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Comment by tupac_speedrap | Hacker News Reader

I never see these surveys when I browse Youtube on my PC but the bonkers shit they ask my Mum always amuses me, also Youtube is very picky about about the content that YouTube creators create but will happily bombard my Mum with gambling ads all the time. You can opt out for "less" gambling adverts but obviously algo-wankers weasel out of any responsibility so it probably won't work very well since it makes them less money.

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You can opt out of all the ads just by using uBlock. I don't understand how people willingly go on the internet without it.

uBlock only supports browsers

NewPipe[1] works fine on Android.

[1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.schabi.newpipe/

There's also YouTube Vanced

uBlock is supported on Firefox on Android.

I'll mirror the parent's sentiment. It blows my mind every time i see someone else use YouTube and see ads.

Unlock is suppprted on chromium via kiwi browser

Lot's of Android devices come with Youtube app preinstalled, which means it is a pain to uninstall it, to make the links open in the browser.

I stopped using the official YouTube app when YouTube started to constantly show me literal porn as ads below videos. The images were distorted a little bit but you could clearly see what was going on. I wasn't able to report any ad and it kept happening, so I just stopped using the app and went full ad block.

It boggles my mind how many scam ads are running on YouTube. Only ads I get are scams, make 5k a day, get rich quick with nft, fake investor ads etc. Google willingly make extreme amounts of money working with these scammers on the backs of ordinary people while already having billions. They are morally corrupt.

How do you think Google got so rich?

I'm pretty sure a significant fraction of Google's revenue is coming directly or indirectly from scammers.

> bombard my Mum with gambling ads

I get loads of financial scams, especially crypto scams. It used to be Russian wife services and gambling. Probably because I turned off ad personalization for my Google account, so I get the lowest grade ad stock there is.

I’ve also turned off ad targeting and have experienced the same. Lots of scam ads, many of them for crypto. I’ve tried to report a few of the more blatant scam ads, but the reporting process is tedious and not worth wasting my time on. Like the “free fortnite v-bucks” at a sketchy site is 100% stealing your account right? Thankfully I don’t see those very often so presumably google takes them down quick.

If she uses a PC you might be able to install uBlock for her. I never see ads on YouTube except for the mentions of sponsors that are part of the video.

Say your mom clicks on one of those ads and looses a lot of money. Would Google be liable for it?

“YouTube recommended this to me, I never imagine YouTube / Google would be trying to scam me”.

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