For several weeks, YouTube has been fighting against users who use AdBlock plug-ins. People who block ads receive messages about the need to add YouTube to the so-called whitelist (sites that can display ads), and
Will the EU block YouTube’s practices? Apparently they may violate regulations
It turns out that the practices of the world’s largest video platform may be inconsistent with European Union legislation. As some experts note, they may violate EU privacy rights. As privacy expert Alexander Hanff challenged YouTube’s actions at Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) in late October.
According to the activist, YouTube has introduced scripts that scan browser settings to detect ad-blocking plug-ins. Hanff believes that such practices constitute de facto surveillance of users and violate EU privacy law. Especially since YouTube does not inform visitors to the platform that it monitors the behavior of their web browsers. Hanff calls it “installing spyware on our devices.”
YouTube’s actions specifically violate Article 5.3 of the ePrivacy Directive. The Verge reminds that the expert filed the first complaint in a similar case in 2016, and then the European Commission confirmed that scripts used to detect ad blocking programs may violate the provisions of the directive. The European Commission has decided that websites should ask users for consent to use scripts that detect the presence of AdBlock plug-ins.
Google’s intensification of the fight against ad-blocking plug-ins has been a hardship for users who do not agree to interrupt their viewing with spots displayed at the beginning of the video and during viewing, and who do not want to purchase a YouTube Premium subscription. As he wrote at the beginning of November, users are massively uninstalling ad blockers and looking for other plug-ins that can block ads on YouTube.
YouTube spokesman Christopher Lawton said in a comment to The Verge that the platform will “cooperate with the DPC” if there are any questions from the commission. Google, which almost 80 percent derives its revenue from advertising, claims that blocking ads violates YouTube’s terms of use and claims that advertising spots help maintain the operation of the website and further develop it.
Source: Gazeta
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