this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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Another great article from 404 Media highlighting the power that the tech giants have amassed over how how we use the internet.

This brings me, I think, to the elephant in the room, which is the fact that Google has its hands on quite literally every aspect of this entire saga as a vertically integrated adtech giant.

This extreme power over the adtech and online advertising ecosystem is one of the subjects of an FTC antitrust suit against Google.

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[–] Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 373 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Ya I'll never stop using ad blockers, the internet is essentially unusable without them. Mine still work on youtube but if the day comes that they don't I'll just stop using it. We need some competition here, things have gotten increasingly anticonsumer and the companies have gotten too comfortable doing and charging whatever they want

[–] registrert@lemmy.sambands.net 54 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I've used adblockers for like 15 years and I genuinely get disgusted when watching YouTube without it. There's no way I'll go back. I even do sponsorblock to remove in-video ads.

The unfortunate thing is that I'm willing to pay a reasonable price for a lot of content creators, just not via Google/YouTube.

A dollar per channel? I follow 104 content creators om YouTube through RSS. And many more if we count all the other platforms. I can't afford that.

It's a difficult situation for viewers, creators and providers. I don't have an answer, but a stop-gap solution I'd be happy to see is like 480p max for adblockers, pay for HD+. That's reasonable based on how much ad-dodgers impact YouTube from what I've gathered.

[–] OrangeCorvus@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I cannot watch a video from start to finish anymore. Thanks youtube. Almost every video is filled with bs fluff to reach the 8 minute mark. It annoys me greatly. Maybe also because I am in the industry and I learned in school to not use meaningless shit in my videos.

[–] registrert@lemmy.sambands.net 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I've not thought about them time markers in a long time. One that was kinda funny and bearable was Dave509's twist.

"I need to reach a certain time limit on my videos, so for a few more minutes I'll just sit here, nod and say "I agree" and "I understand". Feel free to share whatever with me...

Sits in absolute silence for 30 seconds while staring at the camera

Yes, I agree."

But I have noticed I've gravitated to longer form videos, 30m+, for the last few years. I guess it has a lot to do with the fluff.

We shall from now on call such content creators "fluffers".

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[–] Ser_Salty@feddit.de 18 points 1 year ago

The thing that gets me is how little creators actually get per individual ad view. Now, collectively, with tens of thousands and millions of views, they get a good bag. But my watchtimes of that minute worth of ads per video? Literally nothing. A fraction of a cent so small it doesn't exist. I could watch a creator semi-regularly for like 2 years and my contribution to their income by watching ads would be in the single digits. I give them two bucks over Patreon or something just once and that's worth as much as me giving up hours upon hours of my life watching ads. Now, I can't afford to give literally everyone I watch more than once a dollar or two. But I give some money here and there to a couple I watch a lot. To make up for my using an adblocker.

Honestly, I'd probably get YouTube Premium if it wasn't fucking Google behind it.

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

i also have always used adblockers, but once i had to put in effort circumventing YT ads earlier this year, i discovered sponsorblock and added it. kind of funny that had it not been for YT being an ass, i would have been fine with other kind of ads.

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I guess if you don't use ad blockers you somehow get used to it. It's like someone whose job is 100% outdoors vs. someone who works indoors and then has to do a day working outside. The person who is used to cold, wind, rain, scorching sun, etc. stops noticing, even though it takes a toll on them too.

Every once in a while I end up using a browser without ad blockers enabled and it's incredible to me that some people live like that. It really is almost unusable. Things jump around as ads load in. Ads / videos pop over the content you're trying to use. The useful part of a page might be 60% ads: ads along the sides and breaking up the text. And then there's the bottom area of the page which is an endless scroll of "related content" ads.

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[–] dunestorm@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There never will be a YouTube competitor, it requires continuous investment from a multibillion dollar company.

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[–] ExLisper@linux.community 187 points 1 year ago (5 children)

To anyone using Chrome and complaining about Google having too much control: shut the fuck up. You're part of the problem.

[–] Chobbes@lemmy.world 68 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah and some of these people think they’re Brave and Edgy.

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[–] zingo@lemmy.ca 65 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Firefox for the win. Or Librewolf even better.

[–] Substance_P@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I love Librewolf, I just can't work for hours using a browser that has dark mode disabled in order to preserve its privacy features.

[–] AphoticDev@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Because the dark mode that's built into Firefox and other browsers sends requests to websites that can identify you. If you want dark mode on Librewolf, do as the devs recommend and get Dark Reader, as that's clientside and doesn't identify you, and works with pretty much every website, including ones that don't offer a dark version.

I use regular Firefox, and I have the default dark mode disabled and Dark Reader installed. I don't need to ask permission from websites to use dark mode any more than I need to ask Google for permission to block their ads.

[–] Substance_P@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

that's great! Yeah I understand the privacy implications but had no idea about Dark Reader. That's why I love this community for answers like this. I'll look into it as I'd prefer to use Librewolf as my daily driver.

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[–] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 35 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Imo this extends to chromium too. Google owns the source code and can pull it whenever they want. Sure, chromium browsers might be able to putter along for a little bit, but my understanding is that the reason why we're now at Chrome/Chromium vs Firefox vs Safari is because Google shits out so many new """standards""" and "features" that you need a large team to keep up. It's supposedly why browsers like Opera switched to using chromium instead of trying to maintain their own source code.

This is a feature, not a bug.

[–] yata@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or any chromium based browser for that matter.

[–] ours@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Handing over Google the Internet standards on a platter.

FireFox is not only awesome but a true competitor rendering engine.

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[–] Gigan@lemmy.world 112 points 1 year ago

Antitrust laws are not enforced nearly as much as they should be, especially in tech.

[–] user_2345@lemmy.world 89 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Stop using Google's products and continue using adblockers. Don't come back at me with excuses. Otherwise, don't complain.

[–] JoShmoe@ani.social 40 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 30 points 1 year ago

no, butts are over at pornhub

[–] Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works 64 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Google only has power as we the people give it to them but using their services. Same with Reddit’s power and such. Not the people here as we have unfortunately unplugged, but admittedly, all the decentralized services have significantly less content and variety of content. We need more people to join us, but they seem happy to support the centralized services they hate.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 37 points 1 year ago (11 children)

The problem with youtube in particular is there is no way to build an alternative that's as good as YouTube (ignoring all the bad bits they've added). PeerTube is nice to have around, but it's not as fast and doesn't have all the content as youtube. There's also Nebula, which is alright. It's not free and doesn't have as much content, but it's usually a higher quality.

[–] Jeffool@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

You're obviously right. But it's funny to me; I find it easy to imagine a world where staying independent and hosting your own stuff was seen as cooler. Instead of YouTube and Google Buzz, we ran RSS clients akin to Outlook and Thunderbird. They torrent and seed media we're subscribed to while we're at work or class. It's saved on a home server. We walk in and simply toss it up on our desktop or TV. (Or maybe a mobile client streams from your home server over the Internet or over your home Wi-Fi if you're at home )

And if you visited the website instead of YouTube's recommendations, The creator just adds a few RSS feeds on the backend to pull thumbnails from, of other creators' sites they enjoy.

Crazy how easy it is to daydream though, when I'm not the one putting the work in.

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[–] elbarto777@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I'm okay with the less amount of content. Frankly, I mindlessly spent hours scrolling through "content" on reddit, and feeling no satisfaction. At least the content here is more relevant.

More people would mean more memes and rage bait. No thanks.

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[–] Rambomst@lemmy.world 52 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I just got an email from YouTube, my premium price is going up by almost double....

[–] malchior@aussie.zone 20 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Same. It is no longer worth it, I'll be sad to lose my music streaming, but there are other pathways that some may consider unethical.

[–] CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)
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[–] Thorny_Insight@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

If you subscribe to premium using an Indian IP address, for example, you'll get it for like a buck a month

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[–] Paradox@lemdro.id 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 36 points 1 year ago

The YouTube adblocker overlay and such doesn't work if you're in incognito mode. You're welcome.

[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 35 points 1 year ago (3 children)

i jumped the google ecosystem a few years back seeing this coming..

i hear a lot of 'but i use googles x and googles y'. yep, and you will continue to have those chains on your wrists as long as you choose to have them there. everyone has the choice to start migrating to other email providers, other phone platforms, etc.

im not saying its easy, or something that can happen quickly... but lamenting the fact youre in up to your neck is no reason to give up. baby steps. make bob wiley proud.

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I've ditched everything but android. Been thinking about swapping roms but not all the apps I need for work will works with MicroG. And going apple is, at best, a lateral move.

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[–] mobilex1122@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My solution is (and for quite a long time was) to use NewPipe on mobile and Invidious on pc.

[–] EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Adnauseam! Adguard for desktop loaded with anti AdBlock killer! Lifetime license available!

Sorry I have tourette's syndrome

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[–] disconnectikacio@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Spread the word to install firefox based browser, use different frontends to block youtube ads in browser, Invidious and use piped youtube apps on android to block youtbe ads: Newpipe

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[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)
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they can cry harder

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