not prominently featured on the primary YouTube Premium marketing page and is detailed instead within the platform's support documentation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author= |date= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251111004845/https://www.youtube.com/premium |archive-date=11 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Watch videos offline on mobile in selected countries and regions |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |website=[[Google]] |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250719175650/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |archive-date=19 Jul 2025}}</ref>

Saved videos are forcibly deleted after 29 days. [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|Data lock-in and proprietary encoding]] prevents the user from making permanent copies of videos, even those licensed under Creative Commons.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santos |first=Noel |title=Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files |url=https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |website=Virtual Curiosities |date=7 Dec 2024 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |archive-date=26 Nov 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Mental Outlaw |title=Google is Locking Down Android |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |website=YouTube |date=28 Aug 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |archive-date=29 Aug 2025}}</ref>

===Universal DRM testing and violation of Creative Commons licenses===
YouTube on TV is an {{Wplink|HTML5}} web interface from Google to allow supported devices — such as game consoles which do not have a native YouTube app — to view content via YouTube. An {{Wplink|A/B testing|A/B experiment}} has begun which protects all video and audio content regardless of bit-rate or format via the YouTube on TV platform with DRM.<ref>{{Cite web |author=coletdjnz |title=[YouTube] DRM on ALL videos with tv (TVHTML5) client #12563 |url=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |website=GitHub |date=8 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250330031529/https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |archive-date=30 Mar 2025}}</ref> A number of content creators license their work uploaded to YouTube via the {{Wplink|Creative Commons}} licenses. The universal implementation of DRM to restrict a user's ability to exercise their rights granted by the license is a violation of the aforementioned licenses.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=License Versions |url=https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |website=Creative Commons |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101062938/https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |archive-date=1 Jan 2025}}</ref>

===Pay-walling standard browser features===
Another premium feature of the YouTube mobile app is the ability to play videos in the background.<ref name=":0" /> Without a premium subscription, neither the app nor a web browser will play YouTube videos in the background. However, the default HTML5 video player supports this with no extra effort needed from the developer.

On 7 February 2026, it was reported that YouTube Music was testing a feature that would paywall song lyrics, which were previously a free feature since 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardwick |first=Tim |title=YouTube Music lyrics now require a Premium subscription |url=https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |website=9TO5Google |date=7 Feb 2026 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260208225137/https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |archive-date=8 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Removal of the dislike count on videos===
On 10 November 2021, YouTube removed the public dislike count from all of its videos. Creators are still be able to view dislike counts on their videos through the YouTube Studio website and app.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |author= |title=An update to dislikes on YouTube |url=https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |website=YouTube Official Blog |date=10 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110173333/https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |archive-date=10 Nov 2021}}</ref>

According to YouTube, this was implemented after user testing revealed that users were less likely to feel incentivized to actively try and manipulate the dislike count on videos if the dislike count was not visible to them.<ref name=":2" /> This spurred the creation of "Return YouTube Dislike" by Dmitry Selivanov, a third-party web browser extension to expose the dislike count again. YouTube discontinued the related {{Wplink|API}}, upon which the extension relied, on 13 December 2021. From thereon "Return YouTube Dislike" switched "to using a combination of archived dislike stats, estimates extrapolated from extension user data and estimates based on view/like ratios for videos whose dislikes weren't archived and for outdated dislike archives."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Can |first=Michael |title=Browser Extension Brings Back Dislike Count to YouTube Videos |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos
|website=PC Mag |date=29 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130001311/https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos |archive-date=30 Nov 2021}}</ref>

=== Removal of chronological searching ===
In January 2026, YouTube removed the ability to search videos by the most recently uploaded, as well as the "last hour" search filter. The "last day" search filter is the narrowest remaining time filter.

A Google employee stated that this change is intended to "improve content discovery" and that they are "simplifying and reorganizing the filter menu to make it more intuitive and improve the overall search experience".<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/400586735/changes-to-youtube-search-filters-to-improve-content-discovery?hl=en Changes to YouTube Search Filters to Improve Content Discovery - YouTube Community]</ref> However, it was noted that this makes it more difficult to discover eyewitness stories that are alternative to mainstream outlets, and makes it harder for watchers to discover channels with low subscriber counts.<ref>[https://piunikaweb.com/2026/01/06/youtube-upload-date-filter-removal-test-web/ YouTube may be testing removal of Upload date filter from search on web]</ref>
<ref>[https://www.recentreborn.com/blog/why-did-youtube-remove-the-last-hour-filter Why did YouTube remove the "last hour" filter? — RecentReborn]</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1q8szsr/youtube_removes_the_sort_by_upload_date_option/ Youtube removes the "Sort by Upload Date" option pretending it didn't work, the reality? They want absolute control of the information you are allowed to get from the site : youtube] - Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1qjgsln/youtube_removed_the_ability_to_sort_by_upload/ Youtube removed the ability to sort by upload date as of today. : youtube] - Reddit</ref>

===Anti-features and dark patterns to trick the user into staying longer===
YouTube's algorithm was engineered to make the user watch more videos than they intended, to earn more ad revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicas |first=Jack |title=How YouTube Drives People to the Internet’s Darkest Corners |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |url-access=subscription |website=The Wall Street Journal. |date=7 Feb 2018 |access-date=29 Jan 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208091112/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |archive-date=8 Dec 2018 |quote=YouTube engineered its algorithm several years ago to make the site “sticky”—to recommend videos that keep users staying to watch still more, said current and former YouTube engineers who helped build it. The site earns money selling ads that run before and during videos.}}</ref> This is on top of a feature called Autoplay, which queues another video (chosen by Youtube's algorithm) and plays that automatically after a short delay so you keep watching more. Through this mechanism, children will especially have their attention extracted for several hours.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |author= |title=James Bridle: What Do Kids' Videos on YouTube Reveal About the Internet's Dark Side? |others=NPR/TED Staff |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |website=NPR |date=2 Nov 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620234159/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |archive-date=20 Jun 2025 |quote="And also, on the other side of the screen, there still are these little kids watching this stuff - right? - their full attention grabbed by these weird mechanisms. And so there's autoplay, where it just keeps playing these videos over and over and over on a loop, endlessly, for hours and hours at a time. And there's so much weirdness in the system now that autoplay takes you to some pretty strange places. This is how within, like, a dozen steps, you can go from a cute video of a counting train to masturbating Mickey Mouse."}}</ref>

By default, this feature is enabled.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Autoplay videos - YouTube Help |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |website=[[Google]] |date=4 Apr 2025 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401080124/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |archive-date=1 Apr 2025}}</ref>

===Crackdown against third-party front-ends===

Since the beginning of 2025, users have been reporting issues with third-party front-ends accessing the platform.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Fijxu |title=Youtube changed something, again! |url=https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |website=nadeko |date=16 Feb 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250816014757/https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref> For FreeTube, there has been a heightened amount of people receiving {{Wplink|HTTP 403|403 errors}} associated with IP blocks when attempting to view videos via this front-end.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Gevaarlijk |title=[Bug]: [BAD_HTTP_STATUS: 403] Potential causes: IP block or streaming URL deciphering failed #6701 |url=https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |website=GitHub |date=31 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260105144421/https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |archive-date=5 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===AI filtering without consent===
YouTube is testing an experiment on Shorts content that enhances a video's detail without the creator's consent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reisner |first=Alex |title=YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’
|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |website=The Atlantic |date=22 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250822194955/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2025}}</ref> The resulting output tends to look plastic. This change has been observed as early as 27 June 2025<ref>{{Cite web |author=Ulincsys |title=YouTube Shorts are almost certainly being AI upscaled |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250827144146/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |archive-date=27 Aug 2025}}</ref> and affects creators who especially intend the video to be viewed in a certain way, such as the "{{Wplink|VHS}} look".<ref>{{Cite web |author=dolanbriese |title=YouTube Shorts are becoming AI upscaled without consent from creators |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=21 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251003103832/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |archive-date=3 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rhett Shull, in his video, opines such a change "will inevitably erode viewers trust in my content [...] or any of the other creators on this platform that we all watch and we all follow" due to implications that the creator may be using AI, and "also erodes my trust in the platform."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shull |first=Rhett |title=YouTube Is Using AI to Alter Content (and not telling us) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |website=YouTube |date=14 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>

Artist Sam Yang uploaded a video on 30 August 2025, following up on the issue using his own work for comparison, testing the claims that this is merely compression scaling, adding an artist's eye and commentary to the issue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yang |first=Sam |title=Youtube is Using AI on Your Shorts Without Consent.. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |website=YouTube |date=30 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref>

Users also complained about a dangerous flickering that happens under some videos. Some forwarded this issue to YouTube scientist Anton Petrov, to which he replicated the issue and showed it under a video uploaded 25 October 2025, noting it happens on one of his devices, more specifically a mobile phone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrov |first=Anton |title=YouTube AI Filter Is Making My Videos Dangerous To Watch |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |website=YouTube |date=25 Oct 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |archive-date=26 Oct 2025}}</ref>

===Wave of channel terminations (''2025'')===
In November 2025, multiple YouTube channels, including Enderman, Scratchit Gaming, and 4096 were reportedly terminated in a massive ban wave under false reasons, such as association with a Japanese-language channel "椛のスターレイル遊び" which translates roughly as "Momiji plays Honkai: Star Rail Adventures," a reference to a Japanese role-playing game. Some have blamed the ban wave on the malfunctions of YouTube's AI-powered moderation system.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Binder |first=Matt |title=Big YouTube channels are being banned. YouTubers are blaming AI. |url=https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |website=Mashable |date=4 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260221125020/https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |archive-date=21 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===API restrictions===
In June 2023, YouTube forced Matt Wright, maintainer of the YouTube Metadata tool, to remove the exporting feature which let people export YouTube metadata such as video descriptions into a file. This did not include the videos themselves. It can be assumed that this is the "tip of an iceberg" and YouTube made many such requests without them being publicly documented.<ref>[https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Export Feature? · mattwright324/youtube-metadata · Discussion #150 · GitHub] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251214094758/https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Archived])</ref>

===Prevention of offline video preservation (downloading)===
Creating permanent local copies of videos is strongly discouraged by YouTube.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Vsauce Answers the 100 Most Googled Questions | WIRED] (at 7:20 and 8:57) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Archived]).</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com:443/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E How To Legally Download YouTube Videos] - Tim Schmoyer - Video Creators TV (clickbait - it is an advertisement for "YouTube Red", the earlier name of "YouTube Premium", and only shows the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Studio that lets channel owners download only their own uploaded videos) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E Archived]).</ref> YouTube is taking measures to prevent people from backing up videos locally. From a YouTube help center article:

<blockquote>
In order to protect the YouTube community, we may prevent signed-out users from accessing YouTube videos when they're attempting to download material for offline use.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Troubleshoot YouTube video errors - YouTube Help] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260323195048/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Archived])</ref>

It is not specified what preventing offline use is intended to protect against.

YouTube also regularly purges tutorial videos that show how to create local copies of videos.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120813001114/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqFiUrhTc How To Download Convert YouTube Videos 2 Anything] - ifxman (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLLOij1GSQ How to download youtube videos without any software] - Ritace40 (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121003225255/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xf6uukCHmk Download Youtube Videos Free -- No Software!] - MKBHD (later removed by YouTube)</ref>

Instead, YouTube wants its users to pay monthly for its subscription service, YouTube Premium, to have any form of offline access to videos. YouTube Premium comes with a "download" feature, however, it is useless for long-term archival of videos given that it only lets users store temporary local copies of YouTube videos that are forcibly deleted after 29 days. In addition, to thwart any permanent preservation, the videos are stored with [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|data lock-in]] and proprietary encoding in a format only recognized by the YouTube app, to prevent local copying.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref name="VirtualCuriosities">[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ YouTube downloads not working - Megathread] - /r/cobalt_tools - Reddit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260322015608/https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ Archived]).</ref>

While YouTube can advertise its Premium service as technically allowing "downloading", the deceptive marketing comes from exploiting the fact that the user expects so-called "downloading" to result in a file stored in the web browser's Download folder, accessible from other software, instead of the [[data lock-in]] that YouTube Premium actually has. The 29-day storage limit coupled with data lock-in render the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Premium useless for any long-term archival.<ref name="VirtualCuriosities" />

Downloading local copies of YouTube videos through "unofficial" and "unapproved" means is the only recourse against the loss of Internet history caused by videos being unpublished by channel owners or YouTube, and against a future shutdown of YouTube. As of 2026, there is no certainty that YouTube will be operating by the year 2050, for instance.

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- Karl Voit<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

Videos can disappear from YouTube for a variety of reasons. In fact, less than half of the videos that were publicly available on YouTube as of 2010 were still available as of 2021, according to a long-time study from a sample of 105 million videos.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://datahorde.org/youtube-was-made-for-reuploads/ |title=YouTube was made for Reuploads – Data Horde |date=28 July 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=12 April 2026 }}</ref> Sometimes, channel owners decide to "move on" and delete (or otherwise unpublish) their entire history of uploads. Sometimes, videos contain something Google doesn't like and they take them down, one example being "Android is losing a big feature" by comedian Sam Tucker (SAMTIME).<ref>[https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME, Archived from the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube] - video removed for unspecified violations.</ref>

Sometimes, YouTube's community guidelines grow stricter, retroactively outruling existing content, and entire channels are taken down due to strikes on only a few videos, resulting in the collateral loss of all other videos, one famous example being Mumkey Jones.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8-ETSDgcs Mumkey Jones: YouTube's Most Wanted] - j aubrey ([https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Te8-ETSDgcs Archived])</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:YouTube]]

YouTube

2026-04-12T22:13:45Z

JodyBruchonFan: using cite web

{{ProductLineCargo
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Streaming, Video
|Company=Google
|Description=YouTube is a video-sharing platform founded in 2005.
|InProduction=Yes
|Logo=YouTube.png
|ReleaseYear=2005
|Website=https://youtube.com
}}

'''{{Wplink|YouTube}}''', founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, is a global video-sharing platform and one of the most visited websites in the world. Acquired by [[Google]] in 2006, YouTube has since become the dominant platform for sharing videos on the internet.

YouTube's business model is built around advertising revenue, with creators earning money through ad views, subscriptions, and other monetization options. The platform hosts a wide range of content, including music videos, tutorials, news, video logs ("vlogs"), and live streams. YouTube has also begun offering subscription services, such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, for ad-free experiences, exclusive content, and live television.

YouTube has faced criticism and regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts. Concerns have been raised about content moderation policies, the platform's role in the spread of misinformation, and its impact on user privacy, particularly in relation to data collection practices. Additionally, YouTube has been under fire for its algorithms, which some argue promote harmful or divisive content to maximize engagement.

==Consumer impact summary==
*'''User freedom:''' Questionable and highly contradictory due rampant bots, falsely accusing others of using their intellectual properties or “IP” for short (although it’s usually either others’ IPs, or it’s criticism, parodies, documentation, commentary, or other fair uses), and [[Elsagate]] suggest negligent moderation.
*'''User privacy:''' Poor; Since August 2025, accessing mature content without identification is a gamble. User data is also sold to advertisers and the site is owned by [[Google]].
*'''Business model:''' [[Advertising overload|Excessive advertising]], YouTube Premium, YouTube Premium Lite
*'''Market competition:''' Despite several platforms that follow its niche, such as Odysee, [[PeerTube]], and [[DailyMotion]], they provide no significant competition.

==Incidents==
===Elsagate===
{{Main|Elsagate}}

The first "Elsagate" incident arose sometime during the mid-2010s on YouTube, though it was not discovered and named until 2016. It has since been used as a catch-all term for content that appears child-friendly at first glance but, in actuality, contains suggestive or outright illicit material targeted at minors. This is accomplished by using major intellectual properties for children, such as the Elsa character from the 2013 [[Disney]] film ''{{Wplink|Frozen (2013 film)|Frozen}}'' and [[Minecraft]].

Although the problem is not unique to the YouTube platform, its dominance in the video sphere makes it an attractive target.

===Restricting users that don't share their personal information===
{{Main|YouTube age verification}}

On 30 July 2025, in response to the [[UK Online Safety Act]], YouTube announced a verification update that asks for either a government-issued ID, a photo, or credit card, otherwise they could not access content.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ingram |first=Michael |title=YouTube is Rolling Out A New Controversial Feature |url=https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |website=GameRant |date=30 Jul 2025 |access-date=14 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250730234131/https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |archive-date=30 Jul 2025}}</ref>

YouTube will estimate the age of a user from various sources, including the videos watched, and will ask for previously mentioned personal information when it believes that the user falls below 18.

===Advertising overload on YouTube===
{{Main|Advertising overload}}

Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=How YouTube Works |url=https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/ |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260101140008/https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/creator-economy/ |archive-date=1 Jan 2026}}</ref> This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Jordan |date=20 Jan 2024 |title=Why YouTube Has So Many Ads (and Why There Will Probably Be More) |url=https://www.33rdsquare.com/software-app/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/GjC82 |archive-date=24 Feb 2026 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |website=33rd Square}}</ref> such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads, longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |first=Aamir |title=Frustrated YouTube viewers seek explanation for hour-long unskippable ads (Updated: Clarification) |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128162022/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dirscherl |first=Hans-Christian |last2=Lee |first2=Joel |title=Hours-long unskippable ads spotted on YouTube. What’s going on? |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |website=PCWorld |date=28 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129183554/https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |archive-date=29 Jan 2025}}</ref> and most prevalent on YouTube TV<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adegbola |first=Anu
|title=YouTube tests longer CTV ad breaks |url=https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |website=Search Engine Land |date=16 Aug 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816143812/https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |archive-date=16 Aug 2024}}</ref>), increased ad frequency in videos,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Arol |title=YouTube is Adding Even More Ads |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |website=How-To-Geek |date=26 Apr 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426192258/https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |archive-date=26 Apr 2024}}</ref> and poorer quality ads.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |author=T3rr0r |title=BAD Mobile Game Ads |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |website=YouTube |date=17 Oct 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Knoblauch |first=Max |title=Why are mobile game ads so weird and bad? |url=https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |website=Sherwood News |date=14 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614151756/https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |archive-date=14 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=The DISGUSTING State of Mobile Game Ads (and why YouTube LOVES IT) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |website=YouTube |date=18 Sep 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref> Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEC |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=6 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260206072120/https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AED |archive-date=6 Feb 2026}}</ref>

Furthermore, even if a user pays for YouTube premium, they do not necessarily receive an ad-free experience<ref>{{Cite web |author=CaptainMystery_123 |title=I have YouTube premium, why am I getting adds. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=18 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525154227/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |archive-date=25 May 2025}}</ref> — they may still see ads within the video they watch, such as sponsored segments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Can you still see ads if you have YouTube Premium? Here's what Google has to say |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |website=Android Authority |date=10 May 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251211123241/https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |archive-date=11 Dec 2025}}</ref> YouTube has added a "skip" feature, but it has been reported that this does not work consistently.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Anurag |title=YouTube now lets you skip sponsored segments — but you’ll have to pay for it |url=https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |website=Dexerto |date=22 Aug 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822211151/https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2024}}</ref>

====Refusal to handle malicious ads====
A common phenomenon on YouTube's advertisements is content that is mature and/or malicious in nature.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Beyond The Internet |title=YouTube Ads are inappropriate... |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |website=YouTube |date=22 Feb 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |archive-date=23 Feb 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Explicit ads are plaguing YouTube, and it’s only getting worse
|url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127062033/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |archive-date=27 Jan 2025}}</ref> The content of these advertisements include pornography,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=YouTube's Ads Have Hit A New Low...(it's literally p*rn) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |website=YouTube |date=31 Mar 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |archive-date=2 Apr 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> false advertising,<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> scams,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Jakob_G |title=YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=12 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217150604/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |archive-date=17 Dec 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=JerryRigEverything |title=I CAUGHT THE YOUTUBE SCAMMER - $1000 dollars EVERY DAY?! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |website=YouTube |date=9 Mar 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=LoganAH |title=Why does YouTube run blatant scams as advertisements? |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=22 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713054442/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |archive-date=13 Jul 2025}}</ref> and far more. Rather than working towards clearing these ads, or acknowledging this advertising content that has been harming consumers on the platform, YouTube moderation has only cut the revenue for these videos that attempt to call out these ads,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Deep Humor |title=Watch This Before YouTube Deletes It. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |website=YouTube |date=24 Feb 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |archive-date=26 Feb 2025}}</ref> which has been known to make said videos be less-showcased.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |author=Sealow |title=Extensive evidence of algorithm censorship of demonetised videos |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |website=YouTube |date=29 Nov 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |author=Karlaplan |title=Monetisation analysis / research |url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/155yNpfR7dGKuN-4rbrvbJLcJkhGa_HqvVuyPK7UEfPo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.jou9rc5d49jl |website=[[Google]] |date=20 Nov 2017 |access-date=3 Apr 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://consumerrights.wiki/images/5/5c/Karlaplan_Monetisation_analysis_research.pdf |archive-date=11 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Demonetization and censorship===
Since at least 2016, YouTube has had an extensive record of censoring content that is demonetized.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Within understandable circumstances, legitimately malicious or offensive videos would be demonetized and should not be shown on the platform; however, how videos are considered to be demonetized has had a harmful impact upon both viewers and content creators. Transgender creators on YouTube, for example, have experienced unfair censorship via demonetization since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Disney |first=Malia |title=Trans YouTubers Say They Are Being Censored. Is It The Algorithm? |url=https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |website=Youth Radio Media
|date=4 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130035845/https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |archive-date=30 Jan 2023}}</ref> Content creators affected by this unfairly balanced moderation via algorithms<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cantz |first=Randy |title=Adpocalypse: How YouTube Demonetization Imperils the Future of Free Speech |url=https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |website=Berkeley Political Review |date=1 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424095310/https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |archive-date=24 Apr 2024}}</ref> have dubbed these events as "adpocalypses".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |title=YouTubers fear looming ‘adpocalypse’ after child exploitation controversy
|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |website=The Verge |date=20 Feb 2019 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220205927/https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |archive-date=20 Feb 2019}}</ref>

====Irresponsibly automated moderation====
When YouTube integrated the ability to take down videos via the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] (DMCA), they decided to often handle take-down requests in an automated manner.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Jines |first=Chuck |title=ABUSE – How DMCA automated takedown notices violate free speech |url=https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |website=Chuck Jines |date=4 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250303201747/https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |archive-date=3 Mar 2025}}</ref> This automation has led to an excess in fraudulent DMCA take-downs of content,<ref>{{Cite web |author=itanshi |title=I'd like to talk about the problem with anonymous DMCA take down notices. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Mar 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606184354/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |archive-date=6 Jun 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=The Last Civil Rights Lawyer |title=“Lackluster” Gets a Fraudulent Copyright Strike for Dashcam Footage and Now We Sue |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |website=YouTube |date=21 Jul 2021 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |archive-date=2 Feb 2026}}</ref> even going so far as to have [[Bungie]] call out YouTube in a legal case for their negligence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodkin
|first=John |title=Bungie slams YouTube’s DMCA system in lawsuit against ''Destiny'' takedown fraudsters |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |website=Ars Technica |date=28 Mar 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329203809/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |archive-date=29 Mar 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maxwell |first=Andy |title=Digital Trails: How Bungie Identified a Mass Sender of Fake DMCA Notices |url=https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |website=TorrentFreak |date=24 Jun 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624070824/https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |archive-date=24 Jun 2022}}</ref> These take-down requests have ranged from users impersonating corporations, to users impersonating other users.<ref name=":3" />

===Crackdown against ad-blockers===

The prevalence of advertising on the platform, coupled with the repeated appearance of harmful and deceptive ads within YouTube's advertising system, led a significant number of users to employ ad-blocking tools to facilitate their viewing experience.

In response, Google initiated technical countermeasures to limit the functionality of these tools. This has resulted in an ongoing cycle where ad-blocker developers adapt to new restrictions, and the platform subsequently implements further detection methods. A key strategy in this effort involves the implementation of advanced code integrity checks designed to ensure ad content is delivered to viewers.

However, these measures typically exhibit limited efficacy before ad-blocking tools develop new methods of circumvention,<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Flaherty |first=Kate |title=YouTube’s Ad Blocker Ban Just Got Even Bigger |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |url-access=subscription |website=Forbes |date=20 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620123932/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |archive-date=20 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harding |first=Scharon |title=YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown escalates, aggravating users |url=https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |website=Ars Technica |date=1 Nov 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101170643/https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |archive-date=1 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube blocks adblockers; will this be their downfall? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |website=YouTube |date=12 Oct 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |archive-date=13 Oct 2023}}</ref> a dynamic that some analysts suggest exemplifies the {{Wplink|Streisand effect}}.<ref>{{Cite web |author=phub |title=Brave no longer blocking youtube ads as of March 27, 2024 |url=https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |website=Brave |date=27 Mar 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240801101510/https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |archive-date=1 Aug 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube's adblock war is backfiring in the worst way possible 🤣 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |website=YouTube |date=5 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |archive-date=5 Nov 2023}}</ref>

Additional strategies have involved the integration of advertisements directly into video streams. This approach has impaired the functionality of certain browser extensions, including SponsorBlock, a community-driven tool designed to skip sponsored segments within videos. The extension relies on user-submitted timestamps to identify these segments; its effectiveness is significantly reduced when personalized advertisements, which vary in duration and placement for each viewer, are embedded into the stream itself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis
|title=Youtube is dedicated to making this website worse; destroys sponsorblock with ad injection changes |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |website=YouTube |date=18 Jun 2024
|access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |archive-date=28 Jul 2024}}</ref>

Google has publicly acknowledged implementing code that degrades the user experience for individuals using ad blockers. This includes introducing artificial latency, which has been documented to slow page load times, a measure that also affected users of the Firefox browser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Youtube confirms intentional slowdown of adblock users 🤦‍♂️ |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |website=YouTube |date=23 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |archive-date=23 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Is Youtube making firefox load slow on purpose? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |website=YouTube |date=21 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |archive-date=21 Nov 2023}}</ref>

===Offline video DRM===
The YouTube Mobile application permits users with a YouTube Premium subscription to download videos for offline viewing. However, the downloaded content is protected by [[Digital rights management|Digital Rights Management]] (DRM) that requires the application to establish an online connection with YouTube's servers at least once every 48 hours to maintain playback functionality. This requirement is not prominently featured on the primary YouTube Premium marketing page and is detailed instead within the platform's support documentation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author= |date= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251111004845/https://www.youtube.com/premium |archive-date=11 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Watch videos offline on mobile in selected countries and regions |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |website=[[Google]] |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250719175650/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |archive-date=19 Jul 2025}}</ref>

Saved videos are forcibly deleted after 29 days. [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|Data lock-in and proprietary encoding]] prevents the user from making permanent copies of videos, even those licensed under Creative Commons.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santos |first=Noel |title=Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files |url=https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |website=Virtual Curiosities |date=7 Dec 2024 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |archive-date=26 Nov 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Mental Outlaw |title=Google is Locking Down Android |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |website=YouTube |date=28 Aug 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |archive-date=29 Aug 2025}}</ref>

===Universal DRM testing and violation of Creative Commons licenses===
YouTube on TV is an {{Wplink|HTML5}} web interface from Google to allow supported devices — such as game consoles which do not have a native YouTube app — to view content via YouTube. An {{Wplink|A/B testing|A/B experiment}} has begun which protects all video and audio content regardless of bit-rate or format via the YouTube on TV platform with DRM.<ref>{{Cite web |author=coletdjnz |title=[YouTube] DRM on ALL videos with tv (TVHTML5) client #12563 |url=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |website=GitHub |date=8 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250330031529/https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |archive-date=30 Mar 2025}}</ref> A number of content creators license their work uploaded to YouTube via the {{Wplink|Creative Commons}} licenses. The universal implementation of DRM to restrict a user's ability to exercise their rights granted by the license is a violation of the aforementioned licenses.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=License Versions |url=https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |website=Creative Commons |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101062938/https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |archive-date=1 Jan 2025}}</ref>

===Pay-walling standard browser features===
Another premium feature of the YouTube mobile app is the ability to play videos in the background.<ref name=":0" /> Without a premium subscription, neither the app nor a web browser will play YouTube videos in the background. However, the default HTML5 video player supports this with no extra effort needed from the developer.

On 7 February 2026, it was reported that YouTube Music was testing a feature that would paywall song lyrics, which were previously a free feature since 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardwick |first=Tim |title=YouTube Music lyrics now require a Premium subscription |url=https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |website=9TO5Google |date=7 Feb 2026 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260208225137/https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |archive-date=8 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Removal of the dislike count on videos===
On 10 November 2021, YouTube removed the public dislike count from all of its videos. Creators are still be able to view dislike counts on their videos through the YouTube Studio website and app.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |author= |title=An update to dislikes on YouTube |url=https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |website=YouTube Official Blog |date=10 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110173333/https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |archive-date=10 Nov 2021}}</ref>

According to YouTube, this was implemented after user testing revealed that users were less likely to feel incentivized to actively try and manipulate the dislike count on videos if the dislike count was not visible to them.<ref name=":2" /> This spurred the creation of "Return YouTube Dislike" by Dmitry Selivanov, a third-party web browser extension to expose the dislike count again. YouTube discontinued the related {{Wplink|API}}, upon which the extension relied, on 13 December 2021. From thereon "Return YouTube Dislike" switched "to using a combination of archived dislike stats, estimates extrapolated from extension user data and estimates based on view/like ratios for videos whose dislikes weren't archived and for outdated dislike archives."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Can |first=Michael |title=Browser Extension Brings Back Dislike Count to YouTube Videos |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos
|website=PC Mag |date=29 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130001311/https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos |archive-date=30 Nov 2021}}</ref>

=== Removal of chronological searching ===
In January 2026, YouTube removed the ability to search videos by the most recently uploaded, as well as the "last hour" search filter. The "last day" search filter is the narrowest remaining time filter.

A Google employee stated that this change is intended to "improve content discovery" and that they are "simplifying and reorganizing the filter menu to make it more intuitive and improve the overall search experience".<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/400586735/changes-to-youtube-search-filters-to-improve-content-discovery?hl=en Changes to YouTube Search Filters to Improve Content Discovery - YouTube Community]</ref> However, it was noted that this makes it more difficult to discover eyewitness stories that are alternative to mainstream outlets, and makes it harder for watchers to discover channels with low subscriber counts.<ref>[https://piunikaweb.com/2026/01/06/youtube-upload-date-filter-removal-test-web/ YouTube may be testing removal of Upload date filter from search on web]</ref>
<ref>[https://www.recentreborn.com/blog/why-did-youtube-remove-the-last-hour-filter Why did YouTube remove the "last hour" filter? — RecentReborn]</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1q8szsr/youtube_removes_the_sort_by_upload_date_option/ Youtube removes the "Sort by Upload Date" option pretending it didn't work, the reality? They want absolute control of the information you are allowed to get from the site : youtube] - Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1qjgsln/youtube_removed_the_ability_to_sort_by_upload/ Youtube removed the ability to sort by upload date as of today. : youtube] - Reddit</ref>

===Anti-features and dark patterns to trick the user into staying longer===
YouTube's algorithm was engineered to make the user watch more videos than they intended, to earn more ad revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicas |first=Jack |title=How YouTube Drives People to the Internet’s Darkest Corners |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |url-access=subscription |website=The Wall Street Journal. |date=7 Feb 2018 |access-date=29 Jan 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208091112/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |archive-date=8 Dec 2018 |quote=YouTube engineered its algorithm several years ago to make the site “sticky”—to recommend videos that keep users staying to watch still more, said current and former YouTube engineers who helped build it. The site earns money selling ads that run before and during videos.}}</ref> This is on top of a feature called Autoplay, which queues another video (chosen by Youtube's algorithm) and plays that automatically after a short delay so you keep watching more. Through this mechanism, children will especially have their attention extracted for several hours.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |author= |title=James Bridle: What Do Kids' Videos on YouTube Reveal About the Internet's Dark Side? |others=NPR/TED Staff |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |website=NPR |date=2 Nov 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620234159/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |archive-date=20 Jun 2025 |quote="And also, on the other side of the screen, there still are these little kids watching this stuff - right? - their full attention grabbed by these weird mechanisms. And so there's autoplay, where it just keeps playing these videos over and over and over on a loop, endlessly, for hours and hours at a time. And there's so much weirdness in the system now that autoplay takes you to some pretty strange places. This is how within, like, a dozen steps, you can go from a cute video of a counting train to masturbating Mickey Mouse."}}</ref>

By default, this feature is enabled.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Autoplay videos - YouTube Help |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |website=[[Google]] |date=4 Apr 2025 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401080124/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |archive-date=1 Apr 2025}}</ref>

===Crackdown against third-party front-ends===

Since the beginning of 2025, users have been reporting issues with third-party front-ends accessing the platform.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Fijxu |title=Youtube changed something, again! |url=https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |website=nadeko |date=16 Feb 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250816014757/https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref> For FreeTube, there has been a heightened amount of people receiving {{Wplink|HTTP 403|403 errors}} associated with IP blocks when attempting to view videos via this front-end.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Gevaarlijk |title=[Bug]: [BAD_HTTP_STATUS: 403] Potential causes: IP block or streaming URL deciphering failed #6701 |url=https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |website=GitHub |date=31 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260105144421/https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |archive-date=5 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===AI filtering without consent===
YouTube is testing an experiment on Shorts content that enhances a video's detail without the creator's consent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reisner |first=Alex |title=YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’
|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |website=The Atlantic |date=22 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250822194955/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2025}}</ref> The resulting output tends to look plastic. This change has been observed as early as 27 June 2025<ref>{{Cite web |author=Ulincsys |title=YouTube Shorts are almost certainly being AI upscaled |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250827144146/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |archive-date=27 Aug 2025}}</ref> and affects creators who especially intend the video to be viewed in a certain way, such as the "{{Wplink|VHS}} look".<ref>{{Cite web |author=dolanbriese |title=YouTube Shorts are becoming AI upscaled without consent from creators |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=21 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251003103832/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |archive-date=3 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rhett Shull, in his video, opines such a change "will inevitably erode viewers trust in my content [...] or any of the other creators on this platform that we all watch and we all follow" due to implications that the creator may be using AI, and "also erodes my trust in the platform."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shull |first=Rhett |title=YouTube Is Using AI to Alter Content (and not telling us) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |website=YouTube |date=14 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>

Artist Sam Yang uploaded a video on 30 August 2025, following up on the issue using his own work for comparison, testing the claims that this is merely compression scaling, adding an artist's eye and commentary to the issue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yang |first=Sam |title=Youtube is Using AI on Your Shorts Without Consent.. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |website=YouTube |date=30 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref>

Users also complained about a dangerous flickering that happens under some videos. Some forwarded this issue to YouTube scientist Anton Petrov, to which he replicated the issue and showed it under a video uploaded 25 October 2025, noting it happens on one of his devices, more specifically a mobile phone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrov |first=Anton |title=YouTube AI Filter Is Making My Videos Dangerous To Watch |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |website=YouTube |date=25 Oct 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |archive-date=26 Oct 2025}}</ref>

===Wave of channel terminations (''2025'')===
In November 2025, multiple YouTube channels, including Enderman, Scratchit Gaming, and 4096 were reportedly terminated in a massive ban wave under false reasons, such as association with a Japanese-language channel "椛のスターレイル遊び" which translates roughly as "Momiji plays Honkai: Star Rail Adventures," a reference to a Japanese role-playing game. Some have blamed the ban wave on the malfunctions of YouTube's AI-powered moderation system.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Binder |first=Matt |title=Big YouTube channels are being banned. YouTubers are blaming AI. |url=https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |website=Mashable |date=4 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260221125020/https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |archive-date=21 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===API restrictions===
In June 2023, YouTube forced Matt Wright, maintainer of the YouTube Metadata tool, to remove the exporting feature which let people export YouTube metadata such as video descriptions into a file. This did not include the videos themselves. It can be assumed that this is the "tip of an iceberg" and YouTube made many such requests without them being publicly documented.<ref>[https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Export Feature? · mattwright324/youtube-metadata · Discussion #150 · GitHub] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251214094758/https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Archived])</ref>

===Prevention of offline video preservation (downloading)===
Creating permanent local copies of videos is strongly discouraged by YouTube.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Vsauce Answers the 100 Most Googled Questions | WIRED] (at 7:20 and 8:57) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Archived]).</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com:443/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E How To Legally Download YouTube Videos] - Tim Schmoyer - Video Creators TV (clickbait - it is an advertisement for "YouTube Red", the earlier name of "YouTube Premium", and only shows the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Studio that lets channel owners download only their own uploaded videos) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E Archived]).</ref> YouTube is taking measures to prevent people from backing up videos locally. From a YouTube help center article:

<blockquote>
In order to protect the YouTube community, we may prevent signed-out users from accessing YouTube videos when they're attempting to download material for offline use.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Troubleshoot YouTube video errors - YouTube Help] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260323195048/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Archived])</ref>

It is not specified what preventing offline use is intended to protect against.

YouTube also regularly purges tutorial videos that show how to create local copies of videos.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120813001114/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqFiUrhTc How To Download Convert YouTube Videos 2 Anything] - ifxman (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLLOij1GSQ How to download youtube videos without any software] - Ritace40 (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121003225255/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xf6uukCHmk Download Youtube Videos Free -- No Software!] - MKBHD (later removed by YouTube)</ref>

Instead, YouTube wants its users to pay monthly for its subscription service, YouTube Premium, to have any form of offline access to videos. YouTube Premium comes with a "download" feature, however, it is useless for long-term archival of videos given that it only lets users store temporary local copies of YouTube videos that are forcibly deleted after 29 days. In addition, to thwart any permanent preservation, the videos are stored with [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|data lock-in]] and proprietary encoding in a format only recognized by the YouTube app, to prevent local copying.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref name="VirtualCuriosities">[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ YouTube downloads not working - Megathread] - /r/cobalt_tools - Reddit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260322015608/https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ Archived]).</ref>

While YouTube can advertise its Premium service as technically allowing "downloading", the deceptive marketing comes from exploiting the fact that the user expects so-called "downloading" to result in a file stored in the web browser's Download folder, accessible from other software, instead of the [[data lock-in]] that YouTube Premium actually has. The 29-day storage limit coupled with data lock-in render the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Premium useless for any long-term archival.<ref name="VirtualCuriosities" />

Downloading local copies of YouTube videos through "unofficial" and "unapproved" means is the only recourse against the loss of Internet history caused by videos being unpublished by channel owners or YouTube, and against a future shutdown of YouTube. As of 2026, there is no certainty that YouTube will be operating by the year 2050, for instance.

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- Karl Voit<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

Videos can disappear from YouTube for a variety of reasons. In fact, less than half of the videos that were publicly available on YouTube as of 2010 were still available as of 2021, according to a long-time study from a sample of 105 million videos.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://datahorde.org/youtube-was-made-for-reuploads/ YouTube was made for Reuploads – Data Horde |date=28 July 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=12 April 2026 }}</ref> Sometimes, channel owners decide to "move on" and delete (or otherwise unpublish) their entire history of uploads. Sometimes, videos contain something Google doesn't like and they take them down, one example being "Android is losing a big feature" by comedian Sam Tucker (SAMTIME).<ref>[https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME, Archived from the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube] - video removed for unspecified violations.</ref>

Sometimes, YouTube's community guidelines grow stricter, retroactively outruling existing content, and entire channels are taken down due to strikes on only a few videos, resulting in the collateral loss of all other videos, one famous example being Mumkey Jones.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8-ETSDgcs Mumkey Jones: YouTube's Most Wanted] - j aubrey ([https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Te8-ETSDgcs Archived])</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:YouTube]]

YouTube

2026-04-12T22:11:29Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Prevention of offline video preservation (downloading) */ Added long-time study.

{{ProductLineCargo
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Streaming, Video
|Company=Google
|Description=YouTube is a video-sharing platform founded in 2005.
|InProduction=Yes
|Logo=YouTube.png
|ReleaseYear=2005
|Website=https://youtube.com
}}

'''{{Wplink|YouTube}}''', founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, is a global video-sharing platform and one of the most visited websites in the world. Acquired by [[Google]] in 2006, YouTube has since become the dominant platform for sharing videos on the internet.

YouTube's business model is built around advertising revenue, with creators earning money through ad views, subscriptions, and other monetization options. The platform hosts a wide range of content, including music videos, tutorials, news, video logs ("vlogs"), and live streams. YouTube has also begun offering subscription services, such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, for ad-free experiences, exclusive content, and live television.

YouTube has faced criticism and regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts. Concerns have been raised about content moderation policies, the platform's role in the spread of misinformation, and its impact on user privacy, particularly in relation to data collection practices. Additionally, YouTube has been under fire for its algorithms, which some argue promote harmful or divisive content to maximize engagement.

==Consumer impact summary==
*'''User freedom:''' Questionable and highly contradictory due rampant bots, falsely accusing others of using their intellectual properties or “IP” for short (although it’s usually either others’ IPs, or it’s criticism, parodies, documentation, commentary, or other fair uses), and [[Elsagate]] suggest negligent moderation.
*'''User privacy:''' Poor; Since August 2025, accessing mature content without identification is a gamble. User data is also sold to advertisers and the site is owned by [[Google]].
*'''Business model:''' [[Advertising overload|Excessive advertising]], YouTube Premium, YouTube Premium Lite
*'''Market competition:''' Despite several platforms that follow its niche, such as Odysee, [[PeerTube]], and [[DailyMotion]], they provide no significant competition.

==Incidents==
===Elsagate===
{{Main|Elsagate}}

The first "Elsagate" incident arose sometime during the mid-2010s on YouTube, though it was not discovered and named until 2016. It has since been used as a catch-all term for content that appears child-friendly at first glance but, in actuality, contains suggestive or outright illicit material targeted at minors. This is accomplished by using major intellectual properties for children, such as the Elsa character from the 2013 [[Disney]] film ''{{Wplink|Frozen (2013 film)|Frozen}}'' and [[Minecraft]].

Although the problem is not unique to the YouTube platform, its dominance in the video sphere makes it an attractive target.

===Restricting users that don't share their personal information===
{{Main|YouTube age verification}}

On 30 July 2025, in response to the [[UK Online Safety Act]], YouTube announced a verification update that asks for either a government-issued ID, a photo, or credit card, otherwise they could not access content.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ingram |first=Michael |title=YouTube is Rolling Out A New Controversial Feature |url=https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |website=GameRant |date=30 Jul 2025 |access-date=14 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250730234131/https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |archive-date=30 Jul 2025}}</ref>

YouTube will estimate the age of a user from various sources, including the videos watched, and will ask for previously mentioned personal information when it believes that the user falls below 18.

===Advertising overload on YouTube===
{{Main|Advertising overload}}

Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=How YouTube Works |url=https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/ |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260101140008/https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/creator-economy/ |archive-date=1 Jan 2026}}</ref> This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Jordan |date=20 Jan 2024 |title=Why YouTube Has So Many Ads (and Why There Will Probably Be More) |url=https://www.33rdsquare.com/software-app/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/GjC82 |archive-date=24 Feb 2026 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |website=33rd Square}}</ref> such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads, longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |first=Aamir |title=Frustrated YouTube viewers seek explanation for hour-long unskippable ads (Updated: Clarification) |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128162022/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dirscherl |first=Hans-Christian |last2=Lee |first2=Joel |title=Hours-long unskippable ads spotted on YouTube. What’s going on? |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |website=PCWorld |date=28 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129183554/https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |archive-date=29 Jan 2025}}</ref> and most prevalent on YouTube TV<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adegbola |first=Anu
|title=YouTube tests longer CTV ad breaks |url=https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |website=Search Engine Land |date=16 Aug 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816143812/https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |archive-date=16 Aug 2024}}</ref>), increased ad frequency in videos,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Arol |title=YouTube is Adding Even More Ads |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |website=How-To-Geek |date=26 Apr 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426192258/https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |archive-date=26 Apr 2024}}</ref> and poorer quality ads.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |author=T3rr0r |title=BAD Mobile Game Ads |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |website=YouTube |date=17 Oct 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Knoblauch |first=Max |title=Why are mobile game ads so weird and bad? |url=https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |website=Sherwood News |date=14 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614151756/https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |archive-date=14 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=The DISGUSTING State of Mobile Game Ads (and why YouTube LOVES IT) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |website=YouTube |date=18 Sep 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref> Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEC |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=6 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260206072120/https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AED |archive-date=6 Feb 2026}}</ref>

Furthermore, even if a user pays for YouTube premium, they do not necessarily receive an ad-free experience<ref>{{Cite web |author=CaptainMystery_123 |title=I have YouTube premium, why am I getting adds. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=18 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525154227/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |archive-date=25 May 2025}}</ref> — they may still see ads within the video they watch, such as sponsored segments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Can you still see ads if you have YouTube Premium? Here's what Google has to say |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |website=Android Authority |date=10 May 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251211123241/https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |archive-date=11 Dec 2025}}</ref> YouTube has added a "skip" feature, but it has been reported that this does not work consistently.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Anurag |title=YouTube now lets you skip sponsored segments — but you’ll have to pay for it |url=https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |website=Dexerto |date=22 Aug 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822211151/https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2024}}</ref>

====Refusal to handle malicious ads====
A common phenomenon on YouTube's advertisements is content that is mature and/or malicious in nature.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Beyond The Internet |title=YouTube Ads are inappropriate... |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |website=YouTube |date=22 Feb 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |archive-date=23 Feb 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Explicit ads are plaguing YouTube, and it’s only getting worse
|url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127062033/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |archive-date=27 Jan 2025}}</ref> The content of these advertisements include pornography,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=YouTube's Ads Have Hit A New Low...(it's literally p*rn) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |website=YouTube |date=31 Mar 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |archive-date=2 Apr 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> false advertising,<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> scams,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Jakob_G |title=YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=12 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217150604/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |archive-date=17 Dec 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=JerryRigEverything |title=I CAUGHT THE YOUTUBE SCAMMER - $1000 dollars EVERY DAY?! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |website=YouTube |date=9 Mar 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=LoganAH |title=Why does YouTube run blatant scams as advertisements? |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=22 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713054442/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |archive-date=13 Jul 2025}}</ref> and far more. Rather than working towards clearing these ads, or acknowledging this advertising content that has been harming consumers on the platform, YouTube moderation has only cut the revenue for these videos that attempt to call out these ads,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Deep Humor |title=Watch This Before YouTube Deletes It. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |website=YouTube |date=24 Feb 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |archive-date=26 Feb 2025}}</ref> which has been known to make said videos be less-showcased.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |author=Sealow |title=Extensive evidence of algorithm censorship of demonetised videos |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |website=YouTube |date=29 Nov 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |author=Karlaplan |title=Monetisation analysis / research |url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/155yNpfR7dGKuN-4rbrvbJLcJkhGa_HqvVuyPK7UEfPo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.jou9rc5d49jl |website=[[Google]] |date=20 Nov 2017 |access-date=3 Apr 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://consumerrights.wiki/images/5/5c/Karlaplan_Monetisation_analysis_research.pdf |archive-date=11 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Demonetization and censorship===
Since at least 2016, YouTube has had an extensive record of censoring content that is demonetized.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Within understandable circumstances, legitimately malicious or offensive videos would be demonetized and should not be shown on the platform; however, how videos are considered to be demonetized has had a harmful impact upon both viewers and content creators. Transgender creators on YouTube, for example, have experienced unfair censorship via demonetization since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Disney |first=Malia |title=Trans YouTubers Say They Are Being Censored. Is It The Algorithm? |url=https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |website=Youth Radio Media
|date=4 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130035845/https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |archive-date=30 Jan 2023}}</ref> Content creators affected by this unfairly balanced moderation via algorithms<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cantz |first=Randy |title=Adpocalypse: How YouTube Demonetization Imperils the Future of Free Speech |url=https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |website=Berkeley Political Review |date=1 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424095310/https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |archive-date=24 Apr 2024}}</ref> have dubbed these events as "adpocalypses".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |title=YouTubers fear looming ‘adpocalypse’ after child exploitation controversy
|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |website=The Verge |date=20 Feb 2019 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220205927/https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |archive-date=20 Feb 2019}}</ref>

====Irresponsibly automated moderation====
When YouTube integrated the ability to take down videos via the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] (DMCA), they decided to often handle take-down requests in an automated manner.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Jines |first=Chuck |title=ABUSE – How DMCA automated takedown notices violate free speech |url=https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |website=Chuck Jines |date=4 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250303201747/https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |archive-date=3 Mar 2025}}</ref> This automation has led to an excess in fraudulent DMCA take-downs of content,<ref>{{Cite web |author=itanshi |title=I'd like to talk about the problem with anonymous DMCA take down notices. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Mar 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606184354/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |archive-date=6 Jun 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=The Last Civil Rights Lawyer |title=“Lackluster” Gets a Fraudulent Copyright Strike for Dashcam Footage and Now We Sue |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |website=YouTube |date=21 Jul 2021 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |archive-date=2 Feb 2026}}</ref> even going so far as to have [[Bungie]] call out YouTube in a legal case for their negligence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodkin
|first=John |title=Bungie slams YouTube’s DMCA system in lawsuit against ''Destiny'' takedown fraudsters |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |website=Ars Technica |date=28 Mar 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329203809/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |archive-date=29 Mar 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maxwell |first=Andy |title=Digital Trails: How Bungie Identified a Mass Sender of Fake DMCA Notices |url=https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |website=TorrentFreak |date=24 Jun 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624070824/https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |archive-date=24 Jun 2022}}</ref> These take-down requests have ranged from users impersonating corporations, to users impersonating other users.<ref name=":3" />

===Crackdown against ad-blockers===

The prevalence of advertising on the platform, coupled with the repeated appearance of harmful and deceptive ads within YouTube's advertising system, led a significant number of users to employ ad-blocking tools to facilitate their viewing experience.

In response, Google initiated technical countermeasures to limit the functionality of these tools. This has resulted in an ongoing cycle where ad-blocker developers adapt to new restrictions, and the platform subsequently implements further detection methods. A key strategy in this effort involves the implementation of advanced code integrity checks designed to ensure ad content is delivered to viewers.

However, these measures typically exhibit limited efficacy before ad-blocking tools develop new methods of circumvention,<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Flaherty |first=Kate |title=YouTube’s Ad Blocker Ban Just Got Even Bigger |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |url-access=subscription |website=Forbes |date=20 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620123932/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |archive-date=20 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harding |first=Scharon |title=YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown escalates, aggravating users |url=https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |website=Ars Technica |date=1 Nov 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101170643/https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |archive-date=1 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube blocks adblockers; will this be their downfall? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |website=YouTube |date=12 Oct 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |archive-date=13 Oct 2023}}</ref> a dynamic that some analysts suggest exemplifies the {{Wplink|Streisand effect}}.<ref>{{Cite web |author=phub |title=Brave no longer blocking youtube ads as of March 27, 2024 |url=https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |website=Brave |date=27 Mar 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240801101510/https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |archive-date=1 Aug 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube's adblock war is backfiring in the worst way possible 🤣 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |website=YouTube |date=5 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |archive-date=5 Nov 2023}}</ref>

Additional strategies have involved the integration of advertisements directly into video streams. This approach has impaired the functionality of certain browser extensions, including SponsorBlock, a community-driven tool designed to skip sponsored segments within videos. The extension relies on user-submitted timestamps to identify these segments; its effectiveness is significantly reduced when personalized advertisements, which vary in duration and placement for each viewer, are embedded into the stream itself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis
|title=Youtube is dedicated to making this website worse; destroys sponsorblock with ad injection changes |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |website=YouTube |date=18 Jun 2024
|access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |archive-date=28 Jul 2024}}</ref>

Google has publicly acknowledged implementing code that degrades the user experience for individuals using ad blockers. This includes introducing artificial latency, which has been documented to slow page load times, a measure that also affected users of the Firefox browser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Youtube confirms intentional slowdown of adblock users 🤦‍♂️ |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |website=YouTube |date=23 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |archive-date=23 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Is Youtube making firefox load slow on purpose? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |website=YouTube |date=21 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |archive-date=21 Nov 2023}}</ref>

===Offline video DRM===
The YouTube Mobile application permits users with a YouTube Premium subscription to download videos for offline viewing. However, the downloaded content is protected by [[Digital rights management|Digital Rights Management]] (DRM) that requires the application to establish an online connection with YouTube's servers at least once every 48 hours to maintain playback functionality. This requirement is not prominently featured on the primary YouTube Premium marketing page and is detailed instead within the platform's support documentation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author= |date= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251111004845/https://www.youtube.com/premium |archive-date=11 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Watch videos offline on mobile in selected countries and regions |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |website=[[Google]] |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250719175650/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |archive-date=19 Jul 2025}}</ref>

Saved videos are forcibly deleted after 29 days. [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|Data lock-in and proprietary encoding]] prevents the user from making permanent copies of videos, even those licensed under Creative Commons.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santos |first=Noel |title=Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files |url=https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |website=Virtual Curiosities |date=7 Dec 2024 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |archive-date=26 Nov 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Mental Outlaw |title=Google is Locking Down Android |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |website=YouTube |date=28 Aug 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |archive-date=29 Aug 2025}}</ref>

===Universal DRM testing and violation of Creative Commons licenses===
YouTube on TV is an {{Wplink|HTML5}} web interface from Google to allow supported devices — such as game consoles which do not have a native YouTube app — to view content via YouTube. An {{Wplink|A/B testing|A/B experiment}} has begun which protects all video and audio content regardless of bit-rate or format via the YouTube on TV platform with DRM.<ref>{{Cite web |author=coletdjnz |title=[YouTube] DRM on ALL videos with tv (TVHTML5) client #12563 |url=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |website=GitHub |date=8 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250330031529/https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |archive-date=30 Mar 2025}}</ref> A number of content creators license their work uploaded to YouTube via the {{Wplink|Creative Commons}} licenses. The universal implementation of DRM to restrict a user's ability to exercise their rights granted by the license is a violation of the aforementioned licenses.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=License Versions |url=https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |website=Creative Commons |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101062938/https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |archive-date=1 Jan 2025}}</ref>

===Pay-walling standard browser features===
Another premium feature of the YouTube mobile app is the ability to play videos in the background.<ref name=":0" /> Without a premium subscription, neither the app nor a web browser will play YouTube videos in the background. However, the default HTML5 video player supports this with no extra effort needed from the developer.

On 7 February 2026, it was reported that YouTube Music was testing a feature that would paywall song lyrics, which were previously a free feature since 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardwick |first=Tim |title=YouTube Music lyrics now require a Premium subscription |url=https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |website=9TO5Google |date=7 Feb 2026 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260208225137/https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |archive-date=8 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Removal of the dislike count on videos===
On 10 November 2021, YouTube removed the public dislike count from all of its videos. Creators are still be able to view dislike counts on their videos through the YouTube Studio website and app.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |author= |title=An update to dislikes on YouTube |url=https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |website=YouTube Official Blog |date=10 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110173333/https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |archive-date=10 Nov 2021}}</ref>

According to YouTube, this was implemented after user testing revealed that users were less likely to feel incentivized to actively try and manipulate the dislike count on videos if the dislike count was not visible to them.<ref name=":2" /> This spurred the creation of "Return YouTube Dislike" by Dmitry Selivanov, a third-party web browser extension to expose the dislike count again. YouTube discontinued the related {{Wplink|API}}, upon which the extension relied, on 13 December 2021. From thereon "Return YouTube Dislike" switched "to using a combination of archived dislike stats, estimates extrapolated from extension user data and estimates based on view/like ratios for videos whose dislikes weren't archived and for outdated dislike archives."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Can |first=Michael |title=Browser Extension Brings Back Dislike Count to YouTube Videos |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos
|website=PC Mag |date=29 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130001311/https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos |archive-date=30 Nov 2021}}</ref>

=== Removal of chronological searching ===
In January 2026, YouTube removed the ability to search videos by the most recently uploaded, as well as the "last hour" search filter. The "last day" search filter is the narrowest remaining time filter.

A Google employee stated that this change is intended to "improve content discovery" and that they are "simplifying and reorganizing the filter menu to make it more intuitive and improve the overall search experience".<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/400586735/changes-to-youtube-search-filters-to-improve-content-discovery?hl=en Changes to YouTube Search Filters to Improve Content Discovery - YouTube Community]</ref> However, it was noted that this makes it more difficult to discover eyewitness stories that are alternative to mainstream outlets, and makes it harder for watchers to discover channels with low subscriber counts.<ref>[https://piunikaweb.com/2026/01/06/youtube-upload-date-filter-removal-test-web/ YouTube may be testing removal of Upload date filter from search on web]</ref>
<ref>[https://www.recentreborn.com/blog/why-did-youtube-remove-the-last-hour-filter Why did YouTube remove the "last hour" filter? — RecentReborn]</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1q8szsr/youtube_removes_the_sort_by_upload_date_option/ Youtube removes the "Sort by Upload Date" option pretending it didn't work, the reality? They want absolute control of the information you are allowed to get from the site : youtube] - Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1qjgsln/youtube_removed_the_ability_to_sort_by_upload/ Youtube removed the ability to sort by upload date as of today. : youtube] - Reddit</ref>

===Anti-features and dark patterns to trick the user into staying longer===
YouTube's algorithm was engineered to make the user watch more videos than they intended, to earn more ad revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicas |first=Jack |title=How YouTube Drives People to the Internet’s Darkest Corners |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |url-access=subscription |website=The Wall Street Journal. |date=7 Feb 2018 |access-date=29 Jan 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208091112/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |archive-date=8 Dec 2018 |quote=YouTube engineered its algorithm several years ago to make the site “sticky”—to recommend videos that keep users staying to watch still more, said current and former YouTube engineers who helped build it. The site earns money selling ads that run before and during videos.}}</ref> This is on top of a feature called Autoplay, which queues another video (chosen by Youtube's algorithm) and plays that automatically after a short delay so you keep watching more. Through this mechanism, children will especially have their attention extracted for several hours.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |author= |title=James Bridle: What Do Kids' Videos on YouTube Reveal About the Internet's Dark Side? |others=NPR/TED Staff |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |website=NPR |date=2 Nov 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620234159/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |archive-date=20 Jun 2025 |quote="And also, on the other side of the screen, there still are these little kids watching this stuff - right? - their full attention grabbed by these weird mechanisms. And so there's autoplay, where it just keeps playing these videos over and over and over on a loop, endlessly, for hours and hours at a time. And there's so much weirdness in the system now that autoplay takes you to some pretty strange places. This is how within, like, a dozen steps, you can go from a cute video of a counting train to masturbating Mickey Mouse."}}</ref>

By default, this feature is enabled.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Autoplay videos - YouTube Help |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |website=[[Google]] |date=4 Apr 2025 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401080124/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |archive-date=1 Apr 2025}}</ref>

===Crackdown against third-party front-ends===

Since the beginning of 2025, users have been reporting issues with third-party front-ends accessing the platform.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Fijxu |title=Youtube changed something, again! |url=https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |website=nadeko |date=16 Feb 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250816014757/https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref> For FreeTube, there has been a heightened amount of people receiving {{Wplink|HTTP 403|403 errors}} associated with IP blocks when attempting to view videos via this front-end.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Gevaarlijk |title=[Bug]: [BAD_HTTP_STATUS: 403] Potential causes: IP block or streaming URL deciphering failed #6701 |url=https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |website=GitHub |date=31 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260105144421/https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |archive-date=5 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===AI filtering without consent===
YouTube is testing an experiment on Shorts content that enhances a video's detail without the creator's consent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reisner |first=Alex |title=YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’
|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |website=The Atlantic |date=22 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250822194955/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2025}}</ref> The resulting output tends to look plastic. This change has been observed as early as 27 June 2025<ref>{{Cite web |author=Ulincsys |title=YouTube Shorts are almost certainly being AI upscaled |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250827144146/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |archive-date=27 Aug 2025}}</ref> and affects creators who especially intend the video to be viewed in a certain way, such as the "{{Wplink|VHS}} look".<ref>{{Cite web |author=dolanbriese |title=YouTube Shorts are becoming AI upscaled without consent from creators |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=21 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251003103832/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |archive-date=3 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rhett Shull, in his video, opines such a change "will inevitably erode viewers trust in my content [...] or any of the other creators on this platform that we all watch and we all follow" due to implications that the creator may be using AI, and "also erodes my trust in the platform."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shull |first=Rhett |title=YouTube Is Using AI to Alter Content (and not telling us) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |website=YouTube |date=14 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>

Artist Sam Yang uploaded a video on 30 August 2025, following up on the issue using his own work for comparison, testing the claims that this is merely compression scaling, adding an artist's eye and commentary to the issue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yang |first=Sam |title=Youtube is Using AI on Your Shorts Without Consent.. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |website=YouTube |date=30 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref>

Users also complained about a dangerous flickering that happens under some videos. Some forwarded this issue to YouTube scientist Anton Petrov, to which he replicated the issue and showed it under a video uploaded 25 October 2025, noting it happens on one of his devices, more specifically a mobile phone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrov |first=Anton |title=YouTube AI Filter Is Making My Videos Dangerous To Watch |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |website=YouTube |date=25 Oct 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |archive-date=26 Oct 2025}}</ref>

===Wave of channel terminations (''2025'')===
In November 2025, multiple YouTube channels, including Enderman, Scratchit Gaming, and 4096 were reportedly terminated in a massive ban wave under false reasons, such as association with a Japanese-language channel "椛のスターレイル遊び" which translates roughly as "Momiji plays Honkai: Star Rail Adventures," a reference to a Japanese role-playing game. Some have blamed the ban wave on the malfunctions of YouTube's AI-powered moderation system.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Binder |first=Matt |title=Big YouTube channels are being banned. YouTubers are blaming AI. |url=https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |website=Mashable |date=4 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260221125020/https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |archive-date=21 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===API restrictions===
In June 2023, YouTube forced Matt Wright, maintainer of the YouTube Metadata tool, to remove the exporting feature which let people export YouTube metadata such as video descriptions into a file. This did not include the videos themselves. It can be assumed that this is the "tip of an iceberg" and YouTube made many such requests without them being publicly documented.<ref>[https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Export Feature? · mattwright324/youtube-metadata · Discussion #150 · GitHub] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251214094758/https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Archived])</ref>

===Prevention of offline video preservation (downloading)===
Creating permanent local copies of videos is strongly discouraged by YouTube.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Vsauce Answers the 100 Most Googled Questions | WIRED] (at 7:20 and 8:57) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Archived]).</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com:443/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E How To Legally Download YouTube Videos] - Tim Schmoyer - Video Creators TV (clickbait - it is an advertisement for "YouTube Red", the earlier name of "YouTube Premium", and only shows the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Studio that lets channel owners download only their own uploaded videos) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E Archived]).</ref> YouTube is taking measures to prevent people from backing up videos locally. From a YouTube help center article:

<blockquote>
In order to protect the YouTube community, we may prevent signed-out users from accessing YouTube videos when they're attempting to download material for offline use.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Troubleshoot YouTube video errors - YouTube Help] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260323195048/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Archived])</ref>

It is not specified what preventing offline use is intended to protect against.

YouTube also regularly purges tutorial videos that show how to create local copies of videos.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120813001114/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqFiUrhTc How To Download Convert YouTube Videos 2 Anything] - ifxman (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLLOij1GSQ How to download youtube videos without any software] - Ritace40 (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121003225255/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xf6uukCHmk Download Youtube Videos Free -- No Software!] - MKBHD (later removed by YouTube)</ref>

Instead, YouTube wants its users to pay monthly for its subscription service, YouTube Premium, to have any form of offline access to videos. YouTube Premium comes with a "download" feature, however, it is useless for long-term archival of videos given that it only lets users store temporary local copies of YouTube videos that are forcibly deleted after 29 days. In addition, to thwart any permanent preservation, the videos are stored with [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|data lock-in]] and proprietary encoding in a format only recognized by the YouTube app, to prevent local copying.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref name="VirtualCuriosities">[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ YouTube downloads not working - Megathread] - /r/cobalt_tools - Reddit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260322015608/https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ Archived]).</ref>

While YouTube can advertise its Premium service as technically allowing "downloading", the deceptive marketing comes from exploiting the fact that the user expects so-called "downloading" to result in a file stored in the web browser's Download folder, accessible from other software, instead of the [[data lock-in]] that YouTube Premium actually has. The 29-day storage limit coupled with data lock-in render the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Premium useless for any long-term archival.<ref name="VirtualCuriosities" />

Downloading local copies of YouTube videos through "unofficial" and "unapproved" means is the only recourse against the loss of Internet history caused by videos being unpublished by channel owners or YouTube, and against a future shutdown of YouTube. As of 2026, there is no certainty that YouTube will be operating by the year 2050, for instance.

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- Karl Voit<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

Videos can disappear from YouTube for a variety of reasons. In fact, less than half of the videos that were publicly available on YouTube as of 2010 were still available as of 2021, according to a long-time study from a sample of 105 million videos.<ref>[https://datahorde.org/youtube-was-made-for-reuploads/ YouTube was made for Reuploads – Data Horde] (28 July 2021)</ref> Sometimes, channel owners decide to "move on" and delete (or otherwise unpublish) their entire history of uploads. Sometimes, videos contain something Google doesn't like and they take them down, one example being "Android is losing a big feature" by comedian Sam Tucker (SAMTIME).<ref>[https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME, Archived from the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube] - video removed for unspecified violations.</ref>

Sometimes, YouTube's community guidelines grow stricter, retroactively outruling existing content, and entire channels are taken down due to strikes on only a few videos, resulting in the collateral loss of all other videos, one famous example being Mumkey Jones.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8-ETSDgcs Mumkey Jones: YouTube's Most Wanted] - j aubrey ([https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Te8-ETSDgcs Archived])</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:YouTube]]

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-04-01T11:12:01Z

JodyBruchonFan: Added a poem by Jody Bruchon on the Starmer UK government.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

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[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
File:Android dev verif 1984.png|1984 (made by [[User:Rudxain|Rudxain]])
</gallery>

Unfortunately, most people won't care until it is too late. Most people just want to satisfy their daily dose of WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or whatever instant gratification there is. They don't see the long term loss of freedom. It is the [https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131043/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/slowly_boiling_the_frog.html boiling frog effect] metaphor. Or, as Louis Rossman calls it, death by a thousand cuts.

See also: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEY906hRoG4 Jody Bruchon's response to "It's okay because hackers will always find a way to hack around it!"].

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

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[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

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Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
| info-op = #0f0

| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
}}
</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== How to insult Google's user interface designers ==
By adding this to your website's CSS:
<pre>
html, body { overscroll-behavior: contain; }
</pre>

This will insult the lack of intelligence of whoever thought [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|making pull-to-refresh mandatory in Chrome]] was a brilliant idea.

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]'', 7:44.

----

<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

----

== Should you feel sorry for the Starmer UK government? ==
A poetic masterpiece by Jody Bruchon on the Starmer UK government!
(Source: ''[https://preservetube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs Time To Cut Off Internet To The UK And Australia, F Them - ROLLIN' RAMPAGE - Jody Bruchon]'', 11:29)


<div style="text-align:center; font-family:'Script MT Font','times new roman',serif; white-space:pre;">
The UK government is actually saying to X:
''"Hey, don't do that, you're gonna make us look bad!"''

Well, ____ you!
____ you!

Oh, I'll make you look bad!
Oh, you ____ with me, and then I make you look bad,
by doing what you told me to do?

Oh, boohoo!
Oh, oh, what a tragedy!
I feel so bad for the poor Starmer UK government!

Aww, I made you look bad on the Internet
by doing exactly what you told me to do?

And it had exactly the response
that I told you it would have?

Oh, how sudden, couldn't see this coming.
Oh, that's hoooorrible!
I feel so baaaaaaaaaaaaad!

Except I ____ing '''don't.'''
</div>

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-04-01T10:28:05Z

JodyBruchonFan: Sadly, most people won't care until it is too late.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
File:Android dev verif 1984.png|1984 (made by [[User:Rudxain|Rudxain]])
</gallery>

Unfortunately, most people won't care until it is too late. Most people just want to satisfy their daily dose of WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or whatever instant gratification there is. They don't see the long term loss of freedom. It is the [https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131043/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/slowly_boiling_the_frog.html boiling frog effect] metaphor. Or, as Louis Rossman calls it, death by a thousand cuts.

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
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| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
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To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== How to insult Google's user interface designers ==
By adding this to your website's CSS:
<pre>
html, body { overscroll-behavior: contain; }
</pre>

This will insult the lack of intelligence of whoever thought [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|making pull-to-refresh mandatory in Chrome]] was a brilliant idea.

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]'', 7:44.

----

<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

YouTube

2026-03-29T22:30:58Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Removal of chronological searching */ might as well add the exact month

{{ProductLineCargo
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Streaming, Video
|Company=Google
|Description=
|InProduction=Yes
|Logo=YouTube.png
|ReleaseYear=2005
|Website=https://youtube.com
}}

'''{{Wplink|YouTube}}''', founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, is a global video-sharing platform and one of the most visited websites in the world. Acquired by [[Google]] in 2006, YouTube has since become the dominant platform for sharing videos on the internet.

YouTube's business model is built around advertising revenue, with creators earning money through ad views, subscriptions, and other monetization options. The platform hosts a wide range of content, including music videos, tutorials, news, video logs ("vlogs"), and live streams. YouTube has also begun offering subscription services, such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, for ad-free experiences, exclusive content, and live television.

YouTube has faced criticism and regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts. Concerns have been raised about content moderation policies, the platform's role in the spread of misinformation, and its impact on user privacy, particularly in relation to data collection practices. Additionally, YouTube has been under fire for its algorithms, which some argue promote harmful or divisive content to maximize engagement.

==Consumer impact summary==
*'''User freedom:''' Questionable and highly contradictory due rampant bots, falsely accusing others of using their intellectual properties or “IP” for short (although it’s usually either others’ IPs, or it’s criticism, parodies, documentation, commentary, or other fair uses), and [[Elsagate]] suggest negligent moderation.
*'''User privacy:''' Poor; Since August 2025, accessing mature content without identification is a gamble. User data is also sold to advertisers and the site is owned by [[Google]].
*'''Business model:''' [[Advertising overload|Excessive advertising]], YouTube Premium, YouTube Premium Lite
*'''Market competition:''' Despite several platforms that follow its niche, such as Odysee, [[PeerTube]], and [[DailyMotion]], they provide no significant competition.

==Incidents==
===Elsagate===
{{Main|Elsagate}}

The first "Elsagate" incident arose sometime during the mid-2010s on YouTube, though it was not discovered and named until 2016. It has since been used as a catch-all term for content that appears child-friendly at first glance but, in actuality, contains suggestive or outright illicit material targeted at minors. This is accomplished by using major intellectual properties for children, such as the Elsa character from the 2013 [[Disney]] film ''{{Wplink|Frozen (2013 film)|Frozen}}'' and [[Minecraft]].

Although the problem is not unique to the YouTube platform, its dominance in the video sphere makes it an attractive target.

===Restricting users that don't share their personal information===
{{Main|YouTube age verification}}

On 30 July 2025, in response to the [[UK Online Safety Act]], YouTube announced a verification update that asks for either a government-issued ID, a photo, or credit card, otherwise they could not access content.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ingram |first=Michael |title=YouTube is Rolling Out A New Controversial Feature |url=https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |website=GameRant |date=30 Jul 2025 |access-date=14 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250730234131/https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |archive-date=30 Jul 2025}}</ref>

YouTube will estimate the age of a user from various sources, including the videos watched, and will ask for previously mentioned personal information when it believes that the user falls below 18.

===Advertising overload on YouTube===
{{Main|Advertising overload}}

Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=How YouTube Works |url=https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/ |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260101140008/https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/creator-economy/ |archive-date=1 Jan 2026}}</ref> This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Jordan |date=20 Jan 2024 |title=Why YouTube Has So Many Ads (and Why There Will Probably Be More) |url=https://www.33rdsquare.com/software-app/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/GjC82 |archive-date=24 Feb 2026 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |website=33rd Square}}</ref> such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads, longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |first=Aamir |title=Frustrated YouTube viewers seek explanation for hour-long unskippable ads (Updated: Clarification) |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128162022/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dirscherl |first=Hans-Christian |last2=Lee |first2=Joel |title=Hours-long unskippable ads spotted on YouTube. What’s going on? |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |website=PCWorld |date=28 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129183554/https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |archive-date=29 Jan 2025}}</ref> and most prevalent on YouTube TV<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adegbola |first=Anu
|title=YouTube tests longer CTV ad breaks |url=https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |website=Search Engine Land |date=16 Aug 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816143812/https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |archive-date=16 Aug 2024}}</ref>), increased ad frequency in videos,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Arol |title=YouTube is Adding Even More Ads |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |website=How-To-Geek |date=26 Apr 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426192258/https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |archive-date=26 Apr 2024}}</ref> and poorer quality ads.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |author=T3rr0r |title=BAD Mobile Game Ads |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |website=YouTube |date=17 Oct 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Knoblauch |first=Max |title=Why are mobile game ads so weird and bad? |url=https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |website=Sherwood News |date=14 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614151756/https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |archive-date=14 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=The DISGUSTING State of Mobile Game Ads (and why YouTube LOVES IT) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |website=YouTube |date=18 Sep 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref> Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEC |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=6 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260206072120/https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AED |archive-date=6 Feb 2026}}</ref>

Furthermore, even if a user pays for YouTube premium, they do not necessarily receive an ad-free experience<ref>{{Cite web |author=CaptainMystery_123 |title=I have YouTube premium, why am I getting adds. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=18 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525154227/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |archive-date=25 May 2025}}</ref> — they may still see ads within the video they watch, such as sponsored segments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Can you still see ads if you have YouTube Premium? Here's what Google has to say |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |website=Android Authority |date=10 May 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251211123241/https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |archive-date=11 Dec 2025}}</ref> YouTube has added a "skip" feature, but it has been reported that this does not work consistently.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Anurag |title=YouTube now lets you skip sponsored segments — but you’ll have to pay for it |url=https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |website=Dexerto |date=22 Aug 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822211151/https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2024}}</ref>

====Refusal to handle malicious ads====
A common phenomenon on YouTube's advertisements is content that is mature and/or malicious in nature.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Beyond The Internet |title=YouTube Ads are inappropriate... |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |website=YouTube |date=22 Feb 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |archive-date=23 Feb 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Explicit ads are plaguing YouTube, and it’s only getting worse
|url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127062033/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |archive-date=27 Jan 2025}}</ref> The content of these advertisements include pornography,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=YouTube's Ads Have Hit A New Low...(it's literally p*rn) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |website=YouTube |date=31 Mar 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |archive-date=2 Apr 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> false advertising,<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> scams,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Jakob_G |title=YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=12 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217150604/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |archive-date=17 Dec 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=JerryRigEverything |title=I CAUGHT THE YOUTUBE SCAMMER - $1000 dollars EVERY DAY?! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |website=YouTube |date=9 Mar 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=LoganAH |title=Why does YouTube run blatant scams as advertisements? |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=22 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713054442/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |archive-date=13 Jul 2025}}</ref> and far more. Rather than working towards clearing these ads, or acknowledging this advertising content that has been harming consumers on the platform, YouTube moderation has only cut the revenue for these videos that attempt to call out these ads,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Deep Humor |title=Watch This Before YouTube Deletes It. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |website=YouTube |date=24 Feb 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |archive-date=26 Feb 2025}}</ref> which has been known to make said videos be less-showcased.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |author=Sealow |title=Extensive evidence of algorithm censorship of demonetised videos |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |website=YouTube |date=29 Nov 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |author=Karlaplan |date=20 Nov 2017 |title=Monetisation analysis / research |url=https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Karlaplan_Monetisation_analysis_research_.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://consumerrights.wiki/images/5/5c/Karlaplan_Monetisation_analysis_research_.pdf |archive-date=24 Mar 2026 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |website=[[Google]]}}</ref>

===Demonetization and censorship===
Since at least 2016, YouTube has had an extensive record of censoring content that is demonetized.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Within understandable circumstances, legitimately malicious or offensive videos would be demonetized and should not be shown on the platform; however, how videos are considered to be demonetized has had a harmful impact upon both viewers and content creators. Transgender creators on YouTube, for example, have experienced unfair censorship via demonetization since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Disney |first=Malia |title=Trans YouTubers Say They Are Being Censored. Is It The Algorithm? |url=https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |website=Youth Radio Media
|date=4 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130035845/https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |archive-date=30 Jan 2023}}</ref> Content creators affected by this unfairly balanced moderation via algorithms<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cantz |first=Randy |title=Adpocalypse: How YouTube Demonetization Imperils the Future of Free Speech |url=https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |website=Berkeley Political Review |date=1 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424095310/https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |archive-date=24 Apr 2024}}</ref> have dubbed these events as "adpocalypses".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |title=YouTubers fear looming ‘adpocalypse’ after child exploitation controversy
|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |website=The Verge |date=20 Feb 2019 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220205927/https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |archive-date=20 Feb 2019}}</ref>

====Irresponsibly automated moderation====
When YouTube integrated the ability to take down videos via the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] (DMCA), they decided to often handle take-down requests in an automated manner.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Jines |first=Chuck |title=ABUSE – How DMCA automated takedown notices violate free speech |url=https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |website=Chuck Jines |date=4 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250303201747/https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |archive-date=3 Mar 2025}}</ref> This automation has led to an excess in fraudulent DMCA take-downs of content,<ref>{{Cite web |author=itanshi |title=I'd like to talk about the problem with anonymous DMCA take down notices. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Mar 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606184354/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |archive-date=6 Jun 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=The Last Civil Rights Lawyer |title=“Lackluster” Gets a Fraudulent Copyright Strike for Dashcam Footage and Now We Sue |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |website=YouTube |date=21 Jul 2021 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |archive-date=2 Feb 2026}}</ref> even going so far as to have [[Bungie]] call out YouTube in a legal case for their negligence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodkin
|first=John |title=Bungie slams YouTube’s DMCA system in lawsuit against ''Destiny'' takedown fraudsters |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |website=Ars Technica |date=28 Mar 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329203809/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |archive-date=29 Mar 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maxwell |first=Andy |title=Digital Trails: How Bungie Identified a Mass Sender of Fake DMCA Notices |url=https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |website=TorrentFreak |date=24 Jun 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624070824/https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |archive-date=24 Jun 2022}}</ref> These take-down requests have ranged from users impersonating corporations, to users impersonating other users.<ref name=":3" />

===Crackdown against ad-blockers===

The prevalence of advertising on the platform, coupled with the repeated appearance of harmful and deceptive ads within YouTube's advertising system, led a significant number of users to employ ad-blocking tools to facilitate their viewing experience.

In response, Google initiated technical countermeasures to limit the functionality of these tools. This has resulted in an ongoing cycle where ad-blocker developers adapt to new restrictions, and the platform subsequently implements further detection methods. A key strategy in this effort involves the implementation of advanced code integrity checks designed to ensure ad content is delivered to viewers.

However, these measures typically exhibit limited efficacy before ad-blocking tools develop new methods of circumvention,<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Flaherty |first=Kate |title=YouTube’s Ad Blocker Ban Just Got Even Bigger |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |url-access=subscription |website=Forbes |date=20 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620123932/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |archive-date=20 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harding |first=Scharon |title=YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown escalates, aggravating users |url=https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |website=Ars Technica |date=1 Nov 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101170643/https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |archive-date=1 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube blocks adblockers; will this be their downfall? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |website=YouTube |date=12 Oct 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |archive-date=13 Oct 2023}}</ref> a dynamic that some analysts suggest exemplifies the {{Wplink|Streisand effect}}.<ref>{{Cite web |author=phub |title=Brave no longer blocking youtube ads as of March 27, 2024 |url=https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |website=Brave |date=27 Mar 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240801101510/https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |archive-date=1 Aug 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube's adblock war is backfiring in the worst way possible 🤣 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |website=YouTube |date=5 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |archive-date=5 Nov 2023}}</ref>

Additional strategies have involved the integration of advertisements directly into video streams. This approach has impaired the functionality of certain browser extensions, including SponsorBlock, a community-driven tool designed to skip sponsored segments within videos. The extension relies on user-submitted timestamps to identify these segments; its effectiveness is significantly reduced when personalized advertisements, which vary in duration and placement for each viewer, are embedded into the stream itself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis
|title=Youtube is dedicated to making this website worse; destroys sponsorblock with ad injection changes |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |website=YouTube |date=18 Jun 2024
|access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |archive-date=28 Jul 2024}}</ref>

Google has publicly acknowledged implementing code that degrades the user experience for individuals using ad blockers. This includes introducing artificial latency, which has been documented to slow page load times, a measure that also affected users of the Firefox browser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Youtube confirms intentional slowdown of adblock users 🤦‍♂️ |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |website=YouTube |date=23 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |archive-date=23 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Is Youtube making firefox load slow on purpose? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |website=YouTube |date=21 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |archive-date=21 Nov 2023}}</ref>

===Offline video DRM===
The YouTube Mobile application permits users with a YouTube Premium subscription to download videos for offline viewing. However, the downloaded content is protected by [[Digital rights management|Digital Rights Management]] (DRM) that requires the application to establish an online connection with YouTube's servers at least once every 48 hours to maintain playback functionality. This requirement is not prominently featured on the primary YouTube Premium marketing page and is detailed instead within the platform's support documentation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author= |date= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251111004845/https://www.youtube.com/premium |archive-date=11 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Watch videos offline on mobile in selected countries and regions |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |website=[[Google]] |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250719175650/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |archive-date=19 Jul 2025}}</ref>

Saved videos are forcibly deleted after 29 days. [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|Data lock-in and proprietary encoding]] prevents the user from making permanent copies of videos, even those licensed under Creative Commons.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santos |first=Noel |title=Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files |url=https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |website=Virtual Curiosities |date=7 Dec 2024 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |archive-date=26 Nov 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Mental Outlaw |title=Google is Locking Down Android |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |website=YouTube |date=28 Aug 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |archive-date=29 Aug 2025}}</ref>

===Universal DRM testing and violation of Creative Commons licenses===
YouTube on TV is an {{Wplink|HTML5}} web interface from Google to allow supported devices — such as game consoles which do not have a native YouTube app — to view content via YouTube. An {{Wplink|A/B testing|A/B experiment}} has begun which protects all video and audio content regardless of bit-rate or format via the YouTube on TV platform with DRM.<ref>{{Cite web |author=coletdjnz |title=[YouTube] DRM on ALL videos with tv (TVHTML5) client #12563 |url=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |website=GitHub |date=8 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250330031529/https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |archive-date=30 Mar 2025}}</ref> A number of content creators license their work uploaded to YouTube via the {{Wplink|Creative Commons}} licenses. The universal implementation of DRM to restrict a user's ability to exercise their rights granted by the license is a violation of the aforementioned licenses.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=License Versions |url=https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |website=Creative Commons |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101062938/https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |archive-date=1 Jan 2025}}</ref>

===Pay-walling standard browser features===
Another premium feature of the YouTube mobile app is the ability to play videos in the background.<ref name=":0" /> Without a premium subscription, neither the app nor a web browser will play YouTube videos in the background. However, the default HTML5 video player supports this with no extra effort needed from the developer.

On 7 February 2026, it was reported that YouTube Music was testing a feature that would paywall song lyrics, which were previously a free feature since 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardwick |first=Tim |title=YouTube Music lyrics now require a Premium subscription |url=https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |website=9TO5Google |date=7 Feb 2026 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260208225137/https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |archive-date=8 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Removal of the dislike count on videos===
On 10 November 2021, YouTube removed the public dislike count from all of its videos. Creators are still be able to view dislike counts on their videos through the YouTube Studio website and app.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |author= |title=An update to dislikes on YouTube |url=https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |website=YouTube Official Blog |date=10 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110173333/https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |archive-date=10 Nov 2021}}</ref>

According to YouTube, this was implemented after user testing revealed that users were less likely to feel incentivized to actively try and manipulate the dislike count on videos if the dislike count was not visible to them.<ref name=":2" /> This spurred the creation of "Return YouTube Dislike" by Dmitry Selivanov, a third-party web browser extension to expose the dislike count again. YouTube discontinued the related {{Wplink|API}}, upon which the extension relied, on 13 December 2021. From thereon "Return YouTube Dislike" switched "to using a combination of archived dislike stats, estimates extrapolated from extension user data and estimates based on view/like ratios for videos whose dislikes weren't archived and for outdated dislike archives."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Can |first=Michael |title=Browser Extension Brings Back Dislike Count to YouTube Videos |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos
|website=PC Mag |date=29 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130001311/https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos |archive-date=30 Nov 2021}}</ref>

=== Removal of chronological searching ===
In January 2026, YouTube removed the ability to search videos by the most recently uploaded, as well as the "last hour" search filter. The "last day" search filter is the narrowest remaining time filter.

A Google employee stated that this change is intended to "improve content discovery" and that they are "simplifying and reorganizing the filter menu to make it more intuitive and improve the overall search experience".<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/400586735/changes-to-youtube-search-filters-to-improve-content-discovery?hl=en Changes to YouTube Search Filters to Improve Content Discovery - YouTube Community]</ref> However, it was noted that this makes it more difficult to discover eyewitness stories that are alternative to mainstream outlets, and makes it harder for watchers to discover channels with low subscriber counts.<ref>[https://piunikaweb.com/2026/01/06/youtube-upload-date-filter-removal-test-web/ YouTube may be testing removal of Upload date filter from search on web]</ref>
<ref>[https://www.recentreborn.com/blog/why-did-youtube-remove-the-last-hour-filter Why did YouTube remove the "last hour" filter? — RecentReborn]</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1q8szsr/youtube_removes_the_sort_by_upload_date_option/ Youtube removes the "Sort by Upload Date" option pretending it didn't work, the reality? They want absolute control of the information you are allowed to get from the site : youtube] - Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1qjgsln/youtube_removed_the_ability_to_sort_by_upload/ Youtube removed the ability to sort by upload date as of today. : youtube] - Reddit</ref>

===Anti-features and dark patterns to trick the user into staying longer===
YouTube's algorithm was engineered to make the user watch more videos than they intended, to earn more ad revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicas |first=Jack |title=How YouTube Drives People to the Internet’s Darkest Corners |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |url-access=subscription |website=The Wall Street Journal. |date=7 Feb 2018 |access-date=29 Jan 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208091112/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |archive-date=8 Dec 2018 |quote=YouTube engineered its algorithm several years ago to make the site “sticky”—to recommend videos that keep users staying to watch still more, said current and former YouTube engineers who helped build it. The site earns money selling ads that run before and during videos.}}</ref> This is on top of a feature called Autoplay, which queues another video (chosen by Youtube's algorithm) and plays that automatically after a short delay so you keep watching more. Through this mechanism, children will especially have their attention extracted for several hours.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |author= |title=James Bridle: What Do Kids' Videos on YouTube Reveal About the Internet's Dark Side? |others=NPR/TED Staff |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |website=NPR |date=2 Nov 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620234159/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |archive-date=20 Jun 2025 |quote="And also, on the other side of the screen, there still are these little kids watching this stuff - right? - their full attention grabbed by these weird mechanisms. And so there's autoplay, where it just keeps playing these videos over and over and over on a loop, endlessly, for hours and hours at a time. And there's so much weirdness in the system now that autoplay takes you to some pretty strange places. This is how within, like, a dozen steps, you can go from a cute video of a counting train to masturbating Mickey Mouse."}}</ref>

By default, this feature is enabled.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Autoplay videos - YouTube Help |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |website=[[Google]] |date=4 Apr 2025 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401080124/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |archive-date=1 Apr 2025}}</ref>

===Crackdown against third-party front-ends===

Since the beginning of 2025, users have been reporting issues with third-party front-ends accessing the platform.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Fijxu |title=Youtube changed something, again! |url=https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |website=nadeko |date=16 Feb 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250816014757/https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref> For FreeTube, there has been a heightened amount of people receiving {{Wplink|HTTP 403|403 errors}} associated with IP blocks when attempting to view videos via this front-end.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Gevaarlijk |title=[Bug]: [BAD_HTTP_STATUS: 403] Potential causes: IP block or streaming URL deciphering failed #6701 |url=https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |website=GitHub |date=31 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260105144421/https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |archive-date=5 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===AI filtering without consent===
YouTube is testing an experiment on Shorts content that enhances a video's detail without the creator's consent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reisner |first=Alex |title=YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’
|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |website=The Atlantic |date=22 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250822194955/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2025}}</ref> The resulting output tends to look plastic. This change has been observed as early as 27 June 2025<ref>{{Cite web |author=Ulincsys |title=YouTube Shorts are almost certainly being AI upscaled |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250827144146/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |archive-date=27 Aug 2025}}</ref> and affects creators who especially intend the video to be viewed in a certain way, such as the "{{Wplink|VHS}} look".<ref>{{Cite web |author=dolanbriese |title=YouTube Shorts are becoming AI upscaled without consent from creators |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=21 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251003103832/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |archive-date=3 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rhett Shull, in his video, opines such a change "will inevitably erode viewers trust in my content [...] or any of the other creators on this platform that we all watch and we all follow" due to implications that the creator may be using AI, and "also erodes my trust in the platform."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shull |first=Rhett |title=YouTube Is Using AI to Alter Content (and not telling us) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |website=YouTube |date=14 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>

Artist Sam Yang uploaded a video on 30 August 2025, following up on the issue using his own work for comparison, testing the claims that this is merely compression scaling, adding an artist's eye and commentary to the issue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yang |first=Sam |title=Youtube is Using AI on Your Shorts Without Consent.. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |website=YouTube |date=30 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref>

Users also complained about a dangerous flickering that happens under some videos. Some forwarded this issue to YouTube scientist Anton Petrov, to which he replicated the issue and showed it under a video uploaded 25 October 2025, noting it happens on one of his devices, more specifically a mobile phone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrov |first=Anton |title=YouTube AI Filter Is Making My Videos Dangerous To Watch |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |website=YouTube |date=25 Oct 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |archive-date=26 Oct 2025}}</ref>

===Wave of channel terminations (''2025'')===
In November 2025, multiple YouTube channels, including Enderman, Scratchit Gaming, and 4096 were reportedly terminated in a massive ban wave under false reasons, such as association with a Japanese-language channel "椛のスターレイル遊び" which translates roughly as "Momiji plays Honkai: Star Rail Adventures," a reference to a Japanese role-playing game. Some have blamed the ban wave on the malfunctions of YouTube's AI-powered moderation system.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Binder |first=Matt |title=Big YouTube channels are being banned. YouTubers are blaming AI. |url=https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |website=Mashable |date=4 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260221125020/https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |archive-date=21 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===API restrictions===
In June 2023, YouTube forced Matt Wright, maintainer of the YouTube Metadata tool, to remove the exporting feature which let people export YouTube metadata such as video descriptions into a file. This did not include the videos themselves. It can be assumed that this is the "tip of an iceberg" and YouTube made many such requests without them being publicly documented.<ref>[https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Export Feature? · mattwright324/youtube-metadata · Discussion #150 · GitHub] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251214094758/https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Archived])</ref>

===Prevention of offline video preservation (downloading)===
Creating permanent local copies of videos is strongly discouraged by YouTube.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Vsauce Answers the 100 Most Googled Questions | WIRED] (at 7:20 and 8:57) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Archived]).</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com:443/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E How To Legally Download YouTube Videos] - Tim Schmoyer - Video Creators TV (clickbait - it is an advertisement for "YouTube Red", the earlier name of "YouTube Premium", and only shows the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Studio that lets channel owners download only their own uploaded videos) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E Archived]).</ref> YouTube is taking measures to prevent people from backing up videos locally. From a YouTube help center article:

<blockquote>
In order to protect the YouTube community, we may prevent signed-out users from accessing YouTube videos when they're attempting to download material for offline use.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Troubleshoot YouTube video errors - YouTube Help] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260323195048/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Archived])</ref>

It is not specified what preventing offline use is intended to protect against.

YouTube also regularly purges tutorial videos that show how to create local copies of videos.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120813001114/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqFiUrhTc How To Download Convert YouTube Videos 2 Anything] - ifxman (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLLOij1GSQ How to download youtube videos without any software] - Ritace40 (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121003225255/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xf6uukCHmk Download Youtube Videos Free -- No Software!] - MKBHD (later removed by YouTube)</ref>

Instead, YouTube wants its users to pay monthly for its subscription service, YouTube Premium, to have any form of offline access to videos. YouTube Premium comes with a "download" feature, however, it is useless for long-term archival of videos given that it only lets users store temporary local copies of YouTube videos that are forcibly deleted after 29 days. In addition, to thwart any permanent preservation, the videos are stored with [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|data lock-in]] and proprietary encoding in a format only recognized by the YouTube app, to prevent local copying.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref name="VirtualCuriosities">[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ YouTube downloads not working - Megathread] - /r/cobalt_tools - Reddit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260322015608/https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ Archived]).</ref>

While YouTube can advertise its Premium service as technically allowing "downloading", the deceptive marketing comes from exploiting the fact that the user expects so-called "downloading" to result in a file stored in the web browser's Download folder, accessible from other software, instead of the [[data lock-in]] that YouTube Premium actually has. The 29-day storage limit coupled with data lock-in render the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Premium useless for any long-term archival.<ref name="VirtualCuriosities" />

Downloading local copies of YouTube videos through "unofficial" and "unapproved" means is the only recourse against the loss of Internet history caused by videos being unpublished by channel owners or YouTube, and against a future shutdown of YouTube. As of 2026, there is no certainty that YouTube will be operating by the year 2050, for instance.

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- Karl Voit<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

Videos can disappear from YouTube for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, channel owners decide to "move on" and delete (or otherwise unpublish) their entire history of uploads. Sometimes, videos contain something Google doesn't like and they take them down, one example being "Android is losing a big feature" by comedian Sam Tucker (SAMTIME).<ref>[https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME, Archived from the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube] - video removed for unspecified violations.</ref>

Sometimes, YouTube's community guidelines grow stricter, retroactively outruling existing content, and entire channels are taken down due to strikes on only a few videos, resulting in the collateral loss of all other videos, one famous example being Mumkey Jones.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8-ETSDgcs Mumkey Jones: YouTube's Most Wanted] - j aubrey ([https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Te8-ETSDgcs Archived])</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:YouTube]]

YouTube

2026-03-29T22:29:23Z

JodyBruchonFan: removal of chronological searching

{{ProductLineCargo
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Streaming, Video
|Company=Google
|Description=
|InProduction=Yes
|Logo=YouTube.png
|ReleaseYear=2005
|Website=https://youtube.com
}}

'''{{Wplink|YouTube}}''', founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, is a global video-sharing platform and one of the most visited websites in the world. Acquired by [[Google]] in 2006, YouTube has since become the dominant platform for sharing videos on the internet.

YouTube's business model is built around advertising revenue, with creators earning money through ad views, subscriptions, and other monetization options. The platform hosts a wide range of content, including music videos, tutorials, news, video logs ("vlogs"), and live streams. YouTube has also begun offering subscription services, such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, for ad-free experiences, exclusive content, and live television.

YouTube has faced criticism and regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts. Concerns have been raised about content moderation policies, the platform's role in the spread of misinformation, and its impact on user privacy, particularly in relation to data collection practices. Additionally, YouTube has been under fire for its algorithms, which some argue promote harmful or divisive content to maximize engagement.

==Consumer impact summary==
*'''User freedom:''' Questionable and highly contradictory due rampant bots, falsely accusing others of using their intellectual properties or “IP” for short (although it’s usually either others’ IPs, or it’s criticism, parodies, documentation, commentary, or other fair uses), and [[Elsagate]] suggest negligent moderation.
*'''User privacy:''' Poor; Since August 2025, accessing mature content without identification is a gamble. User data is also sold to advertisers and the site is owned by [[Google]].
*'''Business model:''' [[Advertising overload|Excessive advertising]], YouTube Premium, YouTube Premium Lite
*'''Market competition:''' Despite several platforms that follow its niche, such as Odysee, [[PeerTube]], and [[DailyMotion]], they provide no significant competition.

==Incidents==
===Elsagate===
{{Main|Elsagate}}

The first "Elsagate" incident arose sometime during the mid-2010s on YouTube, though it was not discovered and named until 2016. It has since been used as a catch-all term for content that appears child-friendly at first glance but, in actuality, contains suggestive or outright illicit material targeted at minors. This is accomplished by using major intellectual properties for children, such as the Elsa character from the 2013 [[Disney]] film ''{{Wplink|Frozen (2013 film)|Frozen}}'' and [[Minecraft]].

Although the problem is not unique to the YouTube platform, its dominance in the video sphere makes it an attractive target.

===Restricting users that don't share their personal information===
{{Main|YouTube age verification}}

On 30 July 2025, in response to the [[UK Online Safety Act]], YouTube announced a verification update that asks for either a government-issued ID, a photo, or credit card, otherwise they could not access content.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ingram |first=Michael |title=YouTube is Rolling Out A New Controversial Feature |url=https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |website=GameRant |date=30 Jul 2025 |access-date=14 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250730234131/https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |archive-date=30 Jul 2025}}</ref>

YouTube will estimate the age of a user from various sources, including the videos watched, and will ask for previously mentioned personal information when it believes that the user falls below 18.

===Advertising overload on YouTube===
{{Main|Advertising overload}}

Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=How YouTube Works |url=https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/ |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260101140008/https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/creator-economy/ |archive-date=1 Jan 2026}}</ref> This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Jordan |date=20 Jan 2024 |title=Why YouTube Has So Many Ads (and Why There Will Probably Be More) |url=https://www.33rdsquare.com/software-app/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/GjC82 |archive-date=24 Feb 2026 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |website=33rd Square}}</ref> such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads, longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |first=Aamir |title=Frustrated YouTube viewers seek explanation for hour-long unskippable ads (Updated: Clarification) |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128162022/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dirscherl |first=Hans-Christian |last2=Lee |first2=Joel |title=Hours-long unskippable ads spotted on YouTube. What’s going on? |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |website=PCWorld |date=28 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129183554/https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |archive-date=29 Jan 2025}}</ref> and most prevalent on YouTube TV<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adegbola |first=Anu
|title=YouTube tests longer CTV ad breaks |url=https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |website=Search Engine Land |date=16 Aug 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816143812/https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |archive-date=16 Aug 2024}}</ref>), increased ad frequency in videos,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Arol |title=YouTube is Adding Even More Ads |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |website=How-To-Geek |date=26 Apr 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426192258/https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |archive-date=26 Apr 2024}}</ref> and poorer quality ads.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |author=T3rr0r |title=BAD Mobile Game Ads |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |website=YouTube |date=17 Oct 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Knoblauch |first=Max |title=Why are mobile game ads so weird and bad? |url=https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |website=Sherwood News |date=14 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614151756/https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |archive-date=14 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=The DISGUSTING State of Mobile Game Ads (and why YouTube LOVES IT) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |website=YouTube |date=18 Sep 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref> Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEC |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=6 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260206072120/https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AED |archive-date=6 Feb 2026}}</ref>

Furthermore, even if a user pays for YouTube premium, they do not necessarily receive an ad-free experience<ref>{{Cite web |author=CaptainMystery_123 |title=I have YouTube premium, why am I getting adds. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=18 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525154227/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |archive-date=25 May 2025}}</ref> — they may still see ads within the video they watch, such as sponsored segments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Can you still see ads if you have YouTube Premium? Here's what Google has to say |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |website=Android Authority |date=10 May 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251211123241/https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |archive-date=11 Dec 2025}}</ref> YouTube has added a "skip" feature, but it has been reported that this does not work consistently.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Anurag |title=YouTube now lets you skip sponsored segments — but you’ll have to pay for it |url=https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |website=Dexerto |date=22 Aug 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822211151/https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2024}}</ref>

====Refusal to handle malicious ads====
A common phenomenon on YouTube's advertisements is content that is mature and/or malicious in nature.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Beyond The Internet |title=YouTube Ads are inappropriate... |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |website=YouTube |date=22 Feb 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |archive-date=23 Feb 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Explicit ads are plaguing YouTube, and it’s only getting worse
|url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127062033/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |archive-date=27 Jan 2025}}</ref> The content of these advertisements include pornography,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=YouTube's Ads Have Hit A New Low...(it's literally p*rn) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |website=YouTube |date=31 Mar 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |archive-date=2 Apr 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> false advertising,<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> scams,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Jakob_G |title=YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=12 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217150604/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |archive-date=17 Dec 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=JerryRigEverything |title=I CAUGHT THE YOUTUBE SCAMMER - $1000 dollars EVERY DAY?! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |website=YouTube |date=9 Mar 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=LoganAH |title=Why does YouTube run blatant scams as advertisements? |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=22 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713054442/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |archive-date=13 Jul 2025}}</ref> and far more. Rather than working towards clearing these ads, or acknowledging this advertising content that has been harming consumers on the platform, YouTube moderation has only cut the revenue for these videos that attempt to call out these ads,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Deep Humor |title=Watch This Before YouTube Deletes It. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |website=YouTube |date=24 Feb 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |archive-date=26 Feb 2025}}</ref> which has been known to make said videos be less-showcased.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |author=Sealow |title=Extensive evidence of algorithm censorship of demonetised videos |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |website=YouTube |date=29 Nov 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |author=Karlaplan |date=20 Nov 2017 |title=Monetisation analysis / research |url=https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Karlaplan_Monetisation_analysis_research_.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://consumerrights.wiki/images/5/5c/Karlaplan_Monetisation_analysis_research_.pdf |archive-date=24 Mar 2026 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |website=[[Google]]}}</ref>

===Demonetization and censorship===
Since at least 2016, YouTube has had an extensive record of censoring content that is demonetized.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Within understandable circumstances, legitimately malicious or offensive videos would be demonetized and should not be shown on the platform; however, how videos are considered to be demonetized has had a harmful impact upon both viewers and content creators. Transgender creators on YouTube, for example, have experienced unfair censorship via demonetization since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Disney |first=Malia |title=Trans YouTubers Say They Are Being Censored. Is It The Algorithm? |url=https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |website=Youth Radio Media
|date=4 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130035845/https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |archive-date=30 Jan 2023}}</ref> Content creators affected by this unfairly balanced moderation via algorithms<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cantz |first=Randy |title=Adpocalypse: How YouTube Demonetization Imperils the Future of Free Speech |url=https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |website=Berkeley Political Review |date=1 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424095310/https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |archive-date=24 Apr 2024}}</ref> have dubbed these events as "adpocalypses".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |title=YouTubers fear looming ‘adpocalypse’ after child exploitation controversy
|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |website=The Verge |date=20 Feb 2019 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220205927/https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |archive-date=20 Feb 2019}}</ref>

====Irresponsibly automated moderation====
When YouTube integrated the ability to take down videos via the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] (DMCA), they decided to often handle take-down requests in an automated manner.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Jines |first=Chuck |title=ABUSE – How DMCA automated takedown notices violate free speech |url=https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |website=Chuck Jines |date=4 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250303201747/https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |archive-date=3 Mar 2025}}</ref> This automation has led to an excess in fraudulent DMCA take-downs of content,<ref>{{Cite web |author=itanshi |title=I'd like to talk about the problem with anonymous DMCA take down notices. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Mar 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606184354/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |archive-date=6 Jun 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=The Last Civil Rights Lawyer |title=“Lackluster” Gets a Fraudulent Copyright Strike for Dashcam Footage and Now We Sue |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |website=YouTube |date=21 Jul 2021 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |archive-date=2 Feb 2026}}</ref> even going so far as to have [[Bungie]] call out YouTube in a legal case for their negligence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodkin
|first=John |title=Bungie slams YouTube’s DMCA system in lawsuit against ''Destiny'' takedown fraudsters |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |website=Ars Technica |date=28 Mar 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329203809/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |archive-date=29 Mar 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maxwell |first=Andy |title=Digital Trails: How Bungie Identified a Mass Sender of Fake DMCA Notices |url=https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |website=TorrentFreak |date=24 Jun 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624070824/https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |archive-date=24 Jun 2022}}</ref> These take-down requests have ranged from users impersonating corporations, to users impersonating other users.<ref name=":3" />

===Crackdown against ad-blockers===

The prevalence of advertising on the platform, coupled with the repeated appearance of harmful and deceptive ads within YouTube's advertising system, led a significant number of users to employ ad-blocking tools to facilitate their viewing experience.

In response, Google initiated technical countermeasures to limit the functionality of these tools. This has resulted in an ongoing cycle where ad-blocker developers adapt to new restrictions, and the platform subsequently implements further detection methods. A key strategy in this effort involves the implementation of advanced code integrity checks designed to ensure ad content is delivered to viewers.

However, these measures typically exhibit limited efficacy before ad-blocking tools develop new methods of circumvention,<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Flaherty |first=Kate |title=YouTube’s Ad Blocker Ban Just Got Even Bigger |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |url-access=subscription |website=Forbes |date=20 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620123932/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |archive-date=20 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harding |first=Scharon |title=YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown escalates, aggravating users |url=https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |website=Ars Technica |date=1 Nov 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101170643/https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |archive-date=1 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube blocks adblockers; will this be their downfall? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |website=YouTube |date=12 Oct 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |archive-date=13 Oct 2023}}</ref> a dynamic that some analysts suggest exemplifies the {{Wplink|Streisand effect}}.<ref>{{Cite web |author=phub |title=Brave no longer blocking youtube ads as of March 27, 2024 |url=https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |website=Brave |date=27 Mar 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240801101510/https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |archive-date=1 Aug 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube's adblock war is backfiring in the worst way possible 🤣 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |website=YouTube |date=5 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |archive-date=5 Nov 2023}}</ref>

Additional strategies have involved the integration of advertisements directly into video streams. This approach has impaired the functionality of certain browser extensions, including SponsorBlock, a community-driven tool designed to skip sponsored segments within videos. The extension relies on user-submitted timestamps to identify these segments; its effectiveness is significantly reduced when personalized advertisements, which vary in duration and placement for each viewer, are embedded into the stream itself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis
|title=Youtube is dedicated to making this website worse; destroys sponsorblock with ad injection changes |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |website=YouTube |date=18 Jun 2024
|access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |archive-date=28 Jul 2024}}</ref>

Google has publicly acknowledged implementing code that degrades the user experience for individuals using ad blockers. This includes introducing artificial latency, which has been documented to slow page load times, a measure that also affected users of the Firefox browser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Youtube confirms intentional slowdown of adblock users 🤦‍♂️ |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |website=YouTube |date=23 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |archive-date=23 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Is Youtube making firefox load slow on purpose? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |website=YouTube |date=21 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |archive-date=21 Nov 2023}}</ref>

===Offline video DRM===
The YouTube Mobile application permits users with a YouTube Premium subscription to download videos for offline viewing. However, the downloaded content is protected by [[Digital rights management|Digital Rights Management]] (DRM) that requires the application to establish an online connection with YouTube's servers at least once every 48 hours to maintain playback functionality. This requirement is not prominently featured on the primary YouTube Premium marketing page and is detailed instead within the platform's support documentation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author= |date= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251111004845/https://www.youtube.com/premium |archive-date=11 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Watch videos offline on mobile in selected countries and regions |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |website=[[Google]] |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250719175650/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |archive-date=19 Jul 2025}}</ref>

Saved videos are forcibly deleted after 29 days. [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|Data lock-in and proprietary encoding]] prevents the user from making permanent copies of videos, even those licensed under Creative Commons.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santos |first=Noel |title=Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files |url=https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |website=Virtual Curiosities |date=7 Dec 2024 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |archive-date=26 Nov 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Mental Outlaw |title=Google is Locking Down Android |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |website=YouTube |date=28 Aug 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |archive-date=29 Aug 2025}}</ref>

===Universal DRM testing and violation of Creative Commons licenses===
YouTube on TV is an {{Wplink|HTML5}} web interface from Google to allow supported devices — such as game consoles which do not have a native YouTube app — to view content via YouTube. An {{Wplink|A/B testing|A/B experiment}} has begun which protects all video and audio content regardless of bit-rate or format via the YouTube on TV platform with DRM.<ref>{{Cite web |author=coletdjnz |title=[YouTube] DRM on ALL videos with tv (TVHTML5) client #12563 |url=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |website=GitHub |date=8 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250330031529/https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |archive-date=30 Mar 2025}}</ref> A number of content creators license their work uploaded to YouTube via the {{Wplink|Creative Commons}} licenses. The universal implementation of DRM to restrict a user's ability to exercise their rights granted by the license is a violation of the aforementioned licenses.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=License Versions |url=https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |website=Creative Commons |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101062938/https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |archive-date=1 Jan 2025}}</ref>

===Pay-walling standard browser features===
Another premium feature of the YouTube mobile app is the ability to play videos in the background.<ref name=":0" /> Without a premium subscription, neither the app nor a web browser will play YouTube videos in the background. However, the default HTML5 video player supports this with no extra effort needed from the developer.

On 7 February 2026, it was reported that YouTube Music was testing a feature that would paywall song lyrics, which were previously a free feature since 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardwick |first=Tim |title=YouTube Music lyrics now require a Premium subscription |url=https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |website=9TO5Google |date=7 Feb 2026 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260208225137/https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |archive-date=8 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Removal of the dislike count on videos===
On 10 November 2021, YouTube removed the public dislike count from all of its videos. Creators are still be able to view dislike counts on their videos through the YouTube Studio website and app.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |author= |title=An update to dislikes on YouTube |url=https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |website=YouTube Official Blog |date=10 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110173333/https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |archive-date=10 Nov 2021}}</ref>

According to YouTube, this was implemented after user testing revealed that users were less likely to feel incentivized to actively try and manipulate the dislike count on videos if the dislike count was not visible to them.<ref name=":2" /> This spurred the creation of "Return YouTube Dislike" by Dmitry Selivanov, a third-party web browser extension to expose the dislike count again. YouTube discontinued the related {{Wplink|API}}, upon which the extension relied, on 13 December 2021. From thereon "Return YouTube Dislike" switched "to using a combination of archived dislike stats, estimates extrapolated from extension user data and estimates based on view/like ratios for videos whose dislikes weren't archived and for outdated dislike archives."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Can |first=Michael |title=Browser Extension Brings Back Dislike Count to YouTube Videos |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos
|website=PC Mag |date=29 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130001311/https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos |archive-date=30 Nov 2021}}</ref>

=== Removal of chronological searching ===
In early 2026, YouTube removed the ability to search videos by the most recently uploaded, as well as the "last hour" search filter. The "last day" search filter is the narrowest remaining time filter.

A Google employee stated that this change is intended to "improve content discovery" and that they are "simplifying and reorganizing the filter menu to make it more intuitive and improve the overall search experience".<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/thread/400586735/changes-to-youtube-search-filters-to-improve-content-discovery?hl=en Changes to YouTube Search Filters to Improve Content Discovery - YouTube Community]</ref> However, it was noted that this makes it more difficult to discover eyewitness stories that are alternative to mainstream outlets, and makes it harder for watchers to discover channels with low subscriber counts.<ref>[https://piunikaweb.com/2026/01/06/youtube-upload-date-filter-removal-test-web/ YouTube may be testing removal of Upload date filter from search on web]</ref>
<ref>[https://www.recentreborn.com/blog/why-did-youtube-remove-the-last-hour-filter Why did YouTube remove the "last hour" filter? — RecentReborn]</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1q8szsr/youtube_removes_the_sort_by_upload_date_option/ Youtube removes the "Sort by Upload Date" option pretending it didn't work, the reality? They want absolute control of the information you are allowed to get from the site : youtube] - Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1qjgsln/youtube_removed_the_ability_to_sort_by_upload/ Youtube removed the ability to sort by upload date as of today. : youtube] - Reddit</ref>

===Anti-features and dark patterns to trick the user into staying longer===
YouTube's algorithm was engineered to make the user watch more videos than they intended, to earn more ad revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicas |first=Jack |title=How YouTube Drives People to the Internet’s Darkest Corners |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |url-access=subscription |website=The Wall Street Journal. |date=7 Feb 2018 |access-date=29 Jan 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208091112/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |archive-date=8 Dec 2018 |quote=YouTube engineered its algorithm several years ago to make the site “sticky”—to recommend videos that keep users staying to watch still more, said current and former YouTube engineers who helped build it. The site earns money selling ads that run before and during videos.}}</ref> This is on top of a feature called Autoplay, which queues another video (chosen by Youtube's algorithm) and plays that automatically after a short delay so you keep watching more. Through this mechanism, children will especially have their attention extracted for several hours.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |author= |title=James Bridle: What Do Kids' Videos on YouTube Reveal About the Internet's Dark Side? |others=NPR/TED Staff |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |website=NPR |date=2 Nov 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620234159/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |archive-date=20 Jun 2025 |quote="And also, on the other side of the screen, there still are these little kids watching this stuff - right? - their full attention grabbed by these weird mechanisms. And so there's autoplay, where it just keeps playing these videos over and over and over on a loop, endlessly, for hours and hours at a time. And there's so much weirdness in the system now that autoplay takes you to some pretty strange places. This is how within, like, a dozen steps, you can go from a cute video of a counting train to masturbating Mickey Mouse."}}</ref>

By default, this feature is enabled.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Autoplay videos - YouTube Help |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |website=[[Google]] |date=4 Apr 2025 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401080124/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |archive-date=1 Apr 2025}}</ref>

===Crackdown against third-party front-ends===

Since the beginning of 2025, users have been reporting issues with third-party front-ends accessing the platform.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Fijxu |title=Youtube changed something, again! |url=https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |website=nadeko |date=16 Feb 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250816014757/https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref> For FreeTube, there has been a heightened amount of people receiving {{Wplink|HTTP 403|403 errors}} associated with IP blocks when attempting to view videos via this front-end.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Gevaarlijk |title=[Bug]: [BAD_HTTP_STATUS: 403] Potential causes: IP block or streaming URL deciphering failed #6701 |url=https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |website=GitHub |date=31 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260105144421/https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |archive-date=5 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===AI filtering without consent===
YouTube is testing an experiment on Shorts content that enhances a video's detail without the creator's consent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reisner |first=Alex |title=YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’
|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |website=The Atlantic |date=22 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250822194955/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2025}}</ref> The resulting output tends to look plastic. This change has been observed as early as 27 June 2025<ref>{{Cite web |author=Ulincsys |title=YouTube Shorts are almost certainly being AI upscaled |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250827144146/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |archive-date=27 Aug 2025}}</ref> and affects creators who especially intend the video to be viewed in a certain way, such as the "{{Wplink|VHS}} look".<ref>{{Cite web |author=dolanbriese |title=YouTube Shorts are becoming AI upscaled without consent from creators |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=21 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251003103832/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |archive-date=3 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rhett Shull, in his video, opines such a change "will inevitably erode viewers trust in my content [...] or any of the other creators on this platform that we all watch and we all follow" due to implications that the creator may be using AI, and "also erodes my trust in the platform."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shull |first=Rhett |title=YouTube Is Using AI to Alter Content (and not telling us) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |website=YouTube |date=14 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>

Artist Sam Yang uploaded a video on 30 August 2025, following up on the issue using his own work for comparison, testing the claims that this is merely compression scaling, adding an artist's eye and commentary to the issue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yang |first=Sam |title=Youtube is Using AI on Your Shorts Without Consent.. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |website=YouTube |date=30 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref>

Users also complained about a dangerous flickering that happens under some videos. Some forwarded this issue to YouTube scientist Anton Petrov, to which he replicated the issue and showed it under a video uploaded 25 October 2025, noting it happens on one of his devices, more specifically a mobile phone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrov |first=Anton |title=YouTube AI Filter Is Making My Videos Dangerous To Watch |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |website=YouTube |date=25 Oct 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |archive-date=26 Oct 2025}}</ref>

===Wave of channel terminations (''2025'')===
In November 2025, multiple YouTube channels, including Enderman, Scratchit Gaming, and 4096 were reportedly terminated in a massive ban wave under false reasons, such as association with a Japanese-language channel "椛のスターレイル遊び" which translates roughly as "Momiji plays Honkai: Star Rail Adventures," a reference to a Japanese role-playing game. Some have blamed the ban wave on the malfunctions of YouTube's AI-powered moderation system.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Binder |first=Matt |title=Big YouTube channels are being banned. YouTubers are blaming AI. |url=https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |website=Mashable |date=4 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260221125020/https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |archive-date=21 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===API restrictions===
In June 2023, YouTube forced Matt Wright, maintainer of the YouTube Metadata tool, to remove the exporting feature which let people export YouTube metadata such as video descriptions into a file. This did not include the videos themselves. It can be assumed that this is the "tip of an iceberg" and YouTube made many such requests without them being publicly documented.<ref>[https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Export Feature? · mattwright324/youtube-metadata · Discussion #150 · GitHub] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251214094758/https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Archived])</ref>

===Prevention of offline video preservation (downloading)===
Creating permanent local copies of videos is strongly discouraged by YouTube.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Vsauce Answers the 100 Most Googled Questions | WIRED] (at 7:20 and 8:57) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Archived]).</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com:443/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E How To Legally Download YouTube Videos] - Tim Schmoyer - Video Creators TV (clickbait - it is an advertisement for "YouTube Red", the earlier name of "YouTube Premium", and only shows the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Studio that lets channel owners download only their own uploaded videos) ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E Archived]).</ref> YouTube is taking measures to prevent people from backing up videos locally. From a YouTube help center article:

<blockquote>
In order to protect the YouTube community, we may prevent signed-out users from accessing YouTube videos when they're attempting to download material for offline use.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Troubleshoot YouTube video errors - YouTube Help] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260323195048/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Archived])</ref>

It is not specified what preventing offline use is intended to protect against.

YouTube also regularly purges tutorial videos that show how to create local copies of videos.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120813001114/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqFiUrhTc How To Download Convert YouTube Videos 2 Anything] - ifxman (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLLOij1GSQ How to download youtube videos without any software] - Ritace40 (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121003225255/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xf6uukCHmk Download Youtube Videos Free -- No Software!] - MKBHD (later removed by YouTube)</ref>

Instead, YouTube wants its users to pay monthly for its subscription service, YouTube Premium, to have any form of offline access to videos. YouTube Premium comes with a "download" feature, however, it is useless for long-term archival of videos given that it only lets users store temporary local copies of YouTube videos that are forcibly deleted after 29 days. In addition, to thwart any permanent preservation, the videos are stored with [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|data lock-in]] and proprietary encoding in a format only recognized by the YouTube app, to prevent local copying.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref name="VirtualCuriosities">[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ YouTube downloads not working - Megathread] - /r/cobalt_tools - Reddit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260322015608/https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ Archived]).</ref>

While YouTube can advertise its Premium service as technically allowing "downloading", the deceptive marketing comes from exploiting the fact that the user expects so-called "downloading" to result in a file stored in the web browser's Download folder, accessible from other software, instead of the [[data lock-in]] that YouTube Premium actually has. The 29-day storage limit coupled with data lock-in render the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Premium useless for any long-term archival.<ref name="VirtualCuriosities" />

Downloading local copies of YouTube videos through "unofficial" and "unapproved" means is the only recourse against the loss of Internet history caused by videos being unpublished by channel owners or YouTube, and against a future shutdown of YouTube. As of 2026, there is no certainty that YouTube will be operating by the year 2050, for instance.

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- Karl Voit<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

Videos can disappear from YouTube for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, channel owners decide to "move on" and delete (or otherwise unpublish) their entire history of uploads. Sometimes, videos contain something Google doesn't like and they take them down, one example being "Android is losing a big feature" by comedian Sam Tucker (SAMTIME).<ref>[https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME, Archived from the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube] - video removed for unspecified violations.</ref>

Sometimes, YouTube's community guidelines grow stricter, retroactively outruling existing content, and entire channels are taken down due to strikes on only a few videos, resulting in the collateral loss of all other videos, one famous example being Mumkey Jones.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8-ETSDgcs Mumkey Jones: YouTube's Most Wanted] - j aubrey ([https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Te8-ETSDgcs Archived])</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:YouTube]]

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-29T06:28:02Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* If Google were honest */ Added :File:Android dev verif 1984.png by User:Rudxain.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
File:Android dev verif 1984.png|1984 (made by [[User:Rudxain|Rudxain]])
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
| info-op = #0f0

| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
}}
</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== How to insult Google's user interface designers ==
By adding this to your website's CSS:
<pre>
html, body { overscroll-behavior: contain; }
</pre>

This will insult the lack of intelligence of whoever thought [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|making pull-to-refresh mandatory in Chrome]] was a brilliant idea.

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]'', 7:44.

----

<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

User talk:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-29T06:25:47Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* I made another parody/satire */ I love it.

==Welcome, and discussion on tone within the wiki==

Hi @[[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]],

Welcome to the wiki! It's good to see you here and editing, and I just wanted to clarify some things about the policies regarding tone and voice on the wiki.

[[Consumer Rights Wiki:Wiki content policies|In general]], we strive to be mostly neutral and non-judgemental, and avoid making accusations against *specific* companies practices, or incidents (rather, we cite sources who have made such accusations, and explain why they have reached their conclusions) in the voice of the wiki. This, however, is not exclusively the case as in the case of theme articles, such as the pages you've been working on, we allow for opinions to be voiced in the voice of the wiki, and for the wiki to have a clear point of view, but the language used should still generally try and remain quite calm and measured (the 'senator/granny rule' here kind of covers this: [[Consumer Rights Wiki:Editorial guidelines]]), and should reflect the broad consensus of the community.

Your edit on the smart meter page in particular, felt too strongly worded, and I've reverted it. The other ones need some touching up on the tone front, but I think there's a good case for having them on the wiki, and you make some good points!

As a general point of reference, the guidelines on tone, and making points in the wiki's voice are a bit different for theme and non-theme articles. Essentially, theme articles are much more permissive on that front, but articles about specific incidents or companies have to stick to guidelines that are tighter, and a bit more like Wikipedia's.

In any case, we do appreciate your contributions very much, and hope to see you around!

Best wishes,

Keith [[User:Keith|Keith]] ([[User talk:Keith|talk]]) 15:29, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

:I see. Thank you for the explanation. [[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]] ([[User talk:JodyBruchonFan|talk]]) 15:44, 1 October 2025 (UTC)

==Discord==

Mostly just wanted to say I like the bingo card. Do the colors mean anything, or are they just random?

I came here because I saw you mention reservations about discord. I put up a proposal on [[Talk:Main Page#Please add cautions to discord link]], thought it might interest you. Please add to the proposal if you have any suggestions. Thanks. [[User:Drakeula|Drakeula]] ([[User talk:Drakeula|talk]]) 07:12, 19 October 2025 (UTC)

:Thank you :)
:The colours are random.
:Regarding the Discord discussion, thanks for letting me know. Discord is ephemeral and should not be trusted for anything long-term. [[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]] ([[User talk:JodyBruchonFan|talk]]) 16:25, 23 October 2025 (UTC)

==I like your funnies==

I was checking the upload log, and surprised by your submissions. It's hilarious. It describes the feeling I get whenever I tap on that silly notification after Android updates - the feeling like someone spun me in circles, then back just enough to "cancel" out the spin. The proper font is the icing on the cake.

Wish you all the best everytime I see your page <3 [[User:Raster|Raster]] ([[User talk:Raster|talk]]) 16:29, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

:Thank you for your kind words. I am glad you liked it. [[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]] ([[User talk:JodyBruchonFan|talk]]) 23:19, 3 February 2026 (UTC)

==I made another parody/satire==

[[File:Android_dev_verif_1984.png|thumb]]

I forgot to copy-paste the DOM-HTML before closing the tab 🥲 (I wanted to share the source-code) [[User:Rudxain|Rudxain]] ([[User talk:Rudxain|talk]]) 04:26, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

:I love it! Well done! :D [[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]] ([[User talk:JodyBruchonFan|talk]]) 06:25, 29 March 2026 (UTC)

2026-03-29T06:25:03Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Blocking expansions (2022) */ And, not or.

{{CompanyCargo
|Founded=2005
|Industry=Social Media
|Logo=Reddit logo 2023.png
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Public
|Website=https://reddit.com/
|Description=American social media platform based around news aggregation and forum-like "subreddits".
}}

'''{{Wplink|Reddit}}''' is an American social media network for social-news aggregation, content rating, and forums. As of December 2024, Reddit is the eighth most-visited website in the world. It was founded in 2005 by University of Virginia roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, as well as Aaron Swartz.

==Consumer Impact Summary==
*'''User freedom:''' Went closed-source in 2017,<ref name=":0" /> limited free API use<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Huffman |first=Steve "spez" |title=Addressing the community about changes to our API |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/ |website=Reddit |date=9 Jun 2023 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250603012129/https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/ |archive-date=3 Jun 2025}}</ref> and blocked anonymous users on VPNs in 2023,<ref name=":1" /> and halted archiving posts via the [[Internet Archive]] due to "AI scraping concerns"<ref name=":2" />
*'''User Privacy:''' Had a data breach in 2018.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=1 Aug 2018 |title=We had a security incident. Here's what you need to know. |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/93qnm5/we_had_a_security_incident_heres_what_you_need_to/ |website=Reddit |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251119040917/https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/93qnm5/we_had_a_security_incident_heres_what_you_need_to/ |archive-date=19 Nov 2025}}</ref>
*'''Business model:''' Primarily funded through advertisements, has a premium subscription,requires paying for elevated API usage since 2023.<ref name=":4" />
*'''Market competition:''' Plenty; [[Imgur]], [[Facebook]], [[X Corp|X]] (formerly [[Twitter]]), [[Instagram]]

==Incidents==
===Hiding individual upvotes and down-votes (''2014'')===
Since June 2014, individual upvote and down-vote counts on posts are no longer publicly visible. Only the sum of votes and the percentage of upvotes are publicly visible.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Deimorz |title=reddit changes: individual up/down vote counts no longer visible, "% like it" closer to reality, major improvements to "controversial" sorting |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/28hjga/reddit_changes_individual_updown_vote_counts_no/ |website=Reddit |date=18 Jun 2014 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602223136/https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/28hjga/reddit_changes_individual_updown_vote_counts_no/ |archive-date=2 Jun 2015}}</ref>

===Hiding sticky comment vote counts (''2016'')===
Since January 2016, vote counts on comments pinned by Reddit moderators are hidden from public view and only visible to moderators of the same subreddit. This prevents the public from knowing whether moderator decisions were widely agreed upon.<ref>{{Cite web |author=TheMentalist10 |title=Remove Karma Display from Stickied Comments |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/ideasfortheadmins/comments/400on6/remove_karma_display_from_stickied_comments/ |website=Reddit |date=8 Jan 2016 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604165556/https://old.reddit.com/r/ideasfortheadmins/comments/400on6/remove_karma_display_from_stickied_comments/ |archive-date=4 Jun 2023}}</ref>

===Going closed source (''2017'')===
In September 2017, Reddit reversed on their open source policy and archived their public repositories, citing difficulty to stealth launch features and desire to move away from a monorepo architecture. Users responded by noting that neither of these reasons require being closed source, and that Reddit had been slowly becoming less transparent over time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author=KeyserSosa |title=An update on the state of the reddit/reddit and reddit/reddit-mobile repositories |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/6xfyfg/an_update_on_the_state_of_the_redditreddit_and/ |website=Reddit |date=1 Sep 2017 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251212072029/https://old.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/6xfyfg/an_update_on_the_state_of_the_redditreddit_and/ |archive-date=12 Dec 2025}}</ref>

===Data breach (''2018'')===
In August 2018, Reddit suffered a data breach due to employees using SMS two-factor authentication (2FA). Leaked data included an old database containing usernames, e-mails, encrypted passwords, public posts and private messages from Reddit's launch date, in 2005, through to May 2007. Additionally usernames and e-mail addresses from users that received daily digests (e-mails containing post suggestions) sent between 3 June and 17 June 2018 were also leaked.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Krebs |first=Brian |title=Reddit Breach Highlights Limits of SMS-Based Authentication |url=https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/08/reddit-breach-highlights-limits-of-sms-based-authentication/ |website=Krebs On Security |date=1 Aug 2018 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251205181109/https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/08/reddit-breach-highlights-limits-of-sms-based-authentication/ |archive-date=5 Dec 2025}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

===Blocking expansions (''2022'')===
Since January 2022, users can block each other from commenting on their posts and comments. Before, blocking would only hide a blocked user's content from oneself and prevent a blocked user from appearing in one's notifications. Since this change, users can prevent others from commenting valid criticism and refuting arguments that would have added value to a discussion. This makes discussions less meritocratic, meaning the final word rests with the person who blocked the other participant(s) first, not the person with the most merited arguments.<ref>{{Cite web |author=enthusiastic-potato |title=Announcing Blocking Updates |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/s71g03/announcing_blocking_updates/ht701m9/ |website=Reddit |date=18 Jan 2022 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220216023601/https://old.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/s71g03/announcing_blocking_updates/ht701m9/ |archive-date=16 Feb 2022}}</ref>

Shortly after this change, reports piled up of the new blocking feature being used to prevent others from counter-arguing in discussions. It was also noted that preventing unwanted participants is already the purpose of communities' moderation teams, not individual users, meaning the new blocking feature gives normal users almost moderator-like powers within their own submissions. To these concerns, a Reddit administrator (employee) responded with "we're working to make sure people feel safe using our site without unduly preventing others from participating".<ref>{{Cite web |author=Love_In_My_Heart |title=We need to talk about people weaponizing the block feature. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/sd7zsa/we_need_to_talk_about_people_weaponizing_the/ |website=Reddit |date=26 Jan 2022 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203062331/https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/sd7zsa/we_need_to_talk_about_people_weaponizing_the/ |archive-date=3 Feb 2022}}</ref>

===API paywall (''April 2023'')===
In April 2023, Reddit announced that they would be locking API features and functionality previously accessible to its users behind a paywall, citing concerns about user-generated content being trained on AI. This resulted in a backlash in the community, as alternative apps utilizing Reddit's API such as Apollo would be rendered completely useless as a result of this decision. While some users held out hope that app developers could pay this fee to keep their user base, Apollo developer Christian Selig crushed any hope of this idea, explaining that the cost of this API fee was too high and that he would be ceasing development for the foreseeable future.

Users expressed concerns that this wasn't because of AI, but rather, due to greed and an attempt to monopolize information, as Reddit is often cited as many people's go to resource for almost any topic. This sentiment resulted in one of the largest internet protests known as the Reddit Blackout. The Reddit Blackout was an event in which subreddits were closed, marked as NSFW to prevent advertisements from being displayed on them, or flooded with posts shaming Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman. Users also edited their posts, deleted them, or deleted their Reddit accounts to shame Huffman in an attempt to reduce the value of the information.<ref>{{Wplink|2023 Reddit API controversy}} - '''Wikipedia''' ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260115133058/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Reddit_API_controversy Archived 15/01/2026])</ref> 

===VPN blockage (''December 2023'')===
In December 2023, Reddit began blocking VPN access to users not logged in to the site.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=16 Dec 2023 |title=Tell HN: Just noticed Reddit blocking VPN traffic. Old subdomain still works |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38666028 |url-status=live |access-date=21 Apr 2025 |website=news.ycombinator.com |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250708165248/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38666028 |archive-date=8 Jul 2025}}</ref>

===Deceptive advertising (''2024'')===
In March 2024, Reddit rolled out a feature that made ads look like they came from real users (and by extent, were "upvoted" by real users). Reddit boasted that these ads had a 28% higher click-through rate than regular ads.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Malik |first=Aisha |title=Reddit introduces a new ad format that looks similar to posts made by users |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/14/reddit-introduces-a-new-ad-format-that-looks-similar-to-posts-made-by-users/ |website=TechCrunch |date=4 Mar 2024 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260129142204/https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/14/reddit-introduces-a-new-ad-format-that-looks-similar-to-posts-made-by-users/ |archive-date=29 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===Users can hide their contribution history (''June 2025'')===
Since June 2025, Reddit has given its users the ability to hide their posting and commenting history from public view. If this setting is enabled, the posts and comments only remain visible through subreddit pages, not profile pages. Only the account owner themselves and moderators of subreddits they have interacted with during the last 28 days can view the posting and commenting history.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Uzondu |first=David |title=You can now hide your Reddit posts and comments from your profile |url=https://www.neowin.net/news/you-can-now-hide-your-reddit-posts-and-comments-from-your-profile/ |website=Neowin |date=4 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251122031310/https://www.neowin.net/news/you-can-now-hide-your-reddit-posts-and-comments-from-your-profile/ |archive-date=22 Nov 2025}}</ref>

This is different from "private profiles" on some other social media services such as [[X]], where setting one's profile to private would hide both their profile and posts in discussion threads, limiting interaction to one's followers.

An argument cited for private profiles is discussing sensitive topics.<ref>{{Cite web
|author=WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHW  |title=You can now hide your post history on Reddit |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1mioibb/you_can_now_hide_your_post_history_on_reddit/ |website=Reddit |date=5 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251115042723/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1mioibb/you_can_now_hide_your_post_history_on_reddit/ |archive-date=15 Nov 2025}}</ref> It should, however, be noted that Reddit already allowed people to participate on separate accounts for discussing sensitive topics that they did not wish to associate with their existing account.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Is it ok to create multiple accounts? |url=https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204535759-Is-it-ok-to-create-multiple-accounts |website=Reddit |date=16 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251210081414/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204535759-Is-it-ok-to-create-multiple-accounts |archive-date=10 Dec 2025}}</ref>

TechCrunch's Sarah Perez speculated that a possible reason for this change was to have user data like engagement and interests associated with a single user account, making it easier for Reddit to target advertisements.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perez |first=Sarah |title=Reddit now lets you hide content, like posts and comments, from your user profile |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/03/reddit-now-lets-you-hide-content-like-posts-and-comments-from-your-user-profile/ |website=TechCrunch |date=3 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260128183754/https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/03/reddit-now-lets-you-hide-content-like-posts-and-comments-from-your-user-profile/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===Blocking the Internet Archive (''August 2025'')===
In 2025, Reddit announced it would block the indexing of its pages by the [https://archive.org Internet Archive]. This means users will no longer be able to access deleted Reddit threads.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bjella |first=Braden |title=“New age of internet censorship”: Reddit to block the Internet Archive from indexing its site. Here’s why it matters |url=https://www.dailydot.com/news/reddit-to-block-the-internet-archive-from-indexing-the-site/ |website=Daily Dot |date=14 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251119081125/https://www.dailydot.com/news/reddit-to-block-the-internet-archive-from-indexing-the-site/ |archive-date=19 Nov 2025}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==See also==
*[[Lemmy]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Companies]]

2026-03-29T06:19:30Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Blocking expansions (2022) */ anti-meritocratic

{{CompanyCargo
|Founded=2005
|Industry=Social Media
|Logo=Reddit logo 2023.png
|ParentCompany=
|Type=Public
|Website=https://reddit.com/
|Description=American social media platform based around news aggregation and forum-like "subreddits".
}}

'''{{Wplink|Reddit}}''' is an American social media network for social-news aggregation, content rating, and forums. As of December 2024, Reddit is the eighth most-visited website in the world. It was founded in 2005 by University of Virginia roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, as well as Aaron Swartz.

==Consumer Impact Summary==
*'''User freedom:''' Went closed-source in 2017,<ref name=":0" /> limited free API use<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Huffman |first=Steve "spez" |title=Addressing the community about changes to our API |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/ |website=Reddit |date=9 Jun 2023 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250603012129/https://old.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/145bram/addressing_the_community_about_changes_to_our_api/ |archive-date=3 Jun 2025}}</ref> and blocked anonymous users on VPNs in 2023,<ref name=":1" /> and halted archiving posts via the [[Internet Archive]] due to "AI scraping concerns"<ref name=":2" />
*'''User Privacy:''' Had a data breach in 2018.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=1 Aug 2018 |title=We had a security incident. Here's what you need to know. |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/93qnm5/we_had_a_security_incident_heres_what_you_need_to/ |website=Reddit |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251119040917/https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/93qnm5/we_had_a_security_incident_heres_what_you_need_to/ |archive-date=19 Nov 2025}}</ref>
*'''Business model:''' Primarily funded through advertisements, has a premium subscription,requires paying for elevated API usage since 2023.<ref name=":4" />
*'''Market competition:''' Plenty; [[Imgur]], [[Facebook]], [[X Corp|X]] (formerly [[Twitter]]), [[Instagram]]

==Incidents==
===Hiding individual upvotes and down-votes (''2014'')===
Since June 2014, individual upvote and down-vote counts on posts are no longer publicly visible. Only the sum of votes and the percentage of upvotes are publicly visible.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Deimorz |title=reddit changes: individual up/down vote counts no longer visible, "% like it" closer to reality, major improvements to "controversial" sorting |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/28hjga/reddit_changes_individual_updown_vote_counts_no/ |website=Reddit |date=18 Jun 2014 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602223136/https://old.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/28hjga/reddit_changes_individual_updown_vote_counts_no/ |archive-date=2 Jun 2015}}</ref>

===Hiding sticky comment vote counts (''2016'')===
Since January 2016, vote counts on comments pinned by Reddit moderators are hidden from public view and only visible to moderators of the same subreddit. This prevents the public from knowing whether moderator decisions were widely agreed upon.<ref>{{Cite web |author=TheMentalist10 |title=Remove Karma Display from Stickied Comments |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/ideasfortheadmins/comments/400on6/remove_karma_display_from_stickied_comments/ |website=Reddit |date=8 Jan 2016 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604165556/https://old.reddit.com/r/ideasfortheadmins/comments/400on6/remove_karma_display_from_stickied_comments/ |archive-date=4 Jun 2023}}</ref>

===Going closed source (''2017'')===
In September 2017, Reddit reversed on their open source policy and archived their public repositories, citing difficulty to stealth launch features and desire to move away from a monorepo architecture. Users responded by noting that neither of these reasons require being closed source, and that Reddit had been slowly becoming less transparent over time.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author=KeyserSosa |title=An update on the state of the reddit/reddit and reddit/reddit-mobile repositories |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/6xfyfg/an_update_on_the_state_of_the_redditreddit_and/ |website=Reddit |date=1 Sep 2017 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251212072029/https://old.reddit.com/r/changelog/comments/6xfyfg/an_update_on_the_state_of_the_redditreddit_and/ |archive-date=12 Dec 2025}}</ref>

===Data breach (''2018'')===
In August 2018, Reddit suffered a data breach due to employees using SMS two-factor authentication (2FA). Leaked data included an old database containing usernames, e-mails, encrypted passwords, public posts and private messages from Reddit's launch date, in 2005, through to May 2007. Additionally usernames and e-mail addresses from users that received daily digests (e-mails containing post suggestions) sent between 3 June and 17 June 2018 were also leaked.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Krebs |first=Brian |title=Reddit Breach Highlights Limits of SMS-Based Authentication |url=https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/08/reddit-breach-highlights-limits-of-sms-based-authentication/ |website=Krebs On Security |date=1 Aug 2018 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251205181109/https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/08/reddit-breach-highlights-limits-of-sms-based-authentication/ |archive-date=5 Dec 2025}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

===Blocking expansions (''2022'')===
Since January 2022, users can block each other from commenting on their posts or comments. Before, blocking would only hide a blocked user's content from oneself and prevent a blocked user from appearing in one's notifications. Since this change, users can prevent others from commenting valid criticism and refuting arguments that would have added value to a discussion. This makes discussions less meritocratic, meaning the final word rests with the person who blocked the other participant(s) first, not the person with the most merited arguments.<ref>{{Cite web |author=enthusiastic-potato |title=Announcing Blocking Updates |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/s71g03/announcing_blocking_updates/ht701m9/ |website=Reddit |date=18 Jan 2022 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20220216023601/https://old.reddit.com/r/blog/comments/s71g03/announcing_blocking_updates/ht701m9/ |archive-date=16 Feb 2022}}</ref>

Shortly after this change, reports piled up of the new blocking feature being used to prevent others from counter-arguing in discussions. It was also noted that preventing unwanted participants is already the purpose of communities' moderation teams, not individual users, meaning the new blocking feature gives normal users almost moderator-like powers within their own submissions. To these concerns, a Reddit administrator (employee) responded with "we're working to make sure people feel safe using our site without unduly preventing others from participating".<ref>{{Cite web |author=Love_In_My_Heart |title=We need to talk about people weaponizing the block feature. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/sd7zsa/we_need_to_talk_about_people_weaponizing_the/ |website=Reddit |date=26 Jan 2022 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220203062331/https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/sd7zsa/we_need_to_talk_about_people_weaponizing_the/ |archive-date=3 Feb 2022}}</ref>

===API paywall (''April 2023'')===
In April 2023, Reddit announced that they would be locking API features and functionality previously accessible to its users behind a paywall, citing concerns about user-generated content being trained on AI. This resulted in a backlash in the community, as alternative apps utilizing Reddit's API such as Apollo would be rendered completely useless as a result of this decision. While some users held out hope that app developers could pay this fee to keep their user base, Apollo developer Christian Selig crushed any hope of this idea, explaining that the cost of this API fee was too high and that he would be ceasing development for the foreseeable future.

Users expressed concerns that this wasn't because of AI, but rather, due to greed and an attempt to monopolize information, as Reddit is often cited as many people's go to resource for almost any topic. This sentiment resulted in one of the largest internet protests known as the Reddit Blackout. The Reddit Blackout was an event in which subreddits were closed, marked as NSFW to prevent advertisements from being displayed on them, or flooded with posts shaming Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman. Users also edited their posts, deleted them, or deleted their Reddit accounts to shame Huffman in an attempt to reduce the value of the information.<ref>{{Wplink|2023 Reddit API controversy}} - '''Wikipedia''' ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260115133058/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Reddit_API_controversy Archived 15/01/2026])</ref> 

===VPN blockage (''December 2023'')===
In December 2023, Reddit began blocking VPN access to users not logged in to the site.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=16 Dec 2023 |title=Tell HN: Just noticed Reddit blocking VPN traffic. Old subdomain still works |url=https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38666028 |url-status=live |access-date=21 Apr 2025 |website=news.ycombinator.com |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250708165248/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38666028 |archive-date=8 Jul 2025}}</ref>

===Deceptive advertising (''2024'')===
In March 2024, Reddit rolled out a feature that made ads look like they came from real users (and by extent, were "upvoted" by real users). Reddit boasted that these ads had a 28% higher click-through rate than regular ads.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Malik |first=Aisha |title=Reddit introduces a new ad format that looks similar to posts made by users |url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/14/reddit-introduces-a-new-ad-format-that-looks-similar-to-posts-made-by-users/ |website=TechCrunch |date=4 Mar 2024 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260129142204/https://techcrunch.com/2024/03/14/reddit-introduces-a-new-ad-format-that-looks-similar-to-posts-made-by-users/ |archive-date=29 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===Users can hide their contribution history (''June 2025'')===
Since June 2025, Reddit has given its users the ability to hide their posting and commenting history from public view. If this setting is enabled, the posts and comments only remain visible through subreddit pages, not profile pages. Only the account owner themselves and moderators of subreddits they have interacted with during the last 28 days can view the posting and commenting history.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Uzondu |first=David |title=You can now hide your Reddit posts and comments from your profile |url=https://www.neowin.net/news/you-can-now-hide-your-reddit-posts-and-comments-from-your-profile/ |website=Neowin |date=4 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251122031310/https://www.neowin.net/news/you-can-now-hide-your-reddit-posts-and-comments-from-your-profile/ |archive-date=22 Nov 2025}}</ref>

This is different from "private profiles" on some other social media services such as [[X]], where setting one's profile to private would hide both their profile and posts in discussion threads, limiting interaction to one's followers.

An argument cited for private profiles is discussing sensitive topics.<ref>{{Cite web
|author=WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWHW  |title=You can now hide your post history on Reddit |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1mioibb/you_can_now_hide_your_post_history_on_reddit/ |website=Reddit |date=5 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251115042723/https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1mioibb/you_can_now_hide_your_post_history_on_reddit/ |archive-date=15 Nov 2025}}</ref> It should, however, be noted that Reddit already allowed people to participate on separate accounts for discussing sensitive topics that they did not wish to associate with their existing account.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Is it ok to create multiple accounts? |url=https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204535759-Is-it-ok-to-create-multiple-accounts |website=Reddit |date=16 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251210081414/https://support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/204535759-Is-it-ok-to-create-multiple-accounts |archive-date=10 Dec 2025}}</ref>

TechCrunch's Sarah Perez speculated that a possible reason for this change was to have user data like engagement and interests associated with a single user account, making it easier for Reddit to target advertisements.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perez |first=Sarah |title=Reddit now lets you hide content, like posts and comments, from your user profile |url=https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/03/reddit-now-lets-you-hide-content-like-posts-and-comments-from-your-user-profile/ |website=TechCrunch |date=3 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260128183754/https://techcrunch.com/2025/06/03/reddit-now-lets-you-hide-content-like-posts-and-comments-from-your-user-profile/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===Blocking the Internet Archive (''August 2025'')===
In 2025, Reddit announced it would block the indexing of its pages by the [https://archive.org Internet Archive]. This means users will no longer be able to access deleted Reddit threads.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Bjella |first=Braden |title=“New age of internet censorship”: Reddit to block the Internet Archive from indexing its site. Here’s why it matters |url=https://www.dailydot.com/news/reddit-to-block-the-internet-archive-from-indexing-the-site/ |website=Daily Dot |date=14 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Mar 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251119081125/https://www.dailydot.com/news/reddit-to-block-the-internet-archive-from-indexing-the-site/ |archive-date=19 Nov 2025}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==See also==
*[[Lemmy]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Companies]]

Firefox

2026-03-26T17:22:29Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Removal of custom toolbars (2014) */ elaborated

{{Stub}}
{{ProductCargo
|Company=Mozilla
|ReleaseYear=2004
|InProduction=Yes
|ArticleType=Product
|Category=Browser, Web Browser
|Website=https://www.firefox.com/
|Description=Firefox is a free and open-source browser created and owned by Mozilla.
|Logo=Firefox_Logo.svg}}

'''{{wplink|Firefox}}''' is a free and open-source web browser developed by the [[Mozilla]] Foundation. It is officially available on Windows (10 and above<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 Feb 2025 |title=Firefox users on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 moving to Extended Support Release |url=https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-windows-7-8-and-81-moving-extended-support |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250729074747/https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-windows-7-8-and-81-moving-extended-support |archive-date=29 Jul 2025 |access-date=20 Aug 2025 |website=Mozilla Support}}</ref>), macOS and Linux.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 Aug 2025 |title=Firefox for desktop |url=https://www.firefox.com/en-US/browsers/desktop/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250729082008/https://www.firefox.com/en-US/browsers/desktop/ |archive-date=29 Jul 2025 |access-date=20 Aug 2025 |website=Firefox}}</ref>

==Consumer impact summary==
{{Ph-C-CIS}}
===User privacy===
Despite marketing itself as a security browser, by default "technical and interaction data" is sent to Firefox.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Manage technical and interaction data collection settings in Firefox|url=https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/technical-and-interaction-data|website=Mozilla Support|access-date=August 31, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260222200928/https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/technical-and-interaction-data |archive-date=22 Feb 2026}}</ref> You can easily disable this with an [[opt-out]] option in the GUI settings.

However, some options cannot be conveniently disabled, and requires fiddling the settings in <code>about:config</code>. Some of these examples include:
*Integrated Pocket technology as a built-in extension, which in its Privacy Policy uses Google Analytics.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pocket|url=https://getpocket.com/privacy?t=privacypolicy|date=August 27, 2025|website=Pocket|access-date=August 31, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251121184427/https://getpocket.com/privacy?t=privacypolicy |archive-date=21 Nov 2025}}</ref>
*Google Analytics in the browser.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Google Analytics is used to track users. #3145|url=https://github.com/mozilla/addons/issues/3145|website=GitHub|access-date=August 31, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251118130843/https://github.com/mozilla/addons/issues/3145 |archive-date=18 Nov 2025}}</ref> Firefox stated they will not "give the 'data directly to Google'" but will "[collect] aggregate and non-identifiable data in numbers to ensure our development/UX changes are met well. [...] We need some data, anonymised and aggregated, to do this."

===User freedom===
*Heavily configurable via <code>about:config</code>.

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].

===Removal of custom toolbars (2014)===
In April 2014, Mozilla released Firefox version 29, codenamed ''Australis''. With it came the first major redesign since version 4 from 2011. The most visible difference were the rounded tabs.<ref>[https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/firefox-29-what-s-new-2912074 Firefox 29: What’s new and should you try it? | Trusted Reviews]</ref>

With it, the ability to add custom toolbars with custom shortcut buttons was removed, reportedly due to low usage. However, this goes contrary to the promise of a customizable web browser. This change meant shortcut buttons could only be added to the same row as the URL bar, the tab bar, or the bookmark bar, taking space away from them. A separate tool bar dedicated for tool shortcuts could no longer be added.<ref>[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=948043 948043 - Re-Introduce custom toolbar] (bugzilla.mozilla.org)</ref>

===Mandatory add-on signing (2016)===
In 2015, Mozilla introduced extension signing (add-on signing) to Firefox, meaning the browser would show a warning if the user ran an extension not approved by Mozilla. This was later expanded to block the extension, but the user was able to override it by modifying an <code>about:config</code> property. In 2016, Mozilla took that option away as well. This means Mozilla is able to remotely disable extensions, removing ownership from the end user.

Shortly after extension signing was announced, the user base already responded negatively, stating how this would limit the freedom of power users.<ref>[https://archive.today/2024.01.22-024009/https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/02/10/extension-signing-safer-experience/ Introducing Extension Signing: A Safer Add-on Experience | Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog]</ref>

On May 3rd, 2019, a technical issue with Mozilla's add-on signing service forcibly disabled all extensions of every Firefox instance connected to the Internet (excluding older versions that predate add-on signing).

In March 2025, Firefox versions before 128 (and <abbr title="Extended Support Release">ESR</abbr> 115) were rendered defective as a result of Mozilla no longer providing extension signing support for those versions, resulting in them losing the ability to run extensions.

<ref>[https://digdeeper.club/articles/mozilla.xhtml#historyofcontrol Mozilla - Devil Incarnate - History of anti-control] - Dig Deeper ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260211220133/https://digdeeper.club/articles/mozilla.xhtml Archived])</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/2016.04.20-194222/https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing Add-ons/Extension Signing - MozillaWiki (2016-04-20)]</ref>

===Removal of XUL extensions (2017)===
Starting with Firefox 57 "Quantum", released in November 2017, extensions using the XUL/XPCOM format were no longer supported, only those in the WebExtensions format.<ref>[https://techtea.io/articles/2017/firefox-quantum-web-extensions/ Tech Tea - Firefox Quantum and Web Extensions]</ref>

The XUL format was the main format for Firefox extensions up to that point, allowing for a degree of customization of the web browser's appearance and behaviour that extensions in the WebExtensions format do not support, and that set Firefox apart from other web browsers like Chrome and Internet Explorer at that time, such as custom toolbars and multiple rows of tabs. The extension "TabMix Plus", then highly popular, heavily made use of this functionality.<ref>[https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/08/21/the-future-of-developing-firefox-add-ons/ The Future of Developing Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Add-ons Blog]</ref><ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_Mix_Plus Tab Mix Plus - Wikipedia]</ref>

According to a former Mozilla developer, the main reason for removing XUL was that giving extensions that much control over the behaviour of the web browser was a security risk.<ref>[https://yoric.github.io/post/why-did-mozilla-remove-xul-addons/ Why Did Mozilla Remove XUL Add-ons?]</ref>

A fork of Firefox was developed with the aim to maintain support for legacy XUL extensions, WaterFox, but it was discontinued in late 2022 and renamed to "Waterfox Classic". WaterFox versions after then do not suppport legacy extensions.<ref>[https://classic.waterfox.net/ Waterfox Classic]</ref>

===Removal of icons from the main menu (2022)===
Firefox version 89, code named "Proton", brought the first major redesign since version 57 "Quantum". One of the changes were the removal of icons from the text labels in the main menu, leaving text-only labels. As a result, the user has to put more effort into finding the wanted menu option given that they receive less of a clue to work with.<ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/nsooaf/why_would_you_folks_remove_icons_from_the_menu/ Why would you folks remove icons from the menu? : firefox] - Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1i3vcbj/how_have_they_still_not_returned_the_menu_icons/ How have they still not returned the menu icons to Firefox Desktop? : firefox]</ref><ref>[https://connect.mozilla.org:443/t5/ideas/bring-back-menu-icons/idi-p/46 Bring back menu icons - Mozilla Connect]</ref>

In comparison, the mobile version of Firefox, as well as the other major web browsers (Edge, Chrome desktop, Chrome mobile) do have icons in their main menus.

===Mozilla introduces TOS to Firefox (''2025.02.27'')===
{{Main|Mozilla introduces TOS to Firefox}}
On 25 February 2025 Mozilla announced in their blog that they are introducing Terms of Use to Firefox, effective 10 June 2025. <ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2025-02-26 |title=Firefox Terms of Use |url=https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=Mozilla |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260112211331/https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/ |archive-date=12 Jan 2026}}</ref> Their reasoning is to "give [the user] more transparency over [their] rights and permissions as [they] use Firefox".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Varma |first=Ajit |date=2025-02-26 |title=Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox |url=https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/firefox-terms-of-use/ |url-status=live |website=Mozilla Blog |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260111132423/https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/firefox-terms-of-use/ |archive-date=11 Jan 2026}}</ref> In the same blog post they announce an update to their Privacy Policy.

Under section "Mozilla Can Update or Terminate This Agreement" in the ToS, it is announced that updates to it will be posted online, and continued use of Firefox is taken as the user's acceptance of the new terms. No mention is made of any other commitment to notify the user (in-browser notification, etc.). In the next section, "Termination", it is explicitly stated that Mozilla will "try to notify [the user]" at their email address or next time they try to access their account, in case Mozilla denies or suspend anyone's access to Firefox.

===Mozilla removed the "nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license" in the Firefox TOS (2025.06.10)===
On 10 June 2025 Mozilla has removed the "nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license" in the "[https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/#you-give-mozilla-certain-rights-and-permissions You Give Mozilla Certain Rights and Permissions]" page of where the controversial [[terms of service]] clause used to be last seen<ref>{{Cite web |title=Firefox: About Your Rights |url=https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/ |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250515140703/https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/ |archive-date=15 May 2025 |access-date=20 Oct 2025 |website=Mozilla}}</ref> on 15 March 2025. It is currently unknown why this change was made, as of current writing.

==Alternatives==
*[https://floorp.app/en-US Floorp]
*[https://librewolf.net/ LibreWolf]
*[https://mullvad.net/browser Mullvad Browser]
*[https://zen-browser.app/ Zen Browser]

==See also==
*[[Brave browser|Brave]]
*[[DuckDuckGo Browser|DuckDuckGo Browser]]
*[[Google Chrome]]
*[[Microsoft Edge]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

Firefox

2026-03-26T17:12:18Z

JodyBruchonFan: removal of custom toolbars, legacy extensions, menu icons

{{Stub}}
{{ProductCargo
|Company=Mozilla
|ReleaseYear=2004
|InProduction=Yes
|ArticleType=Product
|Category=Browser, Web Browser
|Website=https://www.firefox.com/
|Description=Firefox is a free and open-source browser created and owned by Mozilla.
|Logo=Firefox_Logo.svg}}

'''{{wplink|Firefox}}''' is a free and open-source web browser developed by the [[Mozilla]] Foundation. It is officially available on Windows (10 and above<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 Feb 2025 |title=Firefox users on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 moving to Extended Support Release |url=https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-windows-7-8-and-81-moving-extended-support |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250729074747/https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-windows-7-8-and-81-moving-extended-support |archive-date=29 Jul 2025 |access-date=20 Aug 2025 |website=Mozilla Support}}</ref>), macOS and Linux.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 Aug 2025 |title=Firefox for desktop |url=https://www.firefox.com/en-US/browsers/desktop/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250729082008/https://www.firefox.com/en-US/browsers/desktop/ |archive-date=29 Jul 2025 |access-date=20 Aug 2025 |website=Firefox}}</ref>

==Consumer impact summary==
{{Ph-C-CIS}}
===User privacy===
Despite marketing itself as a security browser, by default "technical and interaction data" is sent to Firefox.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Manage technical and interaction data collection settings in Firefox|url=https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/technical-and-interaction-data|website=Mozilla Support|access-date=August 31, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260222200928/https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/technical-and-interaction-data |archive-date=22 Feb 2026}}</ref> You can easily disable this with an [[opt-out]] option in the GUI settings.

However, some options cannot be conveniently disabled, and requires fiddling the settings in <code>about:config</code>. Some of these examples include:
*Integrated Pocket technology as a built-in extension, which in its Privacy Policy uses Google Analytics.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pocket|url=https://getpocket.com/privacy?t=privacypolicy|date=August 27, 2025|website=Pocket|access-date=August 31, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251121184427/https://getpocket.com/privacy?t=privacypolicy |archive-date=21 Nov 2025}}</ref>
*Google Analytics in the browser.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Google Analytics is used to track users. #3145|url=https://github.com/mozilla/addons/issues/3145|website=GitHub|access-date=August 31, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251118130843/https://github.com/mozilla/addons/issues/3145 |archive-date=18 Nov 2025}}</ref> Firefox stated they will not "give the 'data directly to Google'" but will "[collect] aggregate and non-identifiable data in numbers to ensure our development/UX changes are met well. [...] We need some data, anonymised and aggregated, to do this."

===User freedom===
*Heavily configurable via <code>about:config</code>.

==Incidents==
{{Ph-C-Inc}}
This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].

=== Removal of custom toolbars (2014) ===
In April 2014, Firefox version 29, codenamed ''Australis'', was released. With it came the first major redesign since version 4 from 2011. The most visible difference were the rounded tabs.<ref>[https://www.trustedreviews.com/opinion/firefox-29-what-s-new-2912074 Firefox 29: What’s new and should you try it? | Trusted Reviews]</ref>

With it, the ability to add custom toolbars with custom shortcut buttons was removed, reportedly due to low usage. This meant shortcut buttons could only be added to the same row as the URL bar, taking space away from it.<ref>[https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=948043 948043 - Re-Introduce custom toolbar] (bugzilla.mozilla.org)</ref>

===Mandatory add-on signing (2016)===
In 2015, Mozilla introduced extension signing (add-on signing) to Firefox, meaning the browser would show a warning if the user ran an extension not approved by Mozilla. This was later expanded to block the extension, but the user was able to override it by modifying an <code>about:config</code> property. In 2016, Mozilla took that option away as well. This means Mozilla is able to remotely disable extensions, removing ownership from the end user.

Shortly after extension signing was announced, the user base already responded negatively, stating how this would limit the freedom of power users.<ref>[https://archive.today/2024.01.22-024009/https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/02/10/extension-signing-safer-experience/ Introducing Extension Signing: A Safer Add-on Experience | Mozilla Add-ons Community Blog]</ref>

On May 3rd, 2019, a technical issue with Mozilla's add-on signing service forcibly disabled all extensions of every Firefox instance connected to the Internet (excluding older versions that predate add-on signing).

In March 2025, Firefox versions before 128 (and <abbr title="Extended Support Release">ESR</abbr> 115) were rendered defective as a result of Mozilla no longer providing extension signing support for those versions, resulting in them losing the ability to run extensions.

<ref>[https://digdeeper.club/articles/mozilla.xhtml#historyofcontrol Mozilla - Devil Incarnate - History of anti-control] - Dig Deeper ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260211220133/https://digdeeper.club/articles/mozilla.xhtml Archived])</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/2016.04.20-194222/https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Extension_Signing Add-ons/Extension Signing - MozillaWiki (2016-04-20)]</ref>

===Removal of XUL extensions (2017)===
Starting with Firefox 57 "Quantum", released in November 2017, extensions using the XUL/XPCOM format were no longer supported, only those in the WebExtensions format.<ref>[https://techtea.io/articles/2017/firefox-quantum-web-extensions/ Tech Tea - Firefox Quantum and Web Extensions]</ref>

The XUL format was the main format for Firefox extensions up to that point, allowing for a degree of customization of the web browser's appearance and behaviour that extensions in the WebExtensions format do not support, and that set Firefox apart from other web browsers like Chrome and Internet Explorer at that time, such as custom toolbars and multiple rows of tabs. The extension "TabMix Plus", then highly popular, heavily made use of this functionality.<ref>[https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/08/21/the-future-of-developing-firefox-add-ons/ The Future of Developing Firefox Add-ons | Mozilla Add-ons Blog]</ref><ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tab_Mix_Plus Tab Mix Plus - Wikipedia]</ref>

According to a former Mozilla developer, the main reason for removing XUL was that giving extensions that much control over the behaviour of the web browser was a security risk.<ref>[https://yoric.github.io/post/why-did-mozilla-remove-xul-addons/ Why Did Mozilla Remove XUL Add-ons?]</ref>

A fork of Firefox was developed with the aim to maintain support for legacy XUL extensions, WaterFox, but it was discontinued in late 2022 and renamed to "Waterfox Classic". WaterFox versions after then do not suppport legacy extensions.<ref>[https://classic.waterfox.net/ Waterfox Classic]</ref>

===Removal of icons from the main menu (2022)===
Firefox version 89, code named "Proton", brought the first major redesign since version 57 "Quantum". One of the changes were the removal of icons from the text labels in the main menu, leaving text-only labels. As a result, the user has to put more effort into finding the wanted menu option given that they receive less of a clue to work with.<ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/nsooaf/why_would_you_folks_remove_icons_from_the_menu/ Why would you folks remove icons from the menu? : firefox] - Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/1i3vcbj/how_have_they_still_not_returned_the_menu_icons/ How have they still not returned the menu icons to Firefox Desktop? : firefox]</ref><ref>[https://connect.mozilla.org:443/t5/ideas/bring-back-menu-icons/idi-p/46 Bring back menu icons - Mozilla Connect]</ref>

In comparison, the mobile version of Firefox, as well as the other major web browsers (Edge, Chrome desktop, Chrome mobile) do have icons in their main menus.

===Mozilla introduces TOS to Firefox (''02/27/2025'')===
{{Main|Mozilla introduces TOS to Firefox}}
On February 26th, 2025 Mozilla announced in their blog that they are introducing Terms of Use to Firefox, effective June 10th, 2025. <ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2025-02-26 |title=Firefox Terms of Use |url=https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/ |url-status=live |access-date=2025-08-18 |website=Mozilla |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260112211331/https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/ |archive-date=12 Jan 2026}}</ref> Their reasoning is to "give [the user] more transparency over [their] rights and permissions as [they] use Firefox".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Varma |first=Ajit |date=2025-02-26 |title=Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox |url=https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/firefox-terms-of-use/ |url-status=live |website=Mozilla Blog |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260111132423/https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/firefox-terms-of-use/ |archive-date=11 Jan 2026}}</ref> In the same blog post they announce an update to their Privacy Policy.

Under section "Mozilla Can Update or Terminate This Agreement" in the ToS, it is announced that updates to it will be posted online, and continued use of Firefox is taken as the user's acceptance of the new terms. No mention is made of any other commitment to notify the user (in-browser notification, etc.). In the next section, "Termination", it is explicitly stated that Mozilla will "try to notify [the user]" at their email address or next time they try to access their account, in case Mozilla denies or suspend anyone's access to Firefox.

===Mozilla removed the "nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license" in the Firefox TOS (10/06/2025)===
On June 10th, 2025 Mozilla has removed the "nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license" in the "[https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/#you-give-mozilla-certain-rights-and-permissions You Give Mozilla Certain Rights and Permissions]" page of where the controversial [[terms of service]] clause used to be last seen<ref>{{Cite web |title=Firefox: About Your Rights |url=https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/ |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250515140703/https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/ |archive-date=15 May 2025 |access-date=20 Oct 2025 |website=Mozilla}}</ref> on March 15th of 2025. It is currently unknown why this change was made, as of current writing.

==Alternatives==
*[https://floorp.app/en-US Floorp]
*[https://librewolf.net/ LibreWolf]
*[https://mullvad.net/browser Mullvad Browser]
*[https://zen-browser.app/ Zen Browser]

==See also==
*[[Brave browser|Brave]]
*[[DuckDuckGo Browser|DuckDuckGo Browser]]
*[[Google Chrome]]
*[[Microsoft Edge]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-26T14:59:17Z

JodyBruchonFan: Looks like syntaxhighlight doesn't work here.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
| info-op = #0f0

| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
}}
</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----
== How to insult Google's user interface designers ==
By adding this to your website's CSS:
<pre>
html, body { overscroll-behavior: contain; }
</pre>

This will insult the lack of intelligence of whoever thought [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|making pull-to-refresh mandatory in Chrome]] was a brilliant idea.

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]'', 7:44.

----

<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

Projects talk:Archive everything

2026-03-26T13:55:13Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Redacted evidence is no evidence. */ thanks

==Note on this==

There are two main places to archive things, the Internet Archive, and archive.today if the IA says no (from my understanding). Would like to incorporate this into the article but have no clue how to lol. [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 07:26, 19 November 2025 (UTC)

:Also, there is an IA extension which I use, it makes archiving extremely easy. [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 07:29, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
::Thanks! I'll add this into the 'What you need to do' bit [[User:Keith|Keith]] ([[User talk:Keith|talk]]) 08:52, 19 November 2025 (UTC)
::Which extension do you use in particular? addons dot mozilla dot org has several and it would be useful to have a recommendation.
::By the way, Archive.today has a "Install Firefox Extension" button which leads to its github repo and the user can install it by Releases (right side), downloading the .zip and installing it through Manage your Add-Ons > Install from file. The explanation may be helpful for less tech-savvy wiki people. [[User:Raster|Raster]] ([[User talk:Raster|talk]]) 08:32, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:::Firefox: [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wayback-machine_new/]
:::Chrome (ew): [https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/waybackmachine/fpnmgdkabkmnadcjpehmlllkndpkmiak?hl=en-US]
:::Rest can be found at bottom left of https://web.archive.org/ [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 16:01, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:::worryingly, it looks like archive.today is down at the moment. I'm hoping this is not a permenant thing, as I think they were getting into some legal squabbles recently [[User:Keith|Keith]] ([[User talk:Keith|talk]]) 17:46, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
::::nvm, might just be a firefox thing? [[User:Keith|Keith]] ([[User talk:Keith|talk]]) 17:57, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
::::up for me right now and I'm using LibreWolf (a fork of firefox). [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 17:58, 4 December 2025 (UTC)
:There's also https://preservetube.com/ and https://ghostarchive.org/ both of which I saw used to archive a few references, and had added to the list but unfortunately my edit updating the list entries all the way up to and including F was lost in a merge error. [[Special:Contributions/185.230.125.6|185.230.125.6]] 00:11, 23 January 2026 (UTC)
::Worth looking at for other options. [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 06:38, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

==LIES!==

a lot of the ones that say "Yes" are not infact very yes.

[[1Password#cite_note-14]]

[[4k_Video_Downloader%2B#cite_note-4KVD-1]], [[4k_Video_Downloader%2B#cite_note-4KDL-2]]

[[Activision_Blizzard#cite_note-6]]

[[Adobe#cite_note-1]], [[Adobe#cite_ref-8]] [[User:SinexTitan|SinexTitan]] ([[User talk:SinexTitan|talk]]) 19:04, 23 January 2026 (UTC)

:please update before I call the police [[User:SinexTitan|SinexTitan]] ([[User talk:SinexTitan|talk]]) 19:05, 23 January 2026 (UTC)
::Archived em and updated the list accordingly, thanks for pointing them out since some of the older entries like those might be less accurate, cheers! (pls don't call the cops) [[User:Tempo123|Tempo123]] ([[User talk:Tempo123|talk]]) 22:48, 23 January 2026 (UTC)
:::I nearly placed the call but the situation's resolved itself. good work people keep it up [[User:SinexTitan|SinexTitan]] ([[User talk:SinexTitan|talk]]) 09:43, 24 January 2026 (UTC)

==Should we archive videos?==

I was looking through the [[Amazon]] page and noticed there's nearly two dozen video references. Video files are way bigger than webpage snapshots, and it shows by PreserveTube being the only one listed on this page (implying that if there's another archive for that purpose, it's not too popular).

For references leaning more on video, would it be better for one to work toward finding non-video references as well? e.g. finding websites that Louis shows in his videos? It would be a mountain of work, but as the saying goes we can't put all our archive (eggs) in one basket (host). [[User:Raster|Raster]] ([[User talk:Raster|talk]]) 18:12, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

:Yeah, I'd say that, where possible, we should prefer to archive webpages/documents over videos, especially when the it's the original/primary source and the video only references it. [[User:Tempo123|Tempo123]] ([[User talk:Tempo123|talk]]) 15:10, 6 February 2026 (UTC)
::PreserveTube seems good for archiving videos. [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 20:37, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

==Archive.today==

With the recent controversy (see the related {{Wplink|Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Archive.is RFC 5|Wikipedia community conversation}}), where does that leave citations that have no easy replacement?

An example I have for this is the [[Vont]] article page that I created last year, specifically the passage regarding Vont's store page on Amazon and its activity. I first tried using Internet Archive, but it had resulted in an error — which led me to use Archive.today. And originally, I hadn't even planned on multiple captures but that changed when I noticed the postings looked different while I was drafting the article in my sandbox.

I just tried archiving their Amazon storefront page using the IA and it actually worked ''this'' time, so ''hopefully'' I'll be able to "re-build" the archival links that'll still illustrate the same point (see the [https://archive.is/https://www.amazon.com/s?srs=19824332011&rh=p_89:Vont archive.is history] for comparison). But if not, I would rather the citations be left alone in this instance.

Any other thoughts? — [[User:Sojourna|Sojourna]] ([[User talk:Sojourna|talk]]) 05:46, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

:"[...] an analysis of existing links has shown that most of its uses can be replaced. Several editors started to work out implementation details during this RfC and the community should figure out how to efficiently remove links to archive.today."
:I think it wise to follow in the footsteps of this conclusion of the Wikipedia RFC: making a best-effort to replace all Archive.today links with alternatives. It will probably be a slow process anyhow, and any content that is difficult to archive on IA or elsewhere can be left until last, by which time hopefully we will have found a suitable Archive.today replacement for such content. [[User:Tempo123|Tempo123]] ([[User talk:Tempo123|talk]]) 18:00, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

:UPDATE: Since the Wayback Machine has proven to be unreliable in the instance I provided, I'll have to splice together the captures and upload to CRW. Not ideal, but the community is determined to rid itself of any Archive.today usage and I will do my best to comply. — [[User:Sojourna|Sojourna]] ([[User talk:Sojourna|talk]]) 00:33, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

==Automation? List updating?==

I see many of the pages listed as not archived have been updated by [[User:Bananabot|Bananabot]] (usually early today), which is as its name implies, a bot.

Eg: [[Cerberus]], [[Cloudflare]], [[Denon HEOS Speakers]]

Is there a plan to segment pages into the ones humans need to add archive links to, vs ones that a bot can take care of? It's great if this task can be automated, and if so, it would be nice if we carbon-based contributors could focus on those pages the bot(s) can't handle. Or is there a way we ourselves can look at a page and determine that?

And when we add archive links, do we need to manually update "The list" with the new status for those pages? Or is the list updated through some automatic process periodically? (I looked at some history and can't tell.) Either way, could mention of that be added to the directions? Thanks! [[User:Marc84|Marc84]] ([[User talk:Marc84|talk]]) 20:06, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

:Hi, I'd like to first say that Bananabot is not a bot made by the CRW team, it is made by [[User:Banana]] (who sounds pretty cool btw). I think we should manually update the table for now unless Banana wants to code that in themself. There's no plan to segment pages, we only recently got an archiving bot anyway. [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 20:35, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
:The list is currently manually maintained, I think it would be lovely if it could be automated, it took a fair amount of human effort to initially fill it out and standardise its look.
:I'm not sure how Bananabot or similar work and which pages bots can or cannot handle. [[User:Tempo123|Tempo123]] ([[User talk:Tempo123|talk]]) 20:37, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
::It would indeed be good, but it depends on whether Banana (who is simply a volunteer, not someone who is paid) wants to code it. [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 20:44, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
:::Also, due to how archiving works, Bananabot is (i think) able to handle all pages the IA can. [[User:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|'''''AnotherConsumerRightsPerson''''']] ([[User talk:AnotherConsumerRightsPerson|talk]]) 20:45, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
::::Bananabot can handle everything that IA can save. Right now limits are rate on IA itself (itgets rate limited + uploading takes quite a while). About project page table - I'll check out if I can automate it [[User:Banana|Banana]] ([[User talk:Banana|talk]]) 10:05, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
:Thanks for all the answers! And cool bot, @[[User:Banana|Banana]]. [[User:Marc84|Marc84]] ([[User talk:Marc84|talk]]) 22:12, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

==Redacted evidence is no evidence.==

So the main reason Archive.Today is supposedly untrustworthy is that they supposedly falsified snapshots.

Of course, this would be very bad if it were true, but if you actually dig to the bottom of the Archive.Today drama, past the sensationalized news articles by Ars Technica and others, you end up on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Archive.is_RFC_5#Evidence_of_altering_snapshots Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Archive.is RFC 5 § Evidence of altering snapshots].

Now, let's see what groundbreaking evidence they have, shall we?

<blockquote>
*<s style="font-style:italic; color:#565656">(Redacted)</s> ~2026-10956-05 12:48, 18 February 2026 (UTC)
::Where exactly are you getting this information from? MEN KISSING 13:13, 18 February 2026 (UTC)
:::Your link returns a 404 error. <s style="font-style:italic; color:#565656">(Redacted)</s> sapphaline 13:26, 18 February 2026 (UTC)
</blockquote>
(signatures shortened to usernames only)

Awesome. "Just take our word for it, bro!"

Sorry, but if someone can't show me actual evidence, I don't trust it, and neither should you. If you can't see it, it might as well not exist. Redacted evidence doesn't count. Don't give credence to it. [[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]] ([[User talk:JodyBruchonFan|talk]]) 10:41, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

:The evidence is archived further down that Wiki RFC thread. There are IA and Megalodon archives of the Archive.today page showing "Nora Puchreiner" being altered to show "Jani Patokallio". The original Archive.today snapshot has since been reverted back to the original "Nora Puchreiner", but the Megalodon and IA archives are existing evidence of the snapshot having indeed been altered at a certain point in time. Just a single minor instance, however insignificant, of snapshots being altered completely invalidates the reliability of Archive.today as an archival service. That is all, of course, not mentioning the character of the individual Archive.today admin being petty and malign enough to direct visitors' traffic to unknowingly DDoS someone's personal blog site and levy various additional threats, which in my mind is alone enough of a reason to cease using their service. [[User:Tempo123|Tempo123]] ([[User talk:Tempo123|talk]]) 16:31, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
::I agree that falsifying snapshots is a severe breach of trust, but: "The evidence is archived further down that Wiki RFC thread." - If it is the same evidence, what was the point of redacting the original evidence in the first place? [[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]] ([[User talk:JodyBruchonFan|talk]]) 21:34, 5 March 2026 (UTC)
:Rather silly to find my own username elsewhere on the internet, haha!
:@[[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]] The redacted text was not any evidence. It was a TA making a really nasty and unsubstantiated allegation against the blog owner, which violates Wikipedia's policy on content about living people. See: [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:BLPTALK WP:BLPTALK]. Sapphaline discovered the archive tampering based on the link the TA posted, but that was mostly just something between coincidence and irony. As pointed out by Tempo, the real evidence of tampering is further down.
:If you have any more questions about the RfC, let me know! [[User:MEN KISSING|MEN KISSING]] ([[User talk:MEN KISSING|talk]]) 06:33, 13 March 2026 (UTC)
::Thank you for your clarification. [[User:JodyBruchonFan|JodyBruchonFan]] ([[User talk:JodyBruchonFan|talk]]) 13:55, 26 March 2026 (UTC)

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-26T13:51:24Z

JodyBruchonFan: A little guide on how to insult Google's user interface designers.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
| info-op = #0f0

| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
}}
</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----
== How to insult Google's user interface designers ==
By adding this to your website's CSS:
<syntaxhighlight lang=css>
html, body { overscroll-behavior: contain; }
</syntaxhighlight>

This will insult the lack of intelligence of whoever thought [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|making pull-to-refresh mandatory in Chrome]] was a brilliant idea.

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]'', 7:44.

----

<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-10T22:03:46Z

JodyBruchonFan: timestamp

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
| info-op = #0f0

| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
}}
</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ&t=464 OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]'', 7:44.

----

<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-10T21:32:29Z

JodyBruchonFan: Added quote by Miloslav Číž

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
| info-op = #0f0

| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
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</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]''

----

<blockquote>
If you think [people in positions of authority] can't do something, you are wrong; unless it is directly violating a law of physics, they can do it. For example you may think "haha they can't start selling air, people would revolt", "hahaaa, they can't make people believe 1 + 1 equals 2000, it's too obvious of a lie" or "hahaaa they can't lie about history when there is a ton of direct evidence for the contrary freely accessible on the Internet, they can't censor something that's all over the Internet and in billions of books" -- yes, they can do all of this.

[...]

You think "hahaha, if we create this super encrypted/decentralized computer network, we can simply communicate and they can do nothing about it, BAZINGA" -- well, no you can't. How can they stop this? '''They will simply ban computers''' you idiot, in fact you have only given them the reason to.

You say "hahaha but I can have this calculator in my basement hidden" -- well, how many people will participate in your network if revealing such participation is punished not only by death sentence, but death sentence for you whole family; if even people who know about you participating in the network and not reporting you face the same punishment (already the case in some pseudocommunist countries)?

If in addition people have no free time, if they don't have electricity at home, no will to live and there are also government signal jammers everywhere just in case? Enjoy your guerrilla resistance network with three people armed with calculators.

You say "bbbb...but that cant happen ppl would revolt" -- NO. Have you seen chicken at chicken farm revolt? (Except in that one movie lol). "BBBb...BUT... people are not chicken". NO. People are literally physically chicken (to a stupid argument you get stupid counterargument).

[...]

Admit it, whatever they do you will conform even if you're angry about it because not conforming would cause you discomfort and you like comfort, so here you have it: they can do whatever they want. You want war? Probably not, but if they start it, you will go to war, you will help them make weapons, you will kill. You want to watch ads? Probably not, but if they put them up you will watch them. You want to get up every day at 5 AM and spend your day doing something that has no meaning and which you hate doing? Maybe, but it doesn't even matter if you want, you will do it despite wanting or not.
</blockquote>
- from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20251024131239/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/yes_they_can.html Yes They Can]'' by Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher. Bolded for emphasis.

"They will simply ban computers" - and if not, they will [[Anti-privacy_legislation|backdoor everything]]. Looks like the "tinfoil hat" people weren't so crazy after all.

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-10T16:40:18Z

JodyBruchonFan: Added quote by Jody Bruchon.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
| info-op = #0f0

| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
}}
</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

<blockquote>
Congress is full of eighty-year-olds who can barely use a BlackBerry, but they're making legislation about what you should be able to do with your hardware.
</blockquote>
- Jody Bruchon, from ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adCMNAVBGSQ OS Age Verification: Millions Of Predators With GPS In Your Kid's Pocket, Required By Law!]''

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

Data lock-in

2026-03-07T12:19:16Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Saved pages in Apple Safari on iPhone */ Correct discussion. The other one was about iMessage, not Safari. It was correct before the editor before me replaced it with the Samsung discussion link.

'''Data lock-in''' limits how device owners can access and manage data stored on the device they own. For example, some mobile applications store user data in a way they can only be viewed from inside the app, with no possibility of creating backups or moving them to external storage to free space. Many social media platforms make it difficult to export data. '''Data portability''' is a more consumer friendly approach, where it is easy to move data from one application or platform to alternatives.

==Incidents==
===Saved pages in Samsung Internet===
The mobile web browser by Samsung stores saved pages in the <code>/data</code> directory. This is a locked-in directory where apps store data only accessible to themselves.

Users have requested Samsung developers to change its browser to store saved pages in a non-locked-in place that makes them accessible from other applications and makes it possible to create backups, or to let users export copies of saved pages, but Samsung refused to implement this change. Some users have stored thousands of web pages this way before realizing they are unable to create backups or move them to external storage.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250806152342/https://forum.developer.samsung.com/t/regarding-saved-webpages/5304/1 Regarding saved webpages - Samsung Internet - Samsung Developer Forums]</ref>

Rooting a device would make the <code>/data</code> folder accessible, but this requires an unlocked bootloader. The process of unlocking the bootloader involves a factory reset, which deletes all user-generated files from internal storage.

In comparison, Google Chrome on mobile stores web pages as MHTML files in the download folder where they are not locked in, and Firefox on mobile completely lacks a feature to save pages.

===Saved pages in Apple Safari on iPhone===
Apple refers to saved pages as the "reading list", a name that implies the feature is intended for storing pages only until they are read, not for archival. Like with Samsung, people have asked for an ability to export saved pages. Apple has not responded.<ref>[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8293638 How do you EXPORT your Reading List from Safari - Apple Community] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20251010130718/https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8293638 archive])</ref>

===User data in mobile web browsers===
No major mobile web browser lets the user export their session (list of opened tabs) and browsing history and bookmarks to a local file. Exporting all tabs may be desirable to start with a fresh session without losing the existing session, and exporting the history makes it easier to search for pages a long time after visiting, beyond what the browser retains.<ref>[https://beepb00p.xyz/sad-infra.html The sad state of personal data and infrastructure] - Karl Icoss ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260203233117/https://beepb00p.xyz/sad-infra.html Archived])</ref>

Some web browsers have a "Sync" feature that allows synchronizing tabs and bookmarks across devices, but it is cloud-based, meaning it depends on an online service that can cease to operate at any time.<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud/ You Can't Control Your Data in the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260202071758/https://karl-voit.at/cloud/ Archived])</ref><ref>[https://workona.com/pages/how-to-export-chrome-bookmarks/ How to Export Chrome Bookmarks for the Last Time] - Workona ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126072849/https://workona.com/pages/how-to-export-chrome-bookmarks/ Archived])</ref>

===Text messages===
The built-in text messaging applications of both Android and iOS lack a built-in local export option.

On Android, the third-party app "SMS Backup+" can create exports, but they can not be directly stored locally, only uploaded to the middleman GMail, which requires Internet connection and a Google account, and can cease to function at any time due to Google API changes.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250314125929/https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/974 Feature request: save to local file · Issue #974 · jberkel/sms-backup-plus · GitHub]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250313124817/https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/1110 SMS -Backup+ unable to log into my email to backup SMS messages · Issue #1110 · jberkel/sms-backup-plus · GitHub]</ref>

On iOS, exporting apps require payment, an external computer, and save as PDF, resulting in much larger files than plain text.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251111204709/https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255416051?sortBy=rank Export iMessage conversation - Apple Community]</ref><ref>[https://megalodon.jp/2026-0228-1623-45/https://discussions.apple.com:443/thread/255674743?sortBy=rank I want to download my messages to an external drive (flash drive) - Apple Community]</ref>

Chat messages can be archived manually with screenshots and screen recordings, but this takes lots of time and manual work, and the resulting files can not be searched for text and will be much larger in size than a plain text-based export would be.

[[WhatsApp]] lets the user export messages to a text file, but this has to be done for each conversation individually, and starting with an April 2025 update, exporting can be remotely disabled by the other participant.<ref>[https://archive.today/2025.08.28-001731/https://faq.whatsapp.com/715385484388016/?cms_platform=web About advanced chat privacy | WhatsApp Help Center]</ref>

===Android data folder===
Since Android 11, apps can no longer browse the <code>Android/data</code> folder in the shared user storage (not to be confused with <code>/data</code>, which was locked in since the beginning).<ref>[https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/storage Storage updates in Android 11 | Android Developers]: If your app targets Android 11, it cannot access the files in any other app's data directory, even if the other app targets Android 8.1 (API level 27) or lower and has made the files in its data directory world-readable ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260130032658/https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/storage Archived]).</ref>

===Videos downloaded inside the YouTube app===
YouTube provides no official way for people to create permanent local copies of videos. This includes Creative Commons media.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 07:20</ref> The only exception is YouTube Studio allowing channel owners to download their own videos in up to 720p.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6UHS1-vDMM Changes to Unlisted Videos Uploaded Before 2017], 4:30 ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=l6UHS1-vDMM Archived])</ref>

While the YouTube app lets paying YouTube Premium subscribers download videos for offline viewing, the videos are only accessible through the YouTube app, encoded in a proprietary format, and forcibly deleted after 29 days.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref>

Permanent local copies are necessary to preserve Internet history when YouTube ceases to operate:
<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

===Telekom Entertain media receiver recordings===
The German Telekom, an Internet and Internet Television provider, sells landline Internet television receivers and recorders. A former product line were the "Entertain" Media Receiver 300, 301, 303, and 500. (The 100 and 102 were secondary devices with no internal hard drives. The others had hard drives between 160 and 500 GB.<ref>[https://archive.today/2026.01.27-101349/https://www.telekom-profis.de/vermitteln/news/media-receiver-mr-102-wieder-erhaeltlich-60.html Media Receiver MR 102 wieder erhältlich! - Telekom Profis] (June 2011)</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6725650 Media Receiver 100] (user manual)</ref><ref>[https://www.woogmedia.de:443/downloads/BDA_MR300.pdf Media Receiver 300 Bedienungsanleitung] (user manual) ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260210175058/https://www.woogmedia.de/downloads/BDA_MR300.pdf Archived])</ref><ref name="MR300">[https://www.hifitest.de/test/stereoanlage-und-komplettanlage/deutsche-telekom-t-home-media-receiver-300-380 Deutsche Telekom T-Home Media Receiver 300] - hifitest.de (June 2009) ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260208092154/https://www.hifitest.de/test/stereoanlage-und-komplettanlage/deutsche-telekom-t-home-media-receiver-300-380 Archived])</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/2026.01.27-101343/https://www.golem.de/1101/80856.html Media Receiver 303: Neuer Festplattenrekorder für Telekom Entertain - Golem.de] (January 2011)</ref><ref name="MR500" />)

Their operating systems were designed in a way that they would not boot without connecting to Telekom servers, and the devices stored the television recordings on their internal hard drive in a proprietary format, and provided the user with no means of copying or moving recordings to external media such as an external flash drive or hard drive, meaning users were forced to delete recordings when running out of disk space. While the devices featured up to two USB ports, some even an eSATA port, they had no use other than supplying electrical power.<ref name="MR500">[https://www.hifitest.de/test/sat-receiver-mit-festplatte/deutsche-telekom-media-receiver-500-sat-6114 Deutsche Telekom Media Receiver 500 Sat] - hifitest.de (June 2012) ([http://web.archive.org/web/20250621145244/https://www.hifitest.de/test/sat-receiver-mit-festplatte/deutsche-telekom-media-receiver-500-sat-6114 Archived])</ref><ref name="MR300" /><ref>[https://telekom.tarife-angebote.de/magenta-zuhause/entertain/media-receiver-empfaenger/mr303-iptv-festplattenrekorder Telekom Media-Receiver 303 (MR303 Festplattenrekorder)] - telekom.tarife-angebote.de ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260127112814/https://telekom.tarife-angebote.de/magenta-zuhause/entertain/media-receiver-empfaenger/mr303-iptv-festplattenrekorder Archived])</ref>

In 2019, its users lost access to all recordings stored locally on the devices when the online service their operating system depended on was shut down. The devices were in service for eight years (since 2011), meaning users would lose access to up to eight years of television recordings.<ref>[https://archive.today/2026.01.27-095619/https://web.archive.org/web/20190825100604/https://www.telekom.com/de/konzern/details/magentatv-loest-entertain-ab-558808 MagentaTV löst Entertain ab | Deutsche Telekom]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210412055921/https://www.onlinekosten.de/news/telekom-zieht-2019-beim-alten-entertain-den-stecker_214313.html Telekom zieht 2019 beim alten "Entertain" den Stecker]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Enshittification]]
*[[Right to own]]

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Common terms]]

YouTube

2026-03-06T18:38:29Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Incidents */ YouTube doesn't like people owning copies of videos locally.

{{ProductLineCargo
|ArticleType=Service
|Category=Streaming, Video
|Company=Google
|Description=
|InProduction=Yes
|Logo=YouTube.png
|ReleaseYear=2005
|Website=https://youtube.com
}}

'''{{Wplink|YouTube}}''', founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, is a global video-sharing platform and one of the most visited websites in the world. Acquired by [[Google]] in 2006, YouTube has since become the dominant platform for sharing videos on the internet.

YouTube's business model is built around advertising revenue, with creators earning money through ad views, subscriptions, and other monetization options. The platform hosts a wide range of content, including music videos, tutorials, news, video logs ("vlogs"), and live streams. YouTube has also begun offering subscription services, such as YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, for ad-free experiences, exclusive content, and live television.

YouTube has faced criticism and regulatory scrutiny on multiple fronts. Concerns have been raised about content moderation policies, the platform's role in the spread of misinformation, and its impact on user privacy, particularly in relation to data collection practices. Additionally, YouTube has been under fire for its algorithms, which some argue promote harmful or divisive content to maximize engagement.

==Consumer impact summary==
*'''User freedom:''' Questionable; rampant bots and [[Elsagate]] suggest negligent moderation.
*'''User privacy:''' Poor; Since August 2025, accessing mature content without identification is a gamble. User data is also sold to advertisers and the site is owned by [[Google]].
*'''Business model:''' [[Advertising overload|Excessive advertising]], YouTube Premium, YouTube Premium Lite
*'''Market competition:''' Despite several platforms that follow its niche, such as Odysee, [[PeerTube]], and [[DailyMotion]], they provide no significant competition.

==Incidents==
===Elsagate===
{{Main|Elsagate}}

The first "Elsagate" incident arose sometime during the mid-2010s on YouTube, though it was not discovered and named until 2016. It has since been used as a catch-all term for content that appears child-friendly at first glance but, in actuality, contains suggestive or outright illicit material targeted at minors. This is accomplished by using major intellectual properties for children, such as the Elsa character from the 2013 [[Disney]] film ''{{Wplink|Frozen (2013 film)|Frozen}}'' and [[Minecraft]].

Although the problem is not unique to the YouTube platform, its dominance in the video sphere makes it an attractive target.

===Restricting users that don't share their personal information===
{{Main|YouTube age verification}}

On 30 July 2025, in response to the [[UK Online Safety Act]], YouTube announced a verification update that asks for either a government-issued ID, a photo, or credit card, otherwise they could not access content.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ingram |first=Michael |title=YouTube is Rolling Out A New Controversial Feature |url=https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |website=GameRant |date=30 Jul 2025 |access-date=14 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250730234131/https://gamerant.com/youtube-new-age-verification-feature-id-recognition/ |archive-date=30 Jul 2025}}</ref>

YouTube will estimate the age of a user from various sources, including the videos watched, and will ask for previously mentioned personal information when it believes that the user falls below 18.

===Advertising overload on YouTube===
{{Main|Advertising overload}}

Advertisements are YouTube's primary source of revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=How YouTube Works |url=https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/our-commitments/sharing-revenue/ |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260101140008/https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/creator-economy/ |archive-date=1 Jan 2026}}</ref> This has led to advertisements becoming more pervasive on the platform<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Jordan |date=20 Jan 2024 |title=Why YouTube Has So Many Ads (and Why There Will Probably Be More) |url=https://www.33rdsquare.com/software-app/why-youtube-has-so-many-ads-and-why-there-will-probably-be-more/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/GjC82 |archive-date=24 Feb 2026 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |website=33rd Square}}</ref> such as an increasing number of spaces for static ads, longer ad breaks (which some users have documented being longer than the videos they watch<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |first=Aamir |title=Frustrated YouTube viewers seek explanation for hour-long unskippable ads (Updated: Clarification) |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250128162022/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-long-unskippable-ads-problem-3519957/ |archive-date=28 Jan 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dirscherl |first=Hans-Christian |last2=Lee |first2=Joel |title=Hours-long unskippable ads spotted on YouTube. What’s going on? |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |website=PCWorld |date=28 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250129183554/https://www.pcworld.com/article/2590352/hours-long-unskippable-ads-spotted-on-youtube-whats-going-on.html |archive-date=29 Jan 2025}}</ref> and most prevalent on YouTube TV<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adegbola |first=Anu
|title=YouTube tests longer CTV ad breaks |url=https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |website=Search Engine Land |date=16 Aug 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240816143812/https://searchengineland.com/youtube-tests-longer-ad-breaks-ctv-445248 |archive-date=16 Aug 2024}}</ref>), increased ad frequency in videos,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wright |first=Arol |title=YouTube is Adding Even More Ads |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |website=How-To-Geek |date=26 Apr 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240426192258/https://www.howtogeek.com/youtube-is-adding-even-more-ads/ |archive-date=26 Apr 2024}}</ref> and poorer quality ads.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |author=T3rr0r |title=BAD Mobile Game Ads |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |website=YouTube |date=17 Oct 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=dRjGn54O4Zg |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Knoblauch |first=Max |title=Why are mobile game ads so weird and bad? |url=https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |website=Sherwood News |date=14 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240614151756/https://sherwood.news/business/mobile-game-ads-industry-fake-misleading/ |archive-date=14 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=The DISGUSTING State of Mobile Game Ads (and why YouTube LOVES IT) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |website=YouTube |date=18 Sep 2021 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=KsKlfN9phAs |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref> Practices are also put into place in order to force non-paying users into seeing these ads as well, such as subscription-gating playing videos in the background.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AEC |website=YouTube |date= |access-date=6 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260206072120/https://www.youtube.com/premium?ybp=Sg0IBhIJdW5saW1pdGVk4AED |archive-date=6 Feb 2026}}</ref>

Furthermore, even if a user pays for YouTube premium, they do not necessarily receive an ad-free experience<ref>{{Cite web |author=CaptainMystery_123 |title=I have YouTube premium, why am I getting adds. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=18 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250525154227/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18ll7y6/i_have_youtube_premium_why_am_i_getting_adds/ |archive-date=25 May 2025}}</ref> — they may still see ads within the video they watch, such as sponsored segments.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Can you still see ads if you have YouTube Premium? Here's what Google has to say |url=https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |website=Android Authority |date=10 May 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251211123241/https://www.androidauthority.com/remove-youtube-premium-ads-3384953/ |archive-date=11 Dec 2025}}</ref> YouTube has added a "skip" feature, but it has been reported that this does not work consistently.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Anurag |title=YouTube now lets you skip sponsored segments — but you’ll have to pay for it |url=https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |website=Dexerto |date=22 Aug 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822211151/https://www.dexerto.com/youtube/youtube-now-lets-you-skip-sponsored-segments-but-youll-have-to-pay-for-it-2872784/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2024}}</ref>

====Refusal to handle malicious ads====
A common phenomenon on YouTube's advertisements is content that is mature and/or malicious in nature.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Beyond The Internet |title=YouTube Ads are inappropriate... |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |website=YouTube |date=22 Feb 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=_B2KdIoRVo8 |archive-date=23 Feb 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Sharma |first=Adamya |title=Explicit ads are plaguing YouTube, and it’s only getting worse
|url=https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |website=Android Authority |date=27 Jan 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250127062033/https://www.androidauthority.com/youtube-explicit-ads-problem-3520285/ |archive-date=27 Jan 2025}}</ref> The content of these advertisements include pornography,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Saberspark |title=YouTube's Ads Have Hit A New Low...(it's literally p*rn) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |website=YouTube |date=31 Mar 2025 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=cW4On_gWAvI |archive-date=2 Apr 2025}}</ref><ref name=":8" /> false advertising,<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> scams,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Jakob_G |title=YouTube doesn't want to take down scam ads |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=12 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217150604/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18gjiqy/youtube_doesnt_want_to_take_down_scam_ads/ |archive-date=17 Dec 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=JerryRigEverything |title=I CAUGHT THE YOUTUBE SCAMMER - $1000 dollars EVERY DAY?! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |website=YouTube |date=9 Mar 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=iROF9Dd7FXA |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=LoganAH |title=Why does YouTube run blatant scams as advertisements? |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=22 Dec 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713054442/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/18osjs6/why_does_youtube_run_blatant_scams_as/ |archive-date=13 Jul 2025}}</ref> and far more. Rather than working towards clearing these ads, or acknowledging this advertising content that has been harming consumers on the platform, YouTube moderation has only cut the revenue for these videos that attempt to call out these ads,<ref>{{Cite web |author=Deep Humor |title=Watch This Before YouTube Deletes It. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |website=YouTube |date=24 Feb 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=QRpECEQ0-hg |archive-date=26 Feb 2025}}</ref> which has been known to make said videos be less-showcased.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |author=Sealow |title=Extensive evidence of algorithm censorship of demonetised videos |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |website=YouTube |date=29 Nov 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=n3H8D2LrLHc |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |author=Karlaplan |title=Monetisation analysis / research
|url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/155yNpfR7dGKuN-4rbrvbJLcJkhGa_HqvVuyPK7UEfPo/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.jou9rc5d49jl |website=[[Google]] |date=20 Nov 2017 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://consumerrights.wiki/w/File:Karlaplan_Monetisation_analysis_research_.pdf |archive-date=11 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Demonetization and censorship===
Since at least 2016, YouTube has had an extensive record of censoring content that is demonetized.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" /> Within understandable circumstances, legitimately malicious or offensive videos would be demonetized and should not be shown on the platform; however, how videos are considered to be demonetized has had a harmful impact upon both viewers and content creators. Transgender creators on YouTube, for example, have experienced unfair censorship via demonetization since 2018.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Disney |first=Malia |title=Trans YouTubers Say They Are Being Censored. Is It The Algorithm? |url=https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |website=Youth Radio Media
|date=4 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130035845/https://archive.yr.media/journalism/outloud/trans-youtubers-say-they-are-being-censored-and-an-algorithm-may-be-to-blame/ |archive-date=30 Jan 2023}}</ref> Content creators affected by this unfairly balanced moderation via algorithms<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cantz |first=Randy |title=Adpocalypse: How YouTube Demonetization Imperils the Future of Free Speech |url=https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |website=Berkeley Political Review |date=1 May 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240424095310/https://bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu/2018/05/01/adpocalypse-how-youtube-demonetization-imperils-the-future-of-free-speech/ |archive-date=24 Apr 2024}}</ref> have dubbed these events as "adpocalypses".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Alexander |first=Julia |title=YouTubers fear looming ‘adpocalypse’ after child exploitation controversy
|url=https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |website=The Verge |date=20 Feb 2019 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220205927/https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/20/18231561/youtube-child-exploitation-predators-controversy-creators-adpocalypse |archive-date=20 Feb 2019}}</ref>

====Irresponsibly automated moderation====
When YouTube integrated the ability to take down videos via the [[Digital Millennium Copyright Act]] (DMCA), they decided to often handle take-down requests in an automated manner.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Jines |first=Chuck |title=ABUSE – How DMCA automated takedown notices violate free speech |url=https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |website=Chuck Jines |date=4 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250303201747/https://www.chuckjines.com/abuse-dmac-automated-takedown-notices-and-free-speech/ |archive-date=3 Mar 2025}}</ref> This automation has led to an excess in fraudulent DMCA take-downs of content,<ref>{{Cite web |author=itanshi |title=I'd like to talk about the problem with anonymous DMCA take down notices. |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Mar 2017 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606184354/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/5zzr9c/id_like_to_talk_about_the_problem_with_anonymous/ |archive-date=6 Jun 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=The Last Civil Rights Lawyer |title=“Lackluster” Gets a Fraudulent Copyright Strike for Dashcam Footage and Now We Sue |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |website=YouTube |date=21 Jul 2021 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=rPqtT88PT9Y |archive-date=2 Feb 2026}}</ref> even going so far as to have [[Bungie]] call out YouTube in a legal case for their negligence.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brodkin
|first=John |title=Bungie slams YouTube’s DMCA system in lawsuit against ''Destiny'' takedown fraudsters |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |website=Ars Technica |date=28 Mar 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329203809/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/03/bungie-slams-youtubes-dmca-system-in-lawsuit-against-destiny-takedown-fraudsters/ |archive-date=29 Mar 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Maxwell |first=Andy |title=Digital Trails: How Bungie Identified a Mass Sender of Fake DMCA Notices |url=https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |website=TorrentFreak |date=24 Jun 2022 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624070824/https://torrentfreak.com/digital-trails-how-bungie-identified-a-mass-sender-of-fake-dmca-notices-220624/ |archive-date=24 Jun 2022}}</ref> These take-down requests have ranged from users impersonating corporations, to users impersonating other users.<ref name=":3" />

===Crackdown against ad-blockers===

The prevalence of advertising on the platform, coupled with the repeated appearance of harmful and deceptive ads within YouTube's advertising system, led a significant number of users to employ ad-blocking tools to facilitate their viewing experience.

In response, Google initiated technical countermeasures to limit the functionality of these tools. This has resulted in an ongoing cycle where ad-blocker developers adapt to new restrictions, and the platform subsequently implements further detection methods. A key strategy in this effort involves the implementation of advanced code integrity checks designed to ensure ad content is delivered to viewers.

However, these measures typically exhibit limited efficacy before ad-blocking tools develop new methods of circumvention,<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Flaherty |first=Kate |title=YouTube’s Ad Blocker Ban Just Got Even Bigger |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |url-access=subscription |website=Forbes |date=20 Jun 2024 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240620123932/https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateoflahertyuk/2024/06/20/youtubes-ad-blocker-ban-just-got-even-bigger/ |archive-date=20 Jun 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harding |first=Scharon |title=YouTube’s ad blocker crackdown escalates, aggravating users |url=https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |website=Ars Technica |date=1 Nov 2023 |access-date=12 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101170643/https://arstechnica.com/google/2023/11/youtube-tries-to-kill-ad-blockers-in-push-for-ad-dollars-premium-subs/ |archive-date=1 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube blocks adblockers; will this be their downfall? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |website=YouTube |date=12 Oct 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=DMaFH4KzOVg |archive-date=13 Oct 2023}}</ref> a dynamic that some analysts suggest exemplifies the {{Wplink|Streisand effect}}.<ref>{{Cite web |author=phub |title=Brave no longer blocking youtube ads as of March 27, 2024 |url=https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |website=Brave |date=27 Mar 2024 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240801101510/https://community.brave.com/t/brave-no-longer-blocking-youtube-ads-as-of-march-27-2024/540032 |archive-date=1 Aug 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=YouTube's adblock war is backfiring in the worst way possible 🤣 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |website=YouTube |date=5 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_GARcKCaUfI |archive-date=5 Nov 2023}}</ref>

Additional strategies have involved the integration of advertisements directly into video streams. This approach has impaired the functionality of certain browser extensions, including SponsorBlock, a community-driven tool designed to skip sponsored segments within videos. The extension relies on user-submitted timestamps to identify these segments; its effectiveness is significantly reduced when personalized advertisements, which vary in duration and placement for each viewer, are embedded into the stream itself.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis
|title=Youtube is dedicated to making this website worse; destroys sponsorblock with ad injection changes |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |website=YouTube |date=18 Jun 2024
|access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=weP62wPEjRw |archive-date=28 Jul 2024}}</ref>

Google has publicly acknowledged implementing code that degrades the user experience for individuals using ad blockers. This includes introducing artificial latency, which has been documented to slow page load times, a measure that also affected users of the Firefox browser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Youtube confirms intentional slowdown of adblock users 🤦‍♂️ |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |website=YouTube |date=23 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=KMLMQRS3Krk |archive-date=23 Nov 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rossmann |first=Louis |title=Is Youtube making firefox load slow on purpose? |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |website=YouTube |date=21 Nov 2023 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=_x7NSw0Irc0 |archive-date=21 Nov 2023}}</ref>

===Offline video DRM===
The YouTube Mobile application permits users with a YouTube Premium subscription to download videos for offline viewing. However, the downloaded content is protected by [[Digital rights management|Digital Rights Management]] (DRM) that requires the application to establish an online connection with YouTube's servers at least once every 48 hours to maintain playback functionality. This requirement is not prominently featured on the primary YouTube Premium marketing page and is detailed instead within the platform's support documentation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author= |date= |title=YouTube Premium |url=https://www.youtube.com/premium |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251111004845/https://www.youtube.com/premium |archive-date=11 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Watch videos offline on mobile in selected countries and regions |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |website=[[Google]] |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250719175650/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6141269 |archive-date=19 Jul 2025}}</ref>

Saved videos are forcibly deleted after 29 days. [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|Data lock-in and proprietary encoding]] prevents the user from making permanent copies of videos, even those licensed under Creative Commons.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santos |first=Noel |title=Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files |url=https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |website=Virtual Curiosities |date=7 Dec 2024 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files |archive-date=26 Nov 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Mental Outlaw |title=Google is Locking Down Android |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |website=YouTube |date=28 Aug 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=L1S0SiBuJN8 |archive-date=29 Aug 2025}}</ref>

===Universal DRM testing and violation of Creative Commons licenses===
YouTube on TV is an {{Wplink|HTML5}} web interface from Google to allow supported devices — such as game consoles which do not have a native YouTube app — to view content via YouTube. An {{Wplink|A/B testing|A/B experiment}} has begun which protects all video and audio content regardless of bit-rate or format via the YouTube on TV platform with DRM.<ref>{{Cite web |author=coletdjnz |title=[YouTube] DRM on ALL videos with tv (TVHTML5) client #12563 |url=https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |website=GitHub |date=8 Mar 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250330031529/https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/issues/12563 |archive-date=30 Mar 2025}}</ref> A number of content creators license their work uploaded to YouTube via the {{Wplink|Creative Commons}} licenses. The universal implementation of DRM to restrict a user's ability to exercise their rights granted by the license is a violation of the aforementioned licenses.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=License Versions |url=https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |website=Creative Commons |date=13 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101062938/https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/License_Versions#Application_of_effective_technological_measures_by_users_of_CC-licensed_works_prohibited |archive-date=1 Jan 2025}}</ref>

===Pay-walling standard browser features===
Another premium feature of the YouTube mobile app is the ability to play videos in the background.<ref name=":0" /> Without a premium subscription, neither the app nor a web browser will play YouTube videos in the background. However, the default HTML5 video player supports this with no extra effort needed from the developer.

On 7 February 2026, it was reported that YouTube Music was testing a feature that would paywall song lyrics, which were previously a free feature since 2020.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hardwick |first=Tim |title=YouTube Music lyrics now require a Premium subscription |url=https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |website=9TO5Google |date=7 Feb 2026 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260208225137/https://9to5google.com/2026/02/07/youtube-music-lyrics-premium/ |archive-date=8 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===Removal of the dislike count on videos===
On 10 November 2021, YouTube removed the public dislike count from all of its videos. Creators are still be able to view dislike counts on their videos through the YouTube Studio website and app.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |author= |title=An update to dislikes on YouTube |url=https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |website=YouTube Official Blog |date=10 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211110173333/https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/update-to-youtube/ |archive-date=10 Nov 2021}}</ref>

According to YouTube, this was implemented after user testing revealed that users were less likely to feel incentivized to actively try and manipulate the dislike count on videos if the dislike count was not visible to them.<ref name=":2" /> This spurred the creation of "Return YouTube Dislike" by Dmitry Selivanov, a third-party web browser extension to expose the dislike count again. YouTube discontinued the related {{Wplink|API}}, upon which the extension relied, on 13 December 2021. From thereon "Return YouTube Dislike" switched "to using a combination of archived dislike stats, estimates extrapolated from extension user data and estimates based on view/like ratios for videos whose dislikes weren't archived and for outdated dislike archives."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Can |first=Michael |title=Browser Extension Brings Back Dislike Count to YouTube Videos |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos
|website=PC Mag |date=29 Nov 2021 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130001311/https://www.pcmag.com/news/browser-extension-brings-back-dislike-count-to-youtube-videos |archive-date=30 Nov 2021}}</ref>

===Anti-features and dark patterns to trick the user into staying longer===
YouTube's algorithm was engineered to make the user watch more videos than they intended, to earn more ad revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Nicas |first=Jack |title=How YouTube Drives People to the Internet’s Darkest Corners |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |url-access=subscription |website=The Wall Street Journal. |date=7 Feb 2018 |access-date=29 Jan 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208091112/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-youtube-drives-viewers-to-the-internets-darkest-corners-1518020478 |archive-date=8 Dec 2018 |quote=YouTube engineered its algorithm several years ago to make the site “sticky”—to recommend videos that keep users staying to watch still more, said current and former YouTube engineers who helped build it. The site earns money selling ads that run before and during videos.}}</ref> This is on top of a feature called Autoplay, which queues another video (chosen by Youtube's algorithm) and plays that automatically after a short delay so you keep watching more. Through this mechanism, children will especially have their attention extracted for several hours.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |author= |title=James Bridle: What Do Kids' Videos on YouTube Reveal About the Internet's Dark Side? |others=NPR/TED Staff |url=https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |website=NPR |date=2 Nov 2018 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250620234159/https://www.npr.org/transcripts/662612151 |archive-date=20 Jun 2025 |quote="And also, on the other side of the screen, there still are these little kids watching this stuff - right? - their full attention grabbed by these weird mechanisms. And so there's autoplay, where it just keeps playing these videos over and over and over on a loop, endlessly, for hours and hours at a time. And there's so much weirdness in the system now that autoplay takes you to some pretty strange places. This is how within, like, a dozen steps, you can go from a cute video of a counting train to masturbating Mickey Mouse."}}</ref>

By default, this feature is enabled.<ref>{{Cite web |author= |title=Autoplay videos - YouTube Help |url=https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |website=[[Google]] |date=4 Apr 2025 |access-date=13 Jul 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250401080124/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6327615?hl=en |archive-date=1 Apr 2025}}</ref>

===Crackdown against third-party front-ends===

Since the beginning of 2025, users have been reporting issues with third-party front-ends accessing the platform.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Fijxu |title=Youtube changed something, again! |url=https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |website=nadeko |date=16 Feb 2025 |access-date=16 Aug 2025 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250816014757/https://nadeko.net/announcements/invidious-02-20/ |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref> For FreeTube, there has been a heightened amount of people receiving {{Wplink|HTTP 403|403 errors}} associated with IP blocks when attempting to view videos via this front-end.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Gevaarlijk |title=[Bug]: [BAD_HTTP_STATUS: 403] Potential causes: IP block or streaming URL deciphering failed #6701 |url=https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |website=GitHub |date=31 Jan 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260105144421/https://github.com/FreeTubeApp/FreeTube/issues/6701 |archive-date=5 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===AI filtering without consent===
YouTube is testing an experiment on Shorts content that enhances a video's detail without the creator's consent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reisner |first=Alex |title=YouTube’s Sneaky AI ‘Experiment’
|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |website=The Atlantic |date=22 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250822194955/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/08/youtube-shorts-ai-upscaling/683946/ |archive-date=22 Aug 2025}}</ref> The resulting output tends to look plastic. This change has been observed as early as 27 June 2025<ref>{{Cite web |author=Ulincsys |title=YouTube Shorts are almost certainly being AI upscaled |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=27 Jun 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250827144146/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1lllnse/youtube_shorts_are_almost_certainly_being_ai/ |archive-date=27 Aug 2025}}</ref> and affects creators who especially intend the video to be viewed in a certain way, such as the "{{Wplink|VHS}} look".<ref>{{Cite web |author=dolanbriese |title=YouTube Shorts are becoming AI upscaled without consent from creators |url=https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |website=[[Reddit]] |date=21 Jul 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251003103832/https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/1m5y7zu/youtube_shorts_are_becoming_ai_upscaled_without/ |archive-date=3 Oct 2025}}</ref> Rhett Shull, in his video, opines such a change "will inevitably erode viewers trust in my content [...] or any of the other creators on this platform that we all watch and we all follow" due to implications that the creator may be using AI, and "also erodes my trust in the platform."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shull |first=Rhett |title=YouTube Is Using AI to Alter Content (and not telling us) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |website=YouTube |date=14 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=86nhP8tvbLY |archive-date=16 Aug 2025}}</ref>

Artist Sam Yang uploaded a video on 30 August 2025, following up on the issue using his own work for comparison, testing the claims that this is merely compression scaling, adding an artist's eye and commentary to the issue.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yang |first=Sam |title=Youtube is Using AI on Your Shorts Without Consent.. |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |website=YouTube |date=30 Aug 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=tjnQ-s7LW-g |archive-date=26 Jan 2026}}</ref>

Users also complained about a dangerous flickering that happens under some videos. Some forwarded this issue to YouTube scientist Anton Petrov, to which he replicated the issue and showed it under a video uploaded 25 October 2025, noting it happens on one of his devices, more specifically a mobile phone.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petrov |first=Anton |title=YouTube AI Filter Is Making My Videos Dangerous To Watch |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |website=YouTube |date=25 Oct 2025 |access-date=11 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://www.preservetube.com/watch?v=2HY-nREvVu4 |archive-date=26 Oct 2025}}</ref>

===Wave of channel terminations (''2025'')===
In November 2025, multiple YouTube channels, including Enderman, Scratchit Gaming, and 4096 were reportedly terminated in a massive ban wave under false reasons, such as association with a Japanese-language channel "椛のスターレイル遊び" which translates roughly as "Momiji plays Honkai: Star Rail Adventures," a reference to a Japanese role-playing game. Some have blamed the ban wave on the malfunctions of YouTube's AI-powered moderation system.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Binder |first=Matt |title=Big YouTube channels are being banned. YouTubers are blaming AI. |url=https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |website=Mashable |date=4 Nov 2025 |access-date=2 Feb 2026 |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260221125020/https://mashable.com/article/big-youtube-channels-terminated-creators-blame-ai |archive-date=21 Feb 2026}}</ref>

===API restrictions===
In June 2023, YouTube forced Matt Wright, maintainer of the YouTube Metadata tool, to remove the exporting feature which let people export YouTube metadata such as video descriptions into a file. This did not include the videos themselves. It can be assumed that this is the "tip of an iceberg" and YouTube made many such requests without them being publicly documented.<ref>[https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Export Feature? · mattwright324/youtube-metadata · Discussion #150 · GitHub] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251214094758/https://github.com/mattwright324/youtube-metadata/discussions/150 Archived])</ref>

=== Prevention of offline video preservation (downloading) ===
Creating permanent local copies of videos is strongly discouraged by YouTube.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Vsauce Answers the 100 Most Googled Questions | WIRED] (at 7:20 and 8:57)</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com:443/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E How To Legally Download YouTube Videos] - Tim Schmoyer - Video Creators TV (clickbait - it is an advertisement for "YouTube Red", the earlier name of "YouTube Premium", and only shows the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Studio that lets channel owners download only their own uploaded videos)</ref> YouTube is taking measures to prevent people from backing up videos locally. From a YouTube help center article:

<blockquote>
In order to protect the YouTube community, we may prevent signed-out users from accessing YouTube videos when they're attempting to download material for offline use.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Troubleshoot YouTube video errors - YouTube Help]</ref>

It is not specified what preventing offline use is intended to protect against.

YouTube also regularly purges tutorial videos that show how to create local copies of videos.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120813001114/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqFiUrhTc How To Download Convert YouTube Videos 2 Anything] - ifxman (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLLOij1GSQ How to download youtube videos without any software] - Ritace40 (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121003225255/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xf6uukCHmk Download Youtube Videos Free -- No Software!] - MKBHD (later removed by YouTube)</ref>

Instead, YouTube wants its users to pay monthly for its subscription service, YouTube Premium, to have any form of offline access to videos. YouTube Premium comes with a "download" feature, however, it is useless for long-term archival of videos given that it only lets users store temporary local copies of YouTube videos that are forcibly deleted after 29 days. In addition, to thwart any permanent preservation, the videos are stored with [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|data lock-in]] and proprietary encoding in a format only recognized by the YouTube app, to prevent local copying.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref name=VirtualCuriosities>[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/cobalt_tools/comments/1lhmlqx/youtube_downloads_not_working_megathread/ YouTube downloads not working - Megathread] - /r/cobalt_tools - Reddit</ref>

While YouTube can advertise its Premium service as technically allowing "downloading", the deceptive marketing comes from exploiting the fact that the user expects so-called "downloading" to result in a file stored in the web browser's Download folder, accessible from other software, instead of the [[data lock-in]] that YouTube Premium actually has. The 29-day storage limit coupled with data lock-in render the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Premium useless for any long-term archival.<ref name=VirtualCuriosities />

Downloading local copies of YouTube videos through "unofficial" and "unapproved" means is the only recourse against the loss of Internet history caused by videos being unpublished by channel owners or YouTube, and against a future shutdown of YouTube. As of 2026, there is no certainty that YouTube will be operating by the year 2050, for instance.

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- Karl Voit<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

Videos can disappear from YouTube for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, channel owners decide to "move on" and delete (or otherwise unpublish) their entire history of uploads. Sometimes, videos contain something Google doesn't like and they take them down, one example being "Android is losing a big feature" by comedian Sam Tucker (SAMTIME).<ref>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)</ref>

Sometimes, YouTube's community guidelines grow stricter, retroactively outruling existing content, and entire channels are taken down due to strikes on only a few videos, resulting in the collateral loss of all other videos, one famous example being Mumkey Jones.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8-ETSDgcs Mumkey Jones: YouTube's Most Wanted] - j aubrey ([https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Te8-ETSDgcs GhostArchive mirror])</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:YouTube]]

Sandbox

2026-03-06T18:14:26Z

JodyBruchonFan: reset

{{:Sandbox/Welcome}}

----

Sandbox

2026-03-06T18:12:16Z

JodyBruchonFan: test

{{:Sandbox/Welcome}}

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https://archive.today/

Data lock-in

2026-03-06T18:11:56Z

JodyBruchonFan: The Apple link was correct.

'''Data lock-in''' limits how device owners can access and manage data stored on the device they own. For example, some mobile applications store user data in a way they can only be viewed from inside the app, with no possibility of creating backups or moving them to external storage to free space. Many social media platforms make it difficult to export data. '''Data portability''' is a more consumer friendly approach, where it is easy to move data from one application or platform to alternatives.

==Incidents==
===Saved pages in Samsung Internet===
The mobile web browser by Samsung stores saved pages in the <code>/data</code> directory. This is a locked-in directory where apps store data only accessible to themselves.

Users have requested Samsung developers to change its browser to store saved pages in a non-locked-in place that makes them accessible from other applications and makes it possible to create backups, or to let users export copies of saved pages, but Samsung refused to implement this change. Some users have stored thousands of web pages this way before realizing they are unable to create backups or move them to external storage.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250806152342/https://forum.developer.samsung.com/t/regarding-saved-webpages/5304/1 Regarding saved webpages - Samsung Internet - Samsung Developer Forums]</ref>

Rooting a device would make the <code>/data</code> folder accessible, but this requires an unlocked bootloader. The process of unlocking the bootloader involves a factory reset, which deletes all user-generated files from internal storage.

In comparison, Google Chrome on mobile stores web pages as MHTML files in the download folder where they are not locked in, and Firefox on mobile completely lacks a feature to save pages.

===Saved pages in Apple Safari on iPhone===
Apple refers to saved pages as the "reading list", a name that implies the feature is intended for storing pages only until they are read, not for archival. Like with Samsung, people have asked for an ability to export saved pages. Apple has not responded.<ref>[https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255416051?sortBy=rank How do you EXPORT your Reading List from Safari - Apple Community] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260228070610/https://discussions.apple.com:443/thread/255416051?sortBy=rank archive])</ref>

===User data in mobile web browsers===
No major mobile web browser lets the user export their session (list of opened tabs) and browsing history and bookmarks to a local file. Exporting all tabs may be desirable to start with a fresh session without losing the existing session, and exporting the history makes it easier to search for pages a long time after visiting, beyond what the browser retains.<ref>[https://beepb00p.xyz/sad-infra.html The sad state of personal data and infrastructure] - Karl Icoss ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260203233117/https://beepb00p.xyz/sad-infra.html Archived])</ref>

Some web browsers have a "Sync" feature that allows synchronizing tabs and bookmarks across devices, but it is cloud-based, meaning it depends on an online service that can cease to operate at any time.<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud/ You Can't Control Your Data in the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260202071758/https://karl-voit.at/cloud/ Archived])</ref><ref>[https://workona.com/pages/how-to-export-chrome-bookmarks/ How to Export Chrome Bookmarks for the Last Time] - Workona ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126072849/https://workona.com/pages/how-to-export-chrome-bookmarks/ Archived])</ref>

===Text messages===
The built-in text messaging applications of both Android and iOS lack a built-in local export option.

On Android, the third-party app "SMS Backup+" can create exports, but they can not be directly stored locally, only uploaded to the middleman GMail, which requires Internet connection and a Google account, and can cease to function at any time due to Google API changes.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250314125929/https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/974 Feature request: save to local file · Issue #974 · jberkel/sms-backup-plus · GitHub]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250313124817/https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/1110 SMS -Backup+ unable to log into my email to backup SMS messages · Issue #1110 · jberkel/sms-backup-plus · GitHub]</ref>

On iOS, exporting apps require payment, an external computer, and save as PDF, resulting in much larger files than plain text.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20251111204709/https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255416051?sortBy=rank Export iMessage conversation - Apple Community]</ref><ref>[https://megalodon.jp/2026-0228-1623-45/https://discussions.apple.com:443/thread/255674743?sortBy=rank I want to download my messages to an external drive (flash drive) - Apple Community]</ref>

Chat messages can be archived manually with screenshots and screen recordings, but this takes lots of time and manual work, and the resulting files can not be searched for text and will be much larger in size than a plain text-based export would be.

[[WhatsApp]] lets the user export messages to a text file, but this has to be done for each conversation individually, and starting with an April 2025 update, exporting can be remotely disabled by the other participant.<ref>[https://archive.today/2025.08.28-001731/https://faq.whatsapp.com/715385484388016/?cms_platform=web About advanced chat privacy | WhatsApp Help Center]</ref>

===Android data folder===
Since Android 11, apps can no longer browse the <code>Android/data</code> folder in the shared user storage (not to be confused with <code>/data</code>, which was locked in since the beginning).<ref>[https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/storage Storage updates in Android 11 | Android Developers]: If your app targets Android 11, it cannot access the files in any other app's data directory, even if the other app targets Android 8.1 (API level 27) or lower and has made the files in its data directory world-readable ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260130032658/https://developer.android.com/about/versions/11/privacy/storage Archived]).</ref>

===Videos downloaded inside the YouTube app===
YouTube provides no official way for people to create permanent local copies of videos. This includes Creative Commons media.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 07:20</ref> The only exception is YouTube Studio allowing channel owners to download their own videos in up to 720p.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6UHS1-vDMM Changes to Unlisted Videos Uploaded Before 2017], 4:30 ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=l6UHS1-vDMM Archived])</ref>

While the YouTube app lets paying YouTube Premium subscribers download videos for offline viewing, the videos are only accessible through the YouTube app, encoded in a proprietary format, and forcibly deleted after 29 days.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref>

Permanent local copies are necessary to preserve Internet history when YouTube ceases to operate:
<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

===Telekom Entertain media receiver recordings===
The German Telekom, an Internet and Internet Television provider, sells landline Internet television receivers and recorders. A former product line were the "Entertain" Media Receiver 300, 301, 303, and 500. (The 100 and 102 were secondary devices with no internal hard drives. The others had hard drives between 160 and 500 GB.<ref>[https://archive.today/2026.01.27-101349/https://www.telekom-profis.de/vermitteln/news/media-receiver-mr-102-wieder-erhaeltlich-60.html Media Receiver MR 102 wieder erhältlich! - Telekom Profis] (June 2011)</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6725650 Media Receiver 100] (user manual)</ref><ref>[https://www.woogmedia.de:443/downloads/BDA_MR300.pdf Media Receiver 300 Bedienungsanleitung] (user manual) ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260210175058/https://www.woogmedia.de/downloads/BDA_MR300.pdf Archived])</ref><ref name="MR300">[https://www.hifitest.de/test/stereoanlage-und-komplettanlage/deutsche-telekom-t-home-media-receiver-300-380 Deutsche Telekom T-Home Media Receiver 300] - hifitest.de (June 2009) ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260208092154/https://www.hifitest.de/test/stereoanlage-und-komplettanlage/deutsche-telekom-t-home-media-receiver-300-380 Archived])</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/2026.01.27-101343/https://www.golem.de/1101/80856.html Media Receiver 303: Neuer Festplattenrekorder für Telekom Entertain - Golem.de] (January 2011)</ref><ref name="MR500" />)

Their operating systems were designed in a way that they would not boot without connecting to Telekom servers, and the devices stored the television recordings on their internal hard drive in a proprietary format, and provided the user with no means of copying or moving recordings to external media such as an external flash drive or hard drive, meaning users were forced to delete recordings when running out of disk space. While the devices featured up to two USB ports, some even an eSATA port, they had no use other than supplying electrical power.<ref name="MR500">[https://www.hifitest.de/test/sat-receiver-mit-festplatte/deutsche-telekom-media-receiver-500-sat-6114 Deutsche Telekom Media Receiver 500 Sat] - hifitest.de (June 2012) ([http://web.archive.org/web/20250621145244/https://www.hifitest.de/test/sat-receiver-mit-festplatte/deutsche-telekom-media-receiver-500-sat-6114 Archived])</ref><ref name="MR300" /><ref>[https://telekom.tarife-angebote.de/magenta-zuhause/entertain/media-receiver-empfaenger/mr303-iptv-festplattenrekorder Telekom Media-Receiver 303 (MR303 Festplattenrekorder)] - telekom.tarife-angebote.de ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260127112814/https://telekom.tarife-angebote.de/magenta-zuhause/entertain/media-receiver-empfaenger/mr303-iptv-festplattenrekorder Archived])</ref>

In 2019, its users lost access to all recordings stored locally on the devices when the online service their operating system depended on was shut down. The devices were in service for eight years (since 2011), meaning users would lose access to up to eight years of television recordings.<ref>[https://archive.today/2026.01.27-095619/https://web.archive.org/web/20190825100604/https://www.telekom.com/de/konzern/details/magentatv-loest-entertain-ab-558808 MagentaTV löst Entertain ab | Deutsche Telekom]</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210412055921/https://www.onlinekosten.de/news/telekom-zieht-2019-beim-alten-entertain-den-stecker_214313.html Telekom zieht 2019 beim alten "Entertain" den Stecker]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Enshittification]]
*[[Right to own]]

==References==
<references />
[[Category:Common terms]]

Anti-privacy legislation

2026-03-06T18:09:49Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* List of Legislation */ Mandatory real-life identity disclosure to activate SIM cards.

{{Incomplete|issue 1=needs general improvement of quality and quantity of information}}

[[Anti-privacy legislation]] simply put is legislation that may be created with malicious intent or not that invoke ones right to privacy. In the last decade, governments across the world have introduced various pieces of such legislation, which has caused damage to the privacy consumers have with their technology.

==How it works==
The US legislative process is as follows:<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Legislative Process |url=https://www.house.gov/the-house-explained/the-legislative-process |access-date=23 Feb 2026 |website=house.gov |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260119083226/https://www.house.gov/the-house-explained/the-legislative-process |archive-date=19 Jan 2026}}</ref>

#A representative '''needs to sponsor a bill'''
#The bill is then '''assigned to a committee''' for study
#If the bill is '''released''' by said committee, the bill is '''put on a calendar to be voted on'''.
#If the '''majority''' of people vote for the bill(51 or more out of 100), then the bill is '''passed'''
#A conference committee made of House & Senate members then '''works out any differences''' '''between the House & Senate version of the bill'''
#Finally, the resulting bill heads back to the House & Senate for final '''approval''' by the '''President''', If the bill is signed, then it has officially become '''law'''.<ref name=":0" />

Now that such anti-privacy legislation has been approved, it can be enforced by federal agencies via penalties.

==Why it is a problem==

===Anti-privacy legislation is a direct infringement of the 1st & 4th amendments found in the bill of rights(U.S)===

*The 1st amendment states:
<blockquote>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or '''prohibiting''' the free exercise thereof; or '''abridging''' the '''freedom of speech''', or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S Constitution - First Amendment |url=https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/ |access-date=28 Feb 2026 |website=Constitution Annotated}}</ref></blockquote>

If '''Anti-privacy legislation''' were to be implemented, that gives anyone with access to data on someone the ability to '''restrict freedom of speech''' or oppose those with unwanted views of the world, thus infringing the 1st amendment.{{Citation needed|date=28 Feb 2026}}

*The 4th amendment reads as follows:

<blockquote>The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against '''unreasonable searches and seizures''', shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.<ref>{{Cite web |title=U.S Constitution - Fourth Amendment |url=https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-4/ |access-date=28 Feb 2026 |website=Constitution Annotated}}</ref></blockquote>'''Anti-privacy legislation''' infringes on a citizen's right to avoid "'''unreasonable searches and seizures'''" since It may require/force citizens to show proof of age('''selfies, id's, credit cards''') without real probable cause and since It may also force said citizen to use less secure services that allow federal agencies to gain higher access to said services and retrieve to whatever data is "needed".{{Citation needed|date=28 Feb 2026}}

*'''Anti-privacy legislation''' can also build the framework and foundation for other & more extreme anti-privacy measures, & such anti-privacy measures can lead to the slow development of a '''''surveillance state.'''''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sherwinter |first=Daniel |title=Surveillance's Slippery Slope; Using Encryption to Recapture Privacy Rights |url=http://www.jthtl.org/content/articles/V5I2/JTHTLv5i2_Sherwinter.PDF |access-date=28 Feb 2026 |website=Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law}}</ref>

==List of Legislation==
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|+
!Bill/Law name
!Country/State
!Basic summary of Legislation
!Method of Eroding Privacy
!Status
|-
|[[UK Online Safety Act]]
|United Kingdom
|The UK Online Safety Act is a set of law's that pushes for [[Age verification]] in order to protect quote; "children and adults online". Said enforcement includes disapproving "Illegal Content", & forcing website and domain owners to utilize "highly effective age assurance" to prevent children from accessing potentially harmful content. This act also requires such platforms to " provide parents and children with clear and accessible ways to report problems online when they do arise."
|Age Verification
|Approved (Signed on Oct 26, 2023, Active since Jul 25 2025)
|-
|[https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2025/253 Florida HB 253]
|Florida, U.S
|Florida's 253 House Bill disallows ones ability to, in their own words, utilize "license plate obscuring devices" to prevent criminals from "escaping from or avoiding detection or arrest in connection with such crime", which could be interpreted as being punished for avoiding [[Flock license plate readers|ALPR]] detection.
|ALPR Jamming Circumvention
|Approved (Signed on May 19th 2025, Active since Oct 1 2025)
|-
|[[Texas Senate Bill 2420 (2025)]]
|Texas, U.S
|Texas Senate Bill 2420(also known as the "App Store Accountability Act") requires app store owners & maintainers to utilize "Commercially reasonable method('s)" In order to verify the ages their users. If someone is In a category that isn't explicitly labeled "adult", then the user is considered a minor and must ask a parent or legal guardian for permission in order to install new applications that may be considered inappropriate for their age group.
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1043 California Assembly Bill No. 1043]
|California, U.S
|The California Assembly Bill No. "1043" requires operating system owners, publishers/providers, & developers & maintainers to implement system level age verification via an "accessible interface at account setup", which then is used as an "age signal" for "applications available in a covered application store". Any person that violates this proposed bill(now law) will face a fine of 2,500$ per unintentional violation or 7,500$ per intentional violation.
|Age Indication
|Approved (Active Jan 1, 2027)
|-
|[https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-051 Colorado Senate Bill SB26-051]
|Colorado, U.S
|The Colorado Senate Bill "SB26-051" is a "copycat bill" of California's own "Assembly Bill No. 1043" which requires operating systems of any kind(open source or not), to utilize an interface on account setup to gain an age signal for developers to use in the main app store. Overview of said bill reads as follows; "The bill requires application developers to receive user age information and use it to comply with any applicable law."
|Device-Based Age Indication
|Under Consideration
|-
|[https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/737/text S.737 - Screen Act]
|U.S
|Senate bill S. 737(also known as the '''Screen Act''') is a bill that pushes for Age verification. The Technology Verification measures listed in section 4 state that a covered platform should adopt and utilize age verification measures, and that such measures must ensure that 1; '''users of the covered platform are not minors''' and 2; '''minors are prevented from accessing any content on the covered platform that is harmful to minors.'''
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1207 S.1207 - Earn It Act]
|U.S
|The Earn It Act quote "revises the federal framework governing the prevention of online sexual exploitation of children" by limiting the "liability protections of interactive computer service providers(Encryption)", essentially making the Earn it Act an "anti-encryption", which is (for the most part) necessary to protect ones own important documents & maintain a level of privacy in the digital age.
|Anti-Encryption
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1748/text S.1748 - Kids Online Safety Act]
|U.S
|The Kids Online Safety Act is one that quote "requires covered online platforms, including social media platforms, to implement tools and safeguards to protect users and visitors under the age of 17. ''Covered platforms'' are online platforms, video games, messaging applications, or video streaming services used or likely to be used by individuals under the age of 17, with specified exceptions."
|Censorship/Age-Gating
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/146 S.146 - TAKE IT DOWN Act]
|U.S
|The Take It Down Act(stands for '''Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act''') is a law that prohibits the publication of "non-consensual" intimate visual depictions of individuals, both real or '''computer-generated''', and requires certain online platforms to promptly remove such depictions upon receiving notice of their existence.", and such covered platforms are; public websites, online services, or applications that allows for user generated content on forums. Such a law could be & shouldn't be used as an excuse for censorship or otherwise prevention of free speech.
|Anti-Encryption/Censorship
|Approved
|-
|[https://le.utah.gov/~2026/bills/static/SB0073.html Utah S.B. 73]
|Utah, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Passed House committee
|-
|[https://ohiohouse.gov/legislation/136/hb84 Ohio HB 84]
|Ohio, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/reg/sen/bill/sb130 Wisconsin SB 130]
|Wisconsin, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Passed Senate
|-
|[https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB%201839&style=new&year=2026&code=R Missouri HB 3015/1839]
|Missouri, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Passed first committee
|-
|[https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=HF2606 Iowa HF 2606]
|Iowa, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Passed first committee
|-
|[https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?year=2026&bill=HB1839&code=R%20&cal=1 Missouri HB 1839 & 901/1346/1412]
|Missouri, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Passed first committee
|-
|[https://wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2026/HB0072 Wyoming HB 72]
|Wyoming, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/west-virginia-hb-4412/ West Virginia HB 4412]
|West Virginia, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Passed the House
|-
|[https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText26/HouseText26/H7746.pdf Rhode Island HB 7746]
|Rhode Island, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://ilga.gov/Legislation/BillStatus?DocNum=3945&GAID=18&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=167424&SessionID=114 Illinois SB 3946]
|Illinois, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/HB0908?ys=2026rs Maryland HB 908]
|Maryland, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default?BillNumber=HB2522&GA=114 Tennessee HB 2522/SB 2398]
|Tennessee, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/HB0693?ys=2026rs Maryland HB 693]
|Mayland, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=SF2159 Iowa SF 2159]
|Iowa, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=628&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill West Virginia SB 628]
|West Virginia, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=HF864 Iowa HF 864]
|Iowa, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Passed first chamber
|-
|[https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/Bills_history.cfm?input=498&year=2026&sessiontype=RS&btype=bill West Virginia SB 498]
|West virginia, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/bill-search/2026/S1826 New Jersey S 1826]
|New Jersey, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1878&year=2026&code=R Missouri HB 1878]
|Missouri, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://gc.nh.gov/bill_status/billinfo.aspx?id=1271&inflect=1 New Hampshire SB 648]
|New Hampshire, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|New York [https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S3591 S3591] / [https://www.nyassembly.gov/leg/?bn=3946 A3946]
|New York, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=2112&Year=2025&Chamber=House Washington HB 2112]
|Washington, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/6333 Parents Over Platforms Act - HR 6333]
|U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1198 Hawaii HB 1198]
|Hawaii, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1212 Hawaii HB 1212]
|Hawaii, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=91&ba=SF443 Iowa SF 207/443]
|Iowa
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Passed first committee
|-
|[https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/H1626 Massachusetts H 1626]
|Massachusetts, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.palegis.us/legislation/bills/2025/hb1513 Pennsylvania HB 1513]
|Pennsylvania, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|Michigan [https://legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2025-SB-0284 SB284]/[https://legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2025-HB-4429 HB 4429]
|Michigan, U.S
|[TBA]
|Device-Based Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.palegis.us/legislation/bills/2025/sb603 Pennsylvania SB 603]
|Pennsylvania, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0466&ga=114 Tennessee HB 222 / SB 466]
|Tennessee, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2025-SB-0191 Michigan SB 191]
|Michigan, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=House&f=HF1875&ssn=0&y=2025 Minnesota HF 1875]
|Minnesota
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|Minnesota [https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=Senate&f=SF2105&ssn=0&y=2025 SF 2105]/[https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?f=HF1434&y=2025&ssn=0&b=house HF 1434]
|Minnesota, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-8/chapter-19g/ Alabama HB 164]
|Alabama, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Approved (Active since Oct 1 2024)
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/alabama-hb-393/ Alabama HB 393]
|Alabama, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/al-hb-441/ Alabama HB 441]
|Alabama, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/alaska-hb-254/ Alaska HB 254]
|Alaska, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/BillOverview/81805 Arizona HB 2112]
|Arizona, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Approved (Signed on May 13th 2025)
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/arizona-hb-2586/ Arizona HB 2586]
|Arizona, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/arizona-hb-2656/ Arizona HB 2656]
|Arizona, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/BillOverview/80575 Arizona SB 1125]
|Arizona, U.S
|[TBA] (Identical to SB 1298, Arizona)
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/BillOverview/80575 Arizona SB 1298]
|Arizona, U.S
|[TBA] (Identical to SB 1125, Arizona)
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://apps.azleg.gov/BillStatus/BillOverview/82735 Arizona SB 1341]
|Arizona, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/arizona-avs-bill-2023/ Arizona SB 1503]
|Arizona, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/arkansas-protection-of-minors-from-distribution-of-harmful-material-act-2023/ Arkansas SB 66]
|Arkansas, U.S
|[TBA] (Copycat of Louisiana's AVS law)
|Age Verification
|Approved (Active since July 31 2023)
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/california-sb-127-2023/ California AB 127]
|California, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Approved
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/california-avs-bill-2023/ California AB 1501]
|California, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/california-age-appropriate-design-code-act/ California AB 2273 (2022)]
|California, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification/Censorship
|Approved
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/california-ab-3080/ California AB 3080]
|California, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/case-it-act-2023/ CASE–IT Act (2023)]
|U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification/Censorship
|Rejected
|-
|[https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb25-201 Colorado SB 25-201]
|Colorado, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/delaware-hb-265/ Delaware HB 265]
|Delaware, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/florida-hb-3-sb-1792/ Florida HB 3]
|Florida, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Approved (Active since Jan 1 2025)
|-
|Florida [https://flhouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=81550 HB 931]/[https://flhouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=81947 SB 1438]
|Florida, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/florida-sb-1620-2023/ Florida SB 1620]
|Florida, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification/Censorship
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/florida-avs-bill-2023/ Florida SB 472]
|Florida, U.S
|[TBA] (Copycat of Louisiana's AVS law)
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1289498 Louisiana HB Bill/Act No. 440]
|Louisiana, U.S
|
|Age Verification
|Approve (Active since
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/georgia-hb-910/ Georgia HB 910]
|Georgia, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Failed (Incorporated in SB 351)
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/georgia-sb-351/ Georgia SB 351]
|Georgia, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Approved (Active since Jul 1 2025)
|-
|[https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1198 Hawaii HB 1198]
|Hawaii, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=1212 Hawaii HB 1212]
|Hawaii, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Introduced
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/idaho-hb-448/ Idaho H 448]
|Idaho, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Rejected
|-
|[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/bill/idaho-h-498/ Idaho H 498]
|Idaho, U.S
|[TBA]
|Age Verification
|Approved (Active since Jul 1 2024)
|-
|Real-life identity disclosure required to activate SIM cards.<ref>[http://privacyinternational.org/learn/sim-card-registration SIM Card Registration | Privacy International]</ref><ref>[https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/sim-card-registration-laws/ Which governments impose SIM-card registration laws to collect data on their citizens? - Comparitech]</ref>
|Many countries.
|People are required to associate their real-life identity with their SIM cards, making "burner phones" impossible, and making it impossible to access the cellular Internet without being tracked by the government. Additionally, this can be used to exclude political dissidents from accessing the Internet.
|Identity disclosure
|Approved in many countries over time.
|-
|}

==What you can do==
In order to oppose/dispute '''Anti-privacy legislation''' created by legislators, you can:

#'''Spread the word'''; not everyone knows about these bills or the mere existence of these types of bills and therefore wont even fight back{{Citation needed|date=1 Mar 2026}}
#'''Contact local legislators & representatives;''' If enough people oppose a proposed bill, local legislators may delay the bill or back off on their decision entirely. If enough citizens instead urge a representative to vote against a bill, said representatives could potentially follow up on the citizen's behalf.{{Citation needed|date=1 Mar 2026}}
#'''Sign Petitions'''; Signing petitions is another way to the message across to both legislators & other people alike.{{Citation needed|date=1 Mar 2026}}
#'''Support Pro Consumer/Privacy Bills'''; Supporting bills/would-be laws that protect consumer privacy & ownership helps circumvent future bills that aims for the opposite affect.{{Citation needed|date=1 Mar 2026}}

===Tools & Resources===

*[https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/age-verification-bills/ Age Verification Bills] is a sub-site of the the domain [https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/ Action Free Speech Coalition] that specifically lists all bills pushing for any form of "Age verification".
*[https://www.badinternetbills.com/ Bad Internet Bills] is a website listing quote "bad internet bills" in a easily accessible manner.
*[https://iapp.org/resources/article/us-state-privacy-legislation-tracker US State Privacy Legislation Tracker] is a sub site of the domain [https://iapp.org/ Iapp] that tracks many but not all pro-privacy or consumer '''U.S''' bills that have passed or not. This includes bills that support consumer rights & bills that businesses are obligated to comply with. (Click [https://assets.contentstack.io/v3/assets/bltd4dd5b2d705252bc/blt76d030a1054f612a/us_state_privacy_legislation_tracker.pdf here] to view the chart & [https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/bltd4dd5b2d705252bc/blt8134a824fbb924de/us_state_privacy_legislation_tracker_map.jpg here] to view the map in the '''U.S''')

==External Links==

*https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/age-verification-bills/
*https://action.freespeechcoalition.com/
*https://www.badinternetbills.com/
*https://iapp.org/resources/article/us-state-privacy-legislation-tracker
*https://assets.contentstack.io/v3/assets/bltd4dd5b2d705252bc/blt76d030a1054f612a/us_state_privacy_legislation_tracker.pdf
*https://images.contentstack.io/v3/assets/bltd4dd5b2d705252bc/blt8134a824fbb924de/us_state_privacy_legislation_tracker_map.jpg

==Further Reading==

*[[:Category:Legislation]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Common terms]]
[[Category:Anti-privacy legislation]]

User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber

2026-03-06T17:53:33Z

JodyBruchonFan: A Marques Brownlee video!

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]
A '''DownloadTuber''' is an individual who regularly backs up local copies of videos from the Intenet video platform YouTube, jokingly referred to as DownloadTube. This is mainly done for archiving those videos in anticipation of them being deleted or otherwise unpublished, and for a future shutdown of YouTube as a whole.

Creating permanent local copies of videos is strongly discouraged by YouTube.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Vsauce Answers the 100 Most Googled Questions | WIRED] (at 7:20 and 8:57)</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com:443/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E How To Legally Download YouTube Videos] - Tim Schmoyer - Video Creators TV (clickbait - it is an advertisement for "YouTube Red", the earlier name of "YouTube Premium", and only shows the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Studio that lets channel owners download only their own uploaded videos)</ref> YouTube is taking measures to prevent downloading:

<blockquote>
In order to protect the YouTube community, we may prevent signed-out users from accessing YouTube videos when they're attempting to download material for offline use.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Troubleshoot YouTube video errors - YouTube Help]</ref>

YouTube also regularly purges tutorial videos that show how to create local copies of videos.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120813001114/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqFiUrhTc How To Download Convert YouTube Videos 2 Anything] - ifxman (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLLOij1GSQ How to download youtube videos without any software] - Ritace40 (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121003225255/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xf6uukCHmk Download Youtube Videos Free -- No Software!] - MKBHD (later removed by YouTube)</ref>

Instead, YouTube wants its users to pay monthly for its subscription service, YouTube Premium, to have any form of offline access to videos. However, it only lets users store temporary local copies of YouTube videos that are forcibly deleted after 29 days. In addition, to thwart any permanent preservation, the videos are stored with [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|data lock-in]] and proprietary encoding in a format only recognized by the YouTube app, to prevent local copying.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref name=VirtualCuriosities>[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref>

While YouTube Premium can be advertised as technically allowing "downloading", the deceptive marketing comes from exploiting the fact that the user expects so-called "downloading" to result in a file stored in the web browser's Download folder and accessible from other software, instead of the [[data lock-in]] that YouTube Premium has.<ref name=VirtualCuriosities />

The 29-day storage limit and the data lock-in renders the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Premium useless for any long-term archival.

Downloading local copies of YouTube videos through "unofficial" and "unapproved" means is the only recourse against the loss of Internet history caused by videos being unpublished by channel owners or YouTube, and against a future shutdown of YouTube. As of 2026, there is no certainty that YouTube will be operating by the year 2050, for instance.

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- Karl Voit<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

Videos can disappear from YouTube for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, channel owners decide to "move on" and delete (or otherwise unpublish) their entire history of uploads. Sometimes, videos contain something Google doesn't like and they take them down, one example being "Android is losing a big feature" by comedian Sam Tucker (SAMTIME).<ref>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)</ref>

Sometimes, YouTube's community guidelines grow stricter, retroactively outruling existing content, and entire channels are taken down due to strikes on only a few videos, resulting in the collateral loss of all other videos, one famous example being Mumkey Jones.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8-ETSDgcs Mumkey Jones: YouTube's Most Wanted] - j aubrey ([https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Te8-ETSDgcs GhostArchive mirror])</ref>

== References ==
<references />

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-06T00:07:00Z

JodyBruchonFan: :File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
[[File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png|center|frameless]]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
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| id-c = #400
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| info-c = #222
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| border-op =
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</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

File:Scum - Do you really have a choice?.png

2026-03-06T00:02:08Z

JodyBruchonFan: == Usage rights == This image of simple geometry does not meet the threshold of originality and is therefore in the public domain. Source for Xiaomi logo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xiaomi_logo_(2021-).svg Source for Apple logo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_logo_black.svg Derivative work released into the public domain under CC0 1.0. == Licensing == {{CC0}}

== Summary ==
== Usage rights ==
This image of simple geometry does not meet the threshold of originality and is therefore in the public domain.

Source for Xiaomi logo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xiaomi_logo_(2021-).svg
Source for Apple logo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_logo_black.svg

Derivative work released into the public domain under CC0 1.0.

== Licensing == {{CC0}}
== Licensing ==
{{Fairuse}}

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-05T23:28:08Z

JodyBruchonFan: contrast improvement

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
{{Userbox
| id = [[File:DownloadTube icon.png|35px|link=User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber]]
| id-c = #400
| id-fc = #ffffff
| id-op =

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
| info-fc = #ffffff
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| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
| nocat = true
}}
</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-05T23:00:38Z

JodyBruchonFan: This user is a proud DownloadTuber.

{| class="wikitable" style="width:500px;text-align:center; margin:auto;"
|-
| colspan=5 |
<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:30pt; color:black;">
The corporate bullshit bingo!</div>
by JodyBruchonFan CC0 1.0 public domain
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4; min-width:100px;"|"innovation"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"courage"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"trusted"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"sustainability"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"industry leader"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"upgrade"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"confident"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"(cyber)security", "safety", "feel safe"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"we understand..., but..."
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"intellectual property"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"our mission", "our commitment"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"streamlined", "seamless"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"protect"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"empower"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"unauthorized"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"we strive"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"unprecedented"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"integrity"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:black; background-color:#FBBC05;"|"(re)shape", "refine"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"genuine"
|-
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"pushing boundaries"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"community"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#EA4335;"|"rights"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#4285F4;"|"redefine", "reinvent", "revolutionize"
|style="height:100px; border:0; color:white; background-color:#34A853;"|"explore"
|-
|}

----

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; font-size:24pt; color:black;">
You will own nothing, and you will be "protected".
</div>

----

One of my favourite songs: [https://www.jodybruchon.com/2020/05/20/manny-the-martyr-be-that-way-mp3-public-domain-cc0-royalty-free-music/ Manny the Martyr - Be That Way], also known as the Jody Bruchon theme song! And it is in the public domain!

----

DRM = Digital Restrictions Malware.

----

Even if the DMCA disappeared today, the damage done in decades under its stranglehold will not be undone anytime soon.

----

I honestly used to believe this "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" nonsense. Now I know how wrong I was. [https://old.bitchute.com/video/Hjspu7QV7O0/ Why privacy matters even if you have nothing to hide - The Hated One].

[https://old.bitchute.com/video/AuT5N3U1dGY/ This is a WAR on privacy and YOU are the enemy. - The Hated One]

----

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON6-UL5phEs It's time to cut off Great Britain and Australia from the Internet.]

----

== If Google were honest ==
Of course, nothing we do will change Google's mind about their technofascist [[Android Developer Verification|developer verification program]], but what we can do is make fun of the absurdity of their propaganda.

<gallery>
File:If Google were honest - Android developer verification.png|Original
File:If Google were honest - brick edition.png|Brick edition
File:If Google were honest - fewer apps.png|Fewer apps
File:If Google were honest - showering you with corporate buzzwords.png|Showering you with corporate buzzwords
File:If Google were honest - disconnected.png|disconnected
</gallery>

----
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T38pZ9pFXA0 Do not accept the premise of assholes - Louis Rossmann]

----
Do not rely on Google services for anything long-term.

https://KilledByGoogle.com/

https://gcemetery.co/

"Google is an archive in the same way a supermarket is a food museum." - Jason Scott Sadofsky.

----
<div style="float:right; clear:right;">
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| id-c = #400
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| id-op = box-shadow: 0 0 8px rgba(0,0,0,0.4);

| info = This user is a proud [[User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber|DownloadTuber]].
| info-c = #222
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| border-c = #f00
| border-op =
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</div>

To download means to own. (Without [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|YouTube Premium's data lock-in]]!)

The main purpose of YouTube is downloading videos to keep them alive after they are taken down from YouTube and after YouTube inevitably shuts down.

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|center|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]

YouTube employee who reads this: **TRIGGERED**
<div style="float:none; clear:both;"></div>
----

== The video Google doesn't want you to see ==
<center><big>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME</big>

([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)
</center>

----

== Ice piracy ==
The fridge and freezer made externally produced ice nearly obsolete. See "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HVYHNTDOFs How The Fridge Destroyed One of the World's Largest Monopolies]" by Veritasium, at 18 minutes.

If a freezer was invented in today's political environment, the establishment would have labelled it "ice piracy".

When established authorities (like MPAA, RIAA, Disney, ...) meet competition (like Internet file sharing), they simply ban their competition (DMCA).

<blockquote>
... and then, before you know it, copyright law was updated to take the Internet into account.
</blockquote>
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-VEB4NLGMM&t=348 The Tragic Fall Of µTorrent - NationSquid], 5:48

<blockquote>
[Copyright] is a mechanism that by definition smothers true, useful progress -- in a world that advanced technologically so much that it is already possible to freely copy and share information instantly, with zero cost, with anyone anywhere, copyright tries to set up artificial measures to prevent this so as to keep the old ways of allowing only the privileged to copy and publish intellectual works, it is quite literally force sustaining mechanism of Middle Ages.
</blockquote>
- [https://archive.today/2025.10.04-120135/http://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/copyright.html Miloslav Číž, Czech philosopher].

See also "food piracy" in "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UgiJPnwtQU Cream by David Firth]" (8:07) (mirrors: [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dtmd6 Dailymotion], [https://archive.org/details/cream-by-david-firth Internet Archive]), and [https://old.bitchute.com/video/QVkeJI2feyQ/ Why copyright makes no sense | The case against intellectual property] by [https://old.bitchute.com/channel/thehatedone/ The Hated One].

----
Every website with no decentralized backups will eventually be lost to history.

<blockquote>
Issue: No Backup, No Distribution

For reasons and examples stated in [https://karl-voit.at/cloud this article], any centralized web-based service will go offline some day. Some sooner, some later. Popularity is not even a guarantee that a service gets continued, as you can see with [https://killedbygoogle.com/ hundreds of (partly) very well known and widely used Google services that were shut down]. Nothing will be on the web forever. Most people are not aware of this fact.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/2020/10/23/avoid-web-forums/ Karl Voit]

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- [https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Karl Voit]

----
Anti-features like [[Google_Chrome#Mandatory_pull-to-refresh|Google Chrome's mandatory pull-to-refresh]] are "helpful" to the user in the same way SpongeBob was "helpful" to Squidward in the episode "[http://en.spongepedia.org/index.php?title=The_Paper_(Episode)#Plot The Paper]".

----
== Noticing similar patterns ==
When I hear Google saying they want to "keep Android open" ([[Android Developer Verification]]) while blatantly doing the opposite, I am instantly reminded of that scene where Bryant Moreland (EDP445) claimed he was just looking for a cupcake. Similar levels of shamelessness, absurdity, and similar in taking advantage of people with little recourse, even though within different contexts. I am not going to explain the story with Moreland here; you can go look it up if you don't already know.

While what Moreland was trying to do was more serious on a small scale and was easily thwarted, what Google is doing with their developer verification program happens on a much larger scale. It impacts potentially over a hundred million people worldwide.

From the Merriam Webster dictionary:
<blockquote>
predator [noun]:

[...]

2 : one who injures or exploits others for personal gain '''or profit'''
<blockquote>
Businessmen, he believed, were often predators … — Nathan Glick
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
(souce: [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/predator Merriam Webster], bolded for emphasis)

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

<div style="text-align:center; display:block; font-family:aharoni, Futura-Bold, futura,'noto sans',ubuntu,'bitstream vera sans',sans-serif; font-weight:bold; letter-spacing:0.5em; color:black;">
EDP445
</div>

----

If it can be remotely disabled, you don't own it.

----
{| class=wikitable
| Every contribution I make while this notice is on my user page is hereby released into the public domain under CC0 1.0 (see [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ creativecommons.org]), excluding fair use elements such as quotations.
|}
__NOTOC__

User:JodyBruchonFan/DownloadTuber

2026-03-05T22:58:21Z

JodyBruchonFan: created for fun

[[File:DownloadTube logo.png|thumb|People who like videos watch them. People who love videos '''own''' them. To d'''own'''load means to '''own'''.]]
A '''DownloadTuber''' is an individual who regularly backs up local copies of videos from the Intenet video platform YouTube, jokingly referred to as DownloadTube. This is mainly done for archiving those videos in anticipation of them being deleted or otherwise unpublished, and for a future shutdown of YouTube as a whole.

Creating permanent local copies of videos is strongly discouraged by YouTube.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkojLslXg5M Vsauce Answers the 100 Most Googled Questions | WIRED] (at 7:20 and 8:57)</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com:443/watch?v=IVPriyYwd-E How To Legally Download YouTube Videos] - Tim Schmoyer - Video Creators TV (clickbait - it is an advertisement for "YouTube Red", the earlier name of "YouTube Premium", and only shows the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Studio that lets channel owners download only their own uploaded videos)</ref> YouTube is taking measures to prevent downloading:

<blockquote>
In order to protect the YouTube community, we may prevent signed-out users from accessing YouTube videos when they're attempting to download material for offline use.
</blockquote>
<ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/3037019 Troubleshoot YouTube video errors - YouTube Help]</ref>

YouTube also regularly purges tutorial videos that show how to create local copies of videos.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120813001114/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkyqFiUrhTc How To Download Convert YouTube Videos 2 Anything] - ifxman (later removed by YouTube)</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120713154012/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLLOij1GSQ How to download youtube videos without any software] - Ritace40 later removed by YouTube)</ref>

Instead, YouTube wants its users to pay monthly for its subscription service, YouTube Premium, to have any form of offline access to videos. However, it only lets users store temporary local copies of YouTube videos that are forcibly deleted after 29 days. In addition, to thwart any permanent preservation, the videos are stored with [[Data_lock-in#Videos_downloaded_inside_the_YouTube_app|data lock-in]] and proprietary encoding in a format only recognized by the YouTube app, to prevent local copying.<ref>[https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/L1S0SiBuJN8 Google is Locking Down Android - Mental Outlaw], 06:41</ref><ref>[https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 YouTube videos offline FAQs - YouTube Help] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260207132551/https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7381437 Archived])</ref><ref name=VirtualCuriosities>[https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Warning: Youtube Premium "Downloads" aren't MP4 Files - Virtual Curiosities] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251126100053/https://www.virtualcuriosities.com/articles/3383/warning-youtube-premium-downloads-arent-mp4-files Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html What's Wrong with YouTube - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041246/https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/whats-wrong-with-youtube.html Archived])</ref>

While YouTube Premium can be advertised as technically allowing "downloading", the deceptive marketing comes from exploiting the fact that the user expects so-called "downloading" to result in a file stored in the web browser's Download folder and accessible from other software, instead of the [[data lock-in]] that YouTube Premium has.<ref name=VirtualCuriosities />

The 29-day storage limit and the data lock-in renders the built-in "downloading" feature of YouTube Premium useless for any long-term archival.

Downloading local copies of YouTube videos through "unofficial" and "unapproved" means is the only recourse against the loss of Internet history caused by videos being unpublished by channel owners or YouTube, and against a future shutdown of YouTube. As of 2026, there is no certainty that YouTube will be operating by the year 2050, for instance.

<blockquote>
Whenever I tell people that we need to plan for the day when YouTube goes offline, I mostly receive weird reactions. It seems to be the case that people can't think of YouTube being gone. Unfortunately, I'm convinced that most people will face the day when we lose this enormous library of videos.
</blockquote>
- Karl Voit<ref>[https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ My Dependencies on the Cloud] - Karl Voit ([https://web.archive.org/web/20260216041319/https://karl-voit.at/cloud-dependencies/ Archived])</ref>

Videos can disappear from YouTube for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, channel owners decide to "move on" and delete (or otherwise unpublish) their entire history of uploads. Sometimes, videos contain something Google doesn't like and they take them down, one example being "Android is losing a big feature" by comedian Sam Tucker (SAMTIME).<ref>[https://odysee.com/@samtime:1/android-is-losing-a-big-feature:e Android is losing a big feature] by SAMTIME ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfccCB2Vz-M Original YouTube URL] - removed for unspecified violations.)</ref>

Sometimes, YouTube's community guidelines grow stricter, retroactively outruling existing content, and entire channels are taken down due to strikes on only a few videos, resulting in the collateral loss of all other videos, one famous example being Mumkey Jones.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te8-ETSDgcs Mumkey Jones: YouTube's Most Wanted] - j aubrey ([https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/Te8-ETSDgcs GhostArchive mirror])</ref>

== References ==
<references />

File:DownloadTube logo.png

2026-03-05T22:51:46Z

JodyBruchonFan: == Usage rights == This image of simple geometry does not meet the threshold of originality and is therefore in the public domain. == Licensing == {{CC0}}

== Summary ==
== Usage rights ==
This image of simple geometry does not meet the threshold of originality and is therefore in the public domain.

== Licensing ==
{{CC0}}

File:DownloadTube icon.png

2026-03-05T22:45:24Z

JodyBruchonFan: == Usage rights == This image of simple geometry does not meet the threshold of originality and is therefore in the public domain.

== Summary ==
== Usage rights ==
This image of simple geometry does not meet the threshold of originality and is therefore in the public domain.

== Licensing ==
{{CC0}}

Google Chrome

2026-03-05T22:30:29Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* visibilitychange event */ legitimately used for autosave

{{ProductCargo
|ArticleType=Product
|Category=Software, Web Browsers
|Company=Google
|Description=
|InProduction=Yes
|Logo=Google Chrome logo and wordmark (2015).png
|ProductLine=
|ReleaseYear=2008
|Website=https://www.google.com/chrome/
}}
'''[[wikipedia:Google_Chrome|Google Chrome]]''' is a web browser created by [[Google]] based on [[Chromium]]. Since its inception, it has become the most used browser on the internet by a large margin.
==Consumer impact summary==
===User freedom===
Chrome significantly impacts user freedom through its default settings, extension policies, and integration with Google's ecosystem. The browser's dominance allows Google to influence web standards, potentially creating a web environment that works best with Chrome.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Munir |first1=Shaoor |last2=Kollnig |first2=Konrad |last3=Shuba |first3=Anastasia |last4=Shafiq |first4=Zubair |title=Google's Chrome Antitrust Paradox |date=April 2024 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381517906_Google's_Chrome_Antitrust_Paradox |website=ResearchGate |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260109043254/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/381517906_Google's_Chrome_Antitrust_Paradox |archive-date=9 Jan 2026}}</ref> Users face potential lock-in through seamless integration with Google services, making switching to alternative browsers more difficult. Additionally, Google's control over Chrome's extension ecosystem has raised concerns, particularly when the company has proposed changes that would limit the effectiveness of ad-blocking extensions, potentially prioritizing Google's advertising business over user choice.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Danco |first=Alex |date= June 1, 2019 |title=Google Chrome, the perfect antitrust villain? |url=https://alexdanco.com/2019/05/30/google-chrome-the-perfect-antitrust-villain/ |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260104002015/https://alexdanco.com/2019/05/30/google-chrome-the-perfect-antitrust-villain/ |archive-date=4 Jan 2026}}</ref>

===User privacy===
Chrome's privacy practices have been a significant concern for consumer advocates. As a Google product, Chrome collects substantial user data including browsing history, search queries, and site visits to serve targeted advertisements and improve Google services.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=The Dark Side of Google: A Closer Look at Privacy Concerns |date=March 26, 2023 |url=https://campaignsoftheworld.com/news/the-dark-side-of-google/ |website=Campaignsoftheworld.com |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260207040950/https://campaignsoftheworld.com/news/the-dark-side-of-google/ |archive-date=7 Feb 2026}}</ref> The browser's implementation of privacy features like "Do Not Track" has been criticized for being ineffective, as Google noted that "many websites and web services, including Google's, don't change their behavior when they receive a Do Not Track request."<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Turn 'Do Not Track' on or off - Computer - Google Chrome Help|url=https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2790761 |website=Google |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260128221210/https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2790761 |archive-date=28 Jan 2026}}</ref> Additionally, Chrome's privacy initiatives like the Privacy Sandbox have been viewed skeptically by privacy advocates who argue that these proposals often protect Google's business interests rather than user privacy.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |author=EFF |title=Don't Play in Google's Privacy Sandbox |date=July 10, 2020 |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/08/dont-play-googles-privacy-sandbox-1 |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251231094829/https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/08/dont-play-googles-privacy-sandbox-1 |archive-date=31 Dec 2025}}</ref>
===Business model===
Chrome's business model is deeply integrated with Google's broader advertising ecosystem. The browser serves as a critical data collection point for Google's advertising business, which generates the majority of the company's revenue.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=DOJ Pushes Google to Sell Chrome and Break Monopoly |date=November 20, 2024 |url=https://www.ceotodaymagazine.com/2024/11/google-faces-doj-antitrust-push-will-chrome-ai-and-android-be-broken-apart/ |website=CEOToday Magazine |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260112105718/https://www.ceotodaymagazine.com/2024/11/google-faces-doj-antitrust-push-will-chrome-ai-and-android-be-broken-apart/ |archive-date=12 Jan 2026}}</ref> Chrome's default settings direct users to Google Search, which in turn displays Google advertisements. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle where Chrome usage fuels Google's search dominance, which consequently enhances its advertising business. The connection between Chrome and Google's advertising business has also influenced browser design decisions, such as how Chrome handles cookies and tracking, which may prioritize advertising effectiveness over user privacy.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Rivero |first=
Nicolás |title=What if antitrust regulators forced Google to sell Chrome? |date=July 20, 2022 |url=https://qz.com/1930645/what-happens-to-google-if-regulators-force-it-to-sell-off-chrome |website=Quartz |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260104192633/https://qz.com/1930645/what-happens-to-google-if-regulators-force-it-to-sell-off-chrome |archive-date=4 Jan 2026}}</ref>
===Market control===
Chrome's dominant market position gives Google significant control over web standards and browser technology. With approximately 65% global market share as of 2025, Chrome has become the de facto standard browser for many users and developers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Market share of leading internet browsers in the United States and worldwide as of August 2024 |date=June 21, 2024 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/276738/worldwide-and-us-market-share-of-leading-internet-browsers/ |website=Statista |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260111194619/https://www.statista.com/statistics/276738/worldwide-and-us-market-share-of-leading-internet-browsers/ |archive-date=11 Jan 2026}}</ref> This market control allows Google to influence the direction of web technology development, often in ways that benefit its business interests. For example, Google's proposals for replacing third-party cookies through its [[wikipedia:Privacy Sandbox|Privacy Sandbox]] initiative have faced criticism for potentially strengthening Google's position while weakening competitors in the advertising ecosystem.{{Citation needed}} Chrome's market dominance has attracted significant antitrust scrutiny, with the U.S. Department of Justice pushing for Google to divest Chrome as part of remedies following an antitrust case that found Google had illegally maintained a monopoly in online search.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |last=Elias |first=Jennifer |title=DOJ pushes for Google to break off Chrome browser after antitrust case CNBC |date=November 21, 2024 |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/20/doj-pushes-for-google-to-break-off-chrome-browser-after-antitrust-case.html |website=CNBC |access-date=May 7, 2025 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260128080710/https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/20/doj-pushes-for-google-to-break-off-chrome-browser-after-antitrust-case.html |archive-date=28 Jan 2026}}</ref>

==Incidents==
This is a list of all consumer protection incidents related to this product. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the [[:Category:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}} category]].
===Anti-Competitive Practices===
Google uses the market dominance of their unrelated products and services, such as web search or cloud storage services, to display intrusive messages such as popups aimed to annoy users to the point where they give up and change to Chrome.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2022-08-19 |title=How do I stop Google pop ups asking me to switch my browser to Chrome? |url=https://support.google.com/accounts/thread/175747071/how-do-i-stop-google-pop-ups-asking-me-to-switch-my-browser-to-chrome?hl=en |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=Google Support Community |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260108065104/https://support.google.com/accounts/thread/175747071/how-do-i-stop-google-pop-ups-asking-me-to-switch-my-browser-to-chrome?hl=en |archive-date=8 Jan 2026}}</ref> Not because they want to, but to escape the deliberate obstructions Google creates for them when accessing Google services with competing browsers.

Moreover, Google has in the past deliberately degraded performance of their video platform [[YouTube]], as well as Google Docs, for users accessing the website using the competing Firefox browser.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peterson |first=Jake |date=2023-11-21 |title=How to Stop Google From Artificially Slowing Down YouTube |url=https://lifehacker.com/tech/stop-google-slowing-down-youtube-firefox-edge |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=LifeHacker |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251124185357/https://lifehacker.com/tech/stop-google-slowing-down-youtube-firefox-edge |archive-date=24 Nov 2025}}</ref><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pygWS1ihtF8 The Slow Death Of Firefox...What Happened?] - Logically Answered ([https://preservetube.com/watch?v=pygWS1ihtF8 Archived])</ref>

===Discontinuation of Manifest V2 support (2024)===
Google, whose main business is online advertising, has discontinued support for browser extensions using the Manifest V2 standard.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Manifest V2 support timeline |url=https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/develop/migrate/mv2-deprecation-timeline |url-status=live |access-date=5 Apr 2025 |website=[[Google]] |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260222183954/https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/develop/migrate/mv2-deprecation-timeline |archive-date=22 Feb 2026}}</ref> This renders advertising/tracking blockers such as uBlock Origin unusable and deactivates the corresponding plugins on update. Only versions with very limited blocking functionality remain usable.

Users who wish to continue to use the web without their every step being traced by Google and other advertising syndicates have no other option but to switch to a different browser such as [[Mozilla]] Firefox or Vivaldi, which have all pledged to retain full Manifest V2 compatibility in their browsers.

=== Bloat monopoly ===
Due to the dominant market share, other web browsers like Firefox are forced to comply with these standards set out by Google in order to be able to access some websites.

The total word count of the W3C specification catalogue was 114 million words as of 2020, making it impossible for anyone besides large resourceful companies to maintain a web browser able to comply with these standards, granting Google a bloat monopoly on web browsing.

In 2021, Google launched [https://lit.dev/ Lit], a web [[JavaScript]] [[wikipedia:Web_framework|framework]] that forces strict compliance with Google's web standards. It also promotes artificial obsolescence by making it impossible to render pages on older web browsers and older devices with operating systems that are unable to run the latest version of Chrome.

<ref>[https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/bloat_monopoly.html LRS Wiki: bloat_monopoly] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20250901143501/https://www.tastyfish.cz/lrs/bloat_monopoly.html Archived])</ref><ref>[https://www.nuegia.net/articles/open%20letter%20to%20webmasters.xhtml Open Letter To Webmasters] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20250907030831/https://www.nuegia.net/articles/open%20letter%20to%20webmasters.xhtml Archived])</ref><ref>[https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope.html The reckless, infinite scope of web browsers] - Drew DeVault ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260113055131/https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope.html Archived])</ref><ref>[https://shadow.lifestyle/browsers.xhtml Browsers - Shadow Wiki] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251119174459/https://shadow.lifestyle/browsers.xhtml Archived])</ref>

=== visibilitychange event ===
Chrome was the first web browser to implement the "visibilitychange" JavaScript event. This can be used by websites to detect switching to a different tab and, for example, block background playback like the mobile website of YouTube does.<ref>[https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/visibilitychange_event Document: visibilitychange event - Web APIs | MDN] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260112100508/https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/visibilitychange_event Archived])</ref> On Firefox, extensions can block this detection.<ref>[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-background-play-fix/ Video Background Play Fix – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260118202048/https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/video-background-play-fix/ Archived])</ref>

The visibilitychange event has some legitimate uses such as automatically saving draft posts on an online message board.<ref>[https://xenforo.com/community/threads/message-auto-save-drafts.27665/ Message Auto Save / Drafts | XenForo community]</ref>

=== Google account requirement to download extensions ===
Since around 2022, a Google account is required to be able to install extensions from the Google Chrome Web Store.<ref>[https://superuser.com/questions/633706/how-to-install-extensions-in-chrome-without-a-google-account How to install extensions in Chrome without a Google Account? - Super User] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20251216080808/https://superuser.com/questions/633706/how-to-install-extensions-in-chrome-without-a-google-account Archived])</ref>

=== Mandatory pull-to-refresh ===
In 2019 (Chrome version 75), Google made it impossible to turn off the pull-to-refresh gesture on the mobile version of Chrome, and refused to make it possible again after a high number of complaints.

Pull-to-refresh is known for causing accidental refreshes when the user intends to scroll up.

<ref>[https://chromestory.com/2019/07/disable-pull-to-refresh-on-chrome-for-android/ You Can No Longer Disable "Pull to Refresh" on Chrome for Android - Chrome Story] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260108132655/https://chromestory.com/2019/07/disable-pull-to-refresh-on-chrome-for-android/ Archived])</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/2025.10.07-180843/https://issues.chromium.org/issues/391378124 No way to disable pull-to-refresh [391378124] - Chromium]</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/2022.07.23-114402/https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/8391096/wanting-to-know-how-to-disable-pull-to-refresh-as-it-s-no-longer-showing-up-in-flags?hl=en Wanting to know how to disable pull to refresh as it's no longer showing up in flags - Google Chrome Community]</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/2022.07.23-114400/https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/8152831 Missing Android Chrome 75 flags disable-pull-to-refresh-effect How to disable it now? - Google Chrome Community]</ref><ref>[https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-google.html Google's Software Is Malware - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation] ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260203060955/https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-google.html Archived])</ref>

==See also==
*[[Brave browser]]
*[[DuckDuckGo Browser]]
*[[Firefox]]
*[[Microsoft Edge]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

Projects talk:Archive everything

2026-03-05T21:34:40Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Redacted evidence is no evidence. */ question

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-05T21:05:46Z

JodyBruchonFan: quotation marks

User:JodyBruchonFan

2026-03-05T21:02:12Z

JodyBruchonFan: What Google "protection" really means.

Bait-and-switch

2026-02-26T21:13:23Z

JodyBruchonFan: /* Historical cases */ clarified

'''Bait-and-switch''' is the action of advertising goods that are an apparent bargain, with the intention of substituting inferior or more expensive goods.<ref>{{Cite web |title=bait-and-switch |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bait-and-switch |url-status=live |access-date=14 Apr 2025 |website=Cambridge Dictionary |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251017040547/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bait-and-switch |archive-date=17 Oct 2025}}</ref> The measures against this practice depend greatly upon the consumer laws in each country, but it is usually considered under unfair and deceptive transactions.

==Legality==
In the United States, the [[Federal Trade Commission|Federal Trade Commission]] (FTC) has issued a Notice that it has determined that bait and switch sales practices are unfair or deceptive trade practices, and violate the FTC Act.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Penalty Offenses Concerning Bait & Switch |url=https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/penalty-offenses/bait-switch |url-status=live |access-date=14 Apr 2025 |website=FTC |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260206233839/https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/penalty-offenses/bait-switch |archive-date=6 Feb 2026}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=SYNOPSIS OF FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION DECISIONS CONCERNING “BAIT AND SWITCH” SALES PRACTICES |url=https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Bait-Switch.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250412220410/https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/Bait-Switch.pdf |archive-date=12 Apr 2025 |access-date=14 Apr 2025 |website=FTC}}</ref> And in December 2024, the Commission announced a "Bipartisan Rule Banning Junk Ticket and Hotel Fees", in an effort to end the hidden fees when buying tickets or accomodation:<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 Dec 2024 |title=Federal Trade Commission Announces Bipartisan Rule Banning Junk Ticket and Hotel Fees |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/12/federal-trade-commission-announces-bipartisan-rule-banning-junk-ticket-hotel-fees |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250409110141/https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/12/federal-trade-commission-announces-bipartisan-rule-banning-junk-ticket-hotel-fees |archive-date=9 Apr 2025 |access-date=14 Apr 2025 |website=FTC}}</ref><blockquote>"The Junk Fees Rule will ensure that pricing information is presented in a timely, transparent, and truthful way to consumers of live-event tickets and short-term lodging, two industries whose pricing practices the Commission has studied in particular. Consumers searching for hotels or vacation rentals or seats at a show or sporting event will no longer be surprised by a pile of “resort,” “convenience,” or “service” fees inflating the advertised price. By requiring up-front disclosure of total price including fees, the rule will make comparison shopping easier, resulting in savings for consumers and leveling the competitive playing field."

FTC, Press Release. December 17, 2024</blockquote>The aim of this rule is to force companies and sellers of these goods to be more transparent.

==Recent cases==

*FTC Sends More Than $1.1 Million in Refunds to Consumers Deceived by Bait-and-Switch Ads for LASIK Vision Correction Procedures.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 Oct 2024 |title=FTC Sends More Than $1.1 Million in Refunds to Consumers Deceived by Bait-and-Switch Ads for LASIK Vision Correction Procedures |url=https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/10/ftc-sends-more-11-million-refunds-consumers-deceived-bait-switch-ads-lasik-vision-correction |url-status=live |access-date=14 Apr 2025 |website=FTC |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260203064951/https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/10/ftc-sends-more-11-million-refunds-consumers-deceived-bait-switch-ads-lasik-vision-correction |archive-date=3 Feb 2026}}</ref>

==Historical cases==
Android smartphone manufacturers used initial respect to user freedom to gain market share. For example user-replaceable batteries. After they gained enough market share, they switched to non-replaceable batteries.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Louis Rossmann |title=EU votes to mandate removable batteries in smartphones in a landslide; no more glued together junk! |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn-R39-dtc0 |url-status=live |access-date=21 Feb 2026 |website=YouTube |archive-url=https://preservetube.com/watch?v=Yn-R39-dtc0 |archive-date=21 Feb 2026}}</ref>

Android used to be a freedom-respecting operating system. That changed when Google added restrictions over time that the user could not opt out of without extreme measures like bootloader unlocking and root access, including MicroSD writing restrictions in Android 4.4 and USB on-the-go media restrictions in Android 6.0, breaking compatibility for applications created over years in addition to making new applications such as file managers less useful.<ref>[https://source.android.com/docs/core/storage/traditional Traditional storage | Android Open Source Project]</ref> The most severe restriction so far is the planned [[Android Developer Verification]] program, making it impossible to run software by developers not personally identified and approved by Google without taking extreme measures like bootloader unlocking, rooting, and potentially flashing an alternative operating system. It can be safely assumed that Android would never have gained their user base, had these restrictions been in place since the beginning.

Reddit added a paywall to their API in 2023 after it was free of charge for many years. This change rendered third-party clients like "Apollo" unuseable and made archiving the history of Reddit far more difficult ([[Reddit#API_paywall,_June_2023|more details]]).

==See also==

*[[Post-purchase EULA modification]]
*[[Retroactively amended purchase]]
*[[Retroactive policy enforcement]]

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Anti-consumer practices]]
[[Category:Common terms]]