When it comes to video sharing, YouTube reigns supreme. But with great power comes great responsibility, or in this case, great control over the user experience. For example, the video platform is tightening its grip on ad-blocker users, making it increasingly difficult for viewers to dodge the onslaught of ads. So, what’s changed? YouTube has initiated a new approach to deal with users employing ad-blockers. It now greets them with an immovable pop-up asking them to disable their ad-blocker or add YouTube to their whitelist. Initially, users could simply close the pop-up and continue their video journey. However, YouTube upped the ante by requiring users to acknowledge the message before they could dismiss it after a brief timer had elapsed. Now, the platform is demanding action – disabling the ad-blocker or whitelisting YouTube – to get past the pop-up. Source: Search Engine Land Christopher Lawton, YouTube’s communications manager, told The Verge that using ad-blockers actually violates the platform’s terms of service. He defended the ad-supported model, stating that ads “support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube.” Earlier this year, eagle-eyed Redditors noticed YouTube experimenting with forcing users to disable ad-blockers or subscribe to YouTube Premium to watch videos. This move coincided with the company’s third consecutive quarterly drop in ad revenue, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. In this clip I showed how to remove this recent youtube ad pop up for users that have ad blocker extension installed…YouTube tightens the noose on users with ad blockers