YouTube boycott 2025

[AnIzzi0t]

hey I was wondering if anyone else on the melonland forum was participating in the YouTube boycott?

it feels like I'm the only one in my school and in general my friend group participating;-;
I just feel very betrayed?? I loved YouTube dude I spent 70% of my internet time on it
I've been using invidious to watch videos but in general I think I'm healthier without doing YouTube (and whenever I tell people they're like "what?? how?? you're so strong you're doing amazing" like I'm a war hero)
 

[EdgyRabbid]

Ive been doing too!!! I downloaded all my favourite videos, but sometimes i still go on youtube with ad block on to watch newer vids from my favs and then downloading them to put on the internet archive, have you thought of doing the same?

[lakes]

I've been boycotting Youtube but before the boycott officially started. Now I use Freetube & a fork of Newpipe for Youtube & I'm trying to use Youtube less in general. I also use the Youtube alternative, Peertube. It's kinda hard for me though because even when I'm not watching channels I'm subbed to, people send me or the group chat videos sometimes. Plus sometimes I have to wait for Freetube to be updated to watch vids because Youtube updated. Freetube does let you open up Invidious links for videos. But it can feel like an extra step, especially since not all the Invidious websites it rotates between still work.

[Nori Jammy]

I haven't heard of this, what is the boycott for? I like to support my favorite YouTubers, I'd hate to have to leave some of the smaller creators I like behind. But what did YouTube HQ do this time, I'm a little scared to ask?

[AnIzzi0t]

I haven't heard of this, what is the boycott for?

so basicaly YouTube added their age verification thing which I (and many people) don't like for a number of reasons...

• 1- it uses ai, which is a big no no for me... I'm not going into detail about my personal motivations for disliking ai but in general its bad for the environment
• 2- its preeettyy ableist. if you like anything cartoony or mildly childlike, BANNED. that's an issue for me and other people with interests in MLP or childrens books, etc. it banned my friend for watching TADC, which I think is... interesting.
• 3- it does nothing to "help the children." in fact, it only offers more nsfw to little kids if they're already watching it. it just makes the algorithm thing theyre adults.
• 4- it requires a face id/ YOUR PERSONAL INFO if you are marked as a kid and are an adult. yikess

[SquidDied]

I am participating yeah, i was already sick of it's interface and needing like 7 extensions to make it bearable for me and even then the algorithm can never manage to recommend me something interesting   

but this whole age verification thing via ID in general (my country is going to begin enforcing it across multiple social media sites too in like a month or so, which I'm so anxious about) just broke the last straw for me, I'm no longer using it for entertainment and am downloading vids where possible. I do feel bad for not being able to support all of my fave creators on there but like, its not my fault their platform has made it inhospitable to me.

The only thing is though, its not really a youtube policy at work here to invoke the ID/face scanning measures because there are multiple governments around the world that are actually enforcing this as a matter of law and if youtube wants to continue operating in those countries then they have to comply with the laws. By all means protest the other shit you don't like about the platform but if you're against the regulation itself (as you should be imo) you need to be putting ur energy toward contacting your government representatives.

i 100% believe that youtube has no problem collecting valuable data about its users, and are all too happy to facilitate it on their platform, but atm i think theres bigger issues at play that we gotta deal with first.

I'm so worried about the future of the internet.

[bugwatcher]

I've generally been trying to use less Youtube in general and instead looking for information and entertainment online. If I do need to watch anything on Youtube I use Indivious (I used to use Freetube but it kept breaking lately, RIP  ). I still avoid using those to watch videos where possible as I think frontends still support the site? - correct me if I'm wrong ^^'

It's come to me naturally, although I was already beginning to be wary of Google when I lessened my use of Youtube I also did so because I'm often recommended upsetting videos that keep coming, even when I adjust my recommendations the best I can and simply want to look up my interest. I'm so tired of being recommended another "The XXX situation is crazy!" video...

I also personally cannot stand with a platform that simply allows such disgusting advertisements on their platform, and unfortunately I cannot fully support the creators that make money off those ads either - though I understand that isn't really their choice.

Anyhow, I actually began to stop using Youtube much before this boycott, I did hear they're going to require ID verification for our country too. That's definitely going to be a privacy nightmare haha 

[xero333]

I've been using NewPipe on my phone instead of YouTube. I was getting sick of the amount of ads on YouTube so decided to look into an alternative. The benefits of NewPipe are that you can lock the screen and the video keeps playing, you can download videos from within the app, and there are absolutely zero ads. There's a few things here and there that need to be ironed out, but overall it's been such a better experience.

[Nori Jammy]

2- its preeettyy ableist. if you like anything cartoony or mildly childlike, BANNED. that's an issue for me and other people with interests in MLP or childrens books, etc. it banned my friend for watching TADC, which I think is... interesting.

To be fair, TADC is widely popular primarily with children, particularly neglected ones, y'know the same one's watching Elsagate-style videos, which seems to be what YouTube is attempting (and failing) to crack down on. TADC taps into the same BRIGHT COLOR SCARY WEIRD that very young kids seem to be addicted to. As much as the creators stress that it's intended for a mature audience, that simply isn't where the majority of their views are coming from.

Idk, I watch cartoons, but I also watch people like Drew Gooden, so YouTube knows I'm an adult (kid's would think his videos are a drag, I think you have to be an adult to enjoy his work). So, my quick fix solution is to watch Drew Gooden. Just watch Drew Gooden. He's Gooden.

[grubbyfox]

I use Newpipe on my phone, but Invidious doesn't work for me anymore (site seems broken/unsafe). I decided to support one of my fav youtubers on patreon. I just wish youtubers would choose to mirror-upload on different sites as well. I'd gladly follow them across platforms.

I use youtube on TV a lot so I cant really skip out of youtube completely haha. Not until there's an alternative. But of course I use adblock anyway, and try to support my fav youtubers elsewhere.

[SquidDied]

I still avoid using those to watch videos where possible as I think frontends still support the site? - correct me if I'm wrong ^^'

i believe it still gives youtube traffic and watchtime so even using a frontend, u still count toward their user stats in that way. Its still better than using the main site tho kinda.

[lime360]

kind of a hot take but boycotting youtube while using freetube or invidious doesn't count because it's still using youtube

it's best to just download videos through yt-dlp

[arcus]

Where is the boycott organised?

If I do need to watch anything on Youtube I use Indivious (I used to use Freetube but it kept breaking lately, RIP  ). I still avoid using those to watch videos where possible as I think frontends still support the site? - correct me if I'm wrong ^^'

Alternative front ends link to the videos directly or proxies them. Visiting the official site requires CSS and Javascript to be enabled to watch a video, both of which can be used for fingerprinting browsers through various means, such as: Cursor movements, installed fonts, and window size (the Tor Browser stays at a fixed size for this reason.) The EFF has an explanation on it. Ignore the part where they recommend Brave: Brave has a myraid of issues. Due to this, watching YouTube from the official site supports it with tracking data for advertisers, VPN or no VPN.

From the project page for Invidious:

A: By default, the video stream is fetched directly from Google's servers (googlevideo.com) in order to reduce the bandwidth required by Invidious, meaning that Google will be able to see your IP address and some other data commonly sent by web browsers, like your user-agent string.
If you don't want that to happen, you can go to the preferences page and check the Proxy videos option. When this option is enabled, the Invidious instance will be used as a relay (also known as a "proxy") between you and Google's servers, which will hide your IP address and the other information sent by your browser.

One can be identified by IP and user-agent (browser + current version + OS) if the instance used doesn't proxy. On proxied instances watch history is shared by the whole instance, making identification more difficult.

it's best to just download videos through yt-dlp

That sends IP addresses regardless.

[WhiteFelineWonder]

Boycotting YouTube... I feel like I'm somewhat there. I've been using PipePipe and Invidious for years for watching and downloading videos, got a whole slew of them downloaded (i.e. Helluva Boss, Terrible Mouse, nostalgic videos, etc.). Truthfully I haven't yet seen myself leaving it behind entirely. I still wanna keep tabs on this Freedom Planet ARG, find more random videos to download, add more downloads to my personal nostalgic playlist, stuff like that.

One thing that's quite annoying is trying to watch videos that are log-in to view through a frontend; I find myself wishing there's some sort of brute forcing tool out there to bypass this and watch/download the video.

But back to boycotting, when that day comes where Google makes their platform greatly abhorrent with some arbitrary, walled garden nonsense, I think that'll be where I pull the plug.
This world could benefit from some alternative video-sharing platforms and more people speaking out against YouTube's nonsense.

[nvalk1]

I've found that YouTube is a social media site just as if not more to blame for the state of the internet than Instagram, Xitter, or even Tiktok. Beyond the totalitarian age restriction stuff, YouTube as a platform suffers from the same disease as all mainstream social media: the fact that it's built with the intensive purpose of being addicting.

I've found that watching videos on there has made me worse off, so I had to get to a point where I didn't want to really watch it at all anymore. I used to watch YouTube for dozens of hours a week, but now I barely watch any at all. I started by getting the ad blockers and the QoL UI improvements like Unhook and stuff, but eventually I got to a point where I stopped watching it altogether.

My final stage of it was blocking the website entirely and replacing that workflow with manually searching for videos via my search engine (all the results are YouTube anyway) and using yt-dlp when I wanted to watch something. Over the course of about a year, I successfully weened myself off of YouTube and now watch less than 30 minutes a day.