In a recent turn of events, YouTube finds itself at the centre of performance complaints, but this time it’s not due to the platform itself. Contrary to popular belief, YouTube denies throttling its performance to combat ad blockers and places the blame squarely on glitches within specific ad-blocking software. As users grapple with slowed CPU usage and performance hiccups, the spotlight turns to Adblock Plus and AdBlock as the culprits.
YouTube has long been battling against users employing ad blockers, implementing measures such as a three-strike video policy and annoying delays to discourage their usage. However, the recent uproar over PC CPU spikes during video playback with ad blockers led many to believe that YouTube was deploying a new strategy against the blockers. YouTube has swiftly responded to these accusations, asserting that any delays experienced by ad blocker users are not a result of their countermeasures.
Digging into the intricacies of the issue, Raymond Hill, the founder of uBlock, took to Twitter to shed light on the problem. He identified Adblock Plus version 3.22 and AdBlock version 5.17 as the root cause of the performance issues. Interestingly, these problems seem to be exclusive to Adblock Plus spinoffs, sparing other ad blockers like uBlock Origin from the troubles. Moreover, the glitches extend beyond YouTube, affecting a range of dynamically updating websites.
In a simplified explanation, the glitch arises when Adblock and Adblock Plus encounter dynamic updates on sites like YouTube, triggering problematic code paths. As a result, the ad-blocking software starts executing actions that consume an excessive amount of the CPU’s processing power. This issue becomes more pronounced for users employing both AdBlock and Adblock Plus simultaneously, compounding the individual problems of each.
YouTube, in this instance, is not the instigator of the problems but rather a popular platform that triggers existing glitches within AdBlock and Adblock Plus. The widespread usage of YouTube exacerbates the impact of these underlying issues.
Fortunately, fixes for these glitches are already in progress. A bug report for Adblock Plus indicates that a fix has been released as part of update 3.22.1. However, users may need to wait a few days for the fix to pass extension store reviews and reach every user. This update is expected to address not only the performance issues on YouTube but also similar CPU problems reported by Chrome users when using Adblock programs.
In the interim, users experiencing these performance hiccups have a couple of options. They can either disable the ad-blocking program temporarily or opt for alternative ad blockers unaffected by the current glitch. This temporary inconvenience underscores the delicate balance between content providers and users seeking an ad-free experience, with glitches in ad-blocking software adding an unexpected twist to the ongoing saga. As the fixes roll out, users can look forward to smoother YouTube experiences without sacrificing their ad-free preferences.
