Hajra Naz
YouTube has refuted claims of exacerbating loading speed problems as a strategy to discourage the use of ad blockers. Nevertheless, both Premium subscribers and individuals employing ad blockers have reported issues on the platform, including lagging, increased CPU usage, and delayed load times.
The heightened measures against ad blockers by YouTube, potentially compromising user experience, might discourage platform utilization, impacting the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. Moreover, persistent slow loading speeds could impact ad loading times, diminishing campaign efficacy and negatively influencing user engagement.
Accusations regarding ad blockers surfaced as users reported widespread performance problems in a thread on the YouTube subreddit. One user noted, “It makes the whole site laggy. I can’t type a comment or load anything, but every other tab on Chrome is normal.” Another user mentioned a switch to Firefox due to sluggish performance with adblock enabled on Chrome.
Even YouTube Premium members, who use ad blockers on other sites, are experiencing delayed loading speeds, as reported by PC Games.
YouTube has explicitly denied any connection between the recent loading delays and its crackdown on ad blockers. A spokesperson clarified to Android Central that the issues are unrelated and offered troubleshooting tips through their help center.
Raymond Hill, a developer for the uBlock Origin content-filtering browser extension, supported YouTube’s stance. He attributed the speed issues to updates in Adblock and Adblock Plus extensions, particularly affecting users employing both extensions simultaneously. Hill emphasized against using more than one content blocker for optimal performance.
