New update - Google told the media that the recent video loading times aren't caused by the company but rather, due to the newest AdBlock and AdBlock Plus updates.
If you feel the video loading times are longer than usual, you're not alone. According to a few posts on Reddit (like here and there), it has been confirmed that Google/YouTube has purposely slowed down the speed, particularly if you have ad blockers turned on.
For a while now, YouTube has been trying to find ways to discourage people from using ad blockers since last year. It tried with warning messages, blocking you if you refuse, and even slowing down loading times since last November as a test. Those currently using ad blockers, reported serious lags when watching YouTube videos.
From the aforementioned Reddit posts, the lag goes up to as much as five minutes depending on different web browsers. However, this even happens to YouTube Premium users with their ad blockers turned on for other platforms.
On that note, it has been reported that scam ads are appearing on YouTube, including YouTube premium users. For example, there is a deep fake video of Jennifer Aniston promoting a MacBook Pro for $10 (~RM46). It's not just her, though, as many are abusing deep fake to pretend as popular YouTubers and celebrities to scam viewers online. Also, there are even porn ads appearing.
Well, looks like the war between ads and ad blockers is far from over on YouTube. How will they reach the middle ground? Time will tell.
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