[sJ646U9k6c6gME9]

I work for a programmatic advertisement company. It’s a big name in the space. Whenever someone shares their screen during a meeting I pay special attention to their browser. Every single one of my colleagues runs some kind of ad blocker. Some run multiple. Many run additional browser extensions that block trackers and cookies and otherwise improve privacy.

I go even further and run a VPN with pihole as its DNS server.

Ads are easy to block these days. Why not block for free instead of spraying cash here and there?

[judge2020]

I guess for moral reasons. For YouTube and most websites, the 'Quid Pro Quo' for using the service is supporting them via ads, or in certain circumstances like YT, via a monthly subscription.

[DavideNL]

If only that were true, and your money would go to the content creators, instead of Google... (who abuses our privacy in the process)

[judge2020]

YT Premium money going towards Google is part of the service contract - they provide the website, storage, bandwidth[0], recommendations, etc. I don't think Google sees adblock as the end of the world, given they don't ban or even try to curtail blockers (really because mobile ad viewership is rising over desktop), but in general they expect you to either pay them or watch ads for access to the website.

To be clear, I don't think using adblock is immortal - just that I personally like it when services offer a subscription that remove ads.

0: https://peering.google.com/#/infrastructure

[GijsjanB]

Paying Google to destroy the web and your privacy? That sounds very immoral to me

[mda]

Both are very very disputable.

[sJ646U9k6c6gME9]

YouTube doesn’t need your support, but creators do. Many offer a more direct way to funnel donations than via ads on YouTube, ie Patreon, merch, Twitch subs, etc.

[renewiltord]

Haha, right? I pretty much did a similar thing in uni. I think I might have paid like $100 over seven years of uni for textbooks. I've figured out when to go on Caltrain for free, too.

There are lots of life hacks to not spend money. I used to think it was my responsibility to pay, but honestly, if I can get away with it, why would I?

[andrewaylett]

Why not both?