YouTube clamps down on third party apps that block ads. Experts predict a new cyber-war between Iran and Israel. Elon Musk backs down on his fight with the Brazilian government and Broadcom makes concessions in the face of customer outrage and European regulatory scrutiny of its new VMWare pricing. All this and more on the
YouTube clamps down on third party apps that block ads. Experts predict a new cyber-war between Iran and Israel. Elon Musk backs down on his fight with the Brazilian government and Broadcom makes concessions in the face of customer outrage and European regulatory scrutiny of its new VMWare pricing.
All this and more on the “who blinks first” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.
YouTube is escalating its battle against ad-blocking software and extensions. The video streaming giant has announced it will now crack down on third-party apps that allow users to skip ads on YouTube videos.
If you watch YouTube videos through a third-party app specifically designed to block advertisements, you may start encountering some issues. In an update this week, YouTube says users accessing its content through these ad-blocking apps could face video buffering problems or even an error message preventing them from watching at all.
It’s an expansion of YouTube’s existing efforts to discourage viewers from using ad blockers when watching videos on the platform. Last year, YouTube started displaying error messages and disabling videos for users with ad-blocking browser extensions enabled.
The company argues that third-party apps stripping out ads prevents creators from being compensated for the content they produce. In a statement, YouTube says it only allows apps that follow its API terms of service, which require showing advertisements.
While the ad-blocking app AdGuard says it is not affected by this latest policy change since it doesn’t use YouTube’s API, many other apps that scrape ad-free YouTube videos could face blockages.
Of course, YouTube still offers its premium ad-free subscription as an alternative for viewers who want to skip commercials. But this crackdown likely won’t be welcomed by those who prefer watching YouTube through adblocking software and mobile apps.
As more entertainment shifts to streaming platforms, the tension between companies seeking ad revenue and users trying to avoid advertisements seems destined to escalate further.
Sources include: The Verge
There’s been a reversal from Elon Musk’s social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, over its stance on complying with court orders in Brazil regarding content moderation. After initially vowing to challenge rulings by Brazil’s Supreme Court, lawyers for the platform have now told the court it will follow all its decisions.
A legal battle has been brewing between Elon Musk’s X company and Brazil’s top court over the removal of certain accounts accused of spreading misinformation and hate speech. Last week, Musk said he would challenge an order from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes demanding X block some accounts in the country.
But in a letter to Moraes seen by Reuters, lawyers for X have now reversed course, stating the platform will comply with every ruling issued by the Supreme Court or Brazil’s top electoral authority.
This marks a shift from X’s Brazilian subsidiary, which had previously claimed it could not control whether the U.S. parent company followed the Brazilian court’s orders.
The Supreme Court justice has been leading investigations into alleged coup attempts and digital militias accused of spreading disinformation, particularly during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.
