Proton + Ghostery wombo combo should still work for now for ad blocking and VPN.
this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
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Privacy
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YouTube won't let me watch this video with my VPN on. Is this a new thing?
FreeTube running over Tor is working for me.
They're killing third-party client access, limiting adblockers, blocking VPNs, and forcing sign in more and more. I sincerely hate it but this was inevitable. They have their monopoly, this is just the "abuse that position and enshittify for more data and money" stage. I hope an alternative takes off because I refuse to play by their rules.
Fuck YouTube. I deleted it. I can search for videos individually if I want to.
Try the Freetube or Grayjay client, they work for me with VPN.
Depends in the VPN. I’m having to use multi-hop now with Freetube but with that turned on it is working consistently for me again.
I spun up my own invidious container and that has made my connection far more consistent.
Ay any tips?
I like how they make up a phony benefit to try to make it seem like you'll get something out of it.
If you are using a Free VPN, the would be A LOT of users using that server, so it looks like a denial of service attack from the server's POV.
Even when I used a paid VPN, I still have to try many servers before there is one that works.
When I used ProtonVPN, it was like 50/50 if it worked or not.
When I switched to Mullvad and now to IVPN, who have much less servers to choose from, I have to try like 7 servers before I found a working one, and so far it's been working fine for like the past week.
Its not a new thing. I've noticed it since last year (when I started using VPNs).
I find if I use my VPN and I'm not logged in, it says I can't watch unless I log in. If I turn it off, it works. I think if you're logged in, they can track you and monetize you. If you're behind a VPN and they also don't know who you are, they want to push you into telling them who you are.
What I've found as a workaround is to search videos using Duck Duck Go. It has a way you can watch YouTube stuff through DDG without being logged in. I imagine they'll eventually figure out a way to patch that.
Ya so users like say @cobysev@lemmy.world and surely MANY others who don’t get nagged…
Wondered “what if some of us are browser fingerprinted so good they/their advertisers know we’re us, not bots, and pretend to let us stay anonymous” :(
Makes sense for a corpo like Google, ditch it and use Odysee or use another client like FreeTube or Piped. Piped doesn’t like my connecting via Tor but’s that’s alright I guess.
Watching YouTube via tor is kinds dick move lol
True, contribute! I usually just use MullvadVPN+Mullvad Browser for that. I always recommend running a Tor node if you use Tor at all, but eh.