[PLUG] YouTube spam filter

Galen Seitz galens at seitzassoc.com
Sat Aug 22 06:42:31 UTC 2020


On 8/21/20 9:39 PM, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> This may belong on plug-talk, but my problem probably has
> a technical solution to block YouTube spam, without getting
> into the sordid politics beneath.
> 
> This evening, I searched for a YouTube video about opening
> a can with a manual rotary can opener.  See the PPS below.
> 
> The problem is, a well funded national politician has
> saturated YouTube with a gazillion whack-a-mole pop-up
> attack ads, and I can't close them fast enough to finish
> the video I want to see.

snip

> The TECHNICAL/LINUX subject:
> 
> I WANT to learn what SOFTWARE or TECHNIQUES to use to
> filter and block the F***ING pop-ups.  Unless I do that,
> YouTube is ruined.  Other services may soon be ruined as
> well.  I need to find and install and learn those tools
> before the internet turns into S*** and I can't get to
> the tools.
> 
> I use Firefox an older version of CentOS Linux on a small
> screen 4GB laptop; I hope for a compatible solution.

Are you getting literal popups, as in separate windows coming up that 
play the unwanted ad?  I'm running CentOS and Firefox here and I don't 
see popups.  Lately I have seen some ads from he who shall remain 
unnamed, but they are not popups.  They show up as part of the youtube 
home page and they autoplay, but their sound is muted, so IMHO they are 
not terribly intrusive.  Note, however, that I have some extensions 
installed that might be affecting this.  In particular, I'm using 
NoScript and PrivacyBadger, which means that nothing from 
doubleclick.net gets run.

CentOS Linux release 7.8.2003
Firefox 68.11.0esr (64-bit)

galen
-- 
Galen Seitz
galens at seitzassoc.com



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