DuckDuckGo just gave its browser a feature that a lot of people have been waiting for. The privacy-focused browser can now block most video ads on YouTube, letting users watch videos without sitting through the pre-roll and mid-roll interruptions that have become part of everyday life on the platform.
The feature is already enabled by default for iPhone, Windows, and Mac users running the latest version of the browser. Android users can turn it on manually today, with DuckDuckGo planning to enable it by default in a future update.
This isn’t the same thing as Duck Player, the company’s privacy-focused YouTube player. Instead, YouTube Ad Blocking works on the regular YouTube website. That means you can keep using features like watch history, subscriptions, playlists, and recommendations while avoiding most video ads.
To make it work, DuckDuckGo relies on the same community-maintained filter lists used by uBlock Origin, along with some of its own compatibility rules. The company says you might notice a bit of extra buffering before a video starts, but once playback begins, most ads should be gone.
I hate ads as much as the next person, so I absolutely understand why this feature will be popular. Nobody enjoys having a video interrupted every few minutes.
Still, I’m a little conflicted. Ads are annoying, but they’re also how many creators get paid. More importantly, Google already offers an official way to watch YouTube without ads through YouTube Premium. If you use an ad blocker instead, you’re getting one of the subscription’s biggest selling points without paying for it.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t use this feature. I’m certainly not pretending I’ve never used an ad blocker myself. But I do think it’s fair to acknowledge that if you watch a lot of YouTube, blocking ads means someone else is footing the bill. Whether that’s Google, the creator, or both depends on how you look at it.
At the end of the day, your browser is your choice. I’m not judging you… well, maybe just a little.
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