YouTube recently made it mandatory that users stop using ad blockers or they would be seeing messages which could even end up blocking their access to content on the platform. Most countries will comply with the new rules, which YouTube says, is being done to help creators earn money.
But the company’s reasons are unlikely to cut it in Europe. Privacy experts have pointed out that YouTube’s call to let ads pass through for the free users is illegal as per the European Union (EU) laws. In fact, YouTube has been accused of spying on the users now that it is able to detect who has installed ad blockers to stop seeing ads on the platform.
Google and other tech giants like Apple have already faced the fury of EU regulators and YouTube could be in for a long haul with the authorities as it tries to justify the means to detect these blockers and force the free YouTube users to watch ads frequently between the videos. These changes have seen people uninstalling ad blockers from their browsers because it is of no use to them after YouTube’s stance on showing ads for the free accounts.
Experts clearly feel that in addition to breaking the digital laws, YouTube is also violating multiple Fundamental rights of the consumers in the region. So, if the platform does get caught breaking rules with its anti-ad blocker policies, it is likely that the company would have to revise its stance in the region, something that Meta was forced to do with Instagram and Facebook recently.
The social networking giant decided that if any Facebook or Instagram user does not want to see ads on the platform based on their web activity, they have to sign up for a monthly fee which frees them from such activities.
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