The days of ad blockers on YouTube are numbered, according to a note from the video portal Google announcing strict measures against them.

On YouTube’s support page, they remind you that third-party apps block ads while watching YouTube videos violate their terms and conditions (Cough). And even more, it’s a serious disservice to content creators.

Google has a number of APIs that allow developers to integrate YouTube into their apps, display videos, or get data about videos hosted on the platform. However, some developers have created Android and iOS apps that are used by millions of users and promote them as a way to watch YouTube videos without ads.

Against YouTube ad blockers

YouTube has experimented with various anti-ad blocking methods in the past, including requiring users to disable their ad blockers or limiting viewing to just three videos.

It didn’t work and now announces stronger measures– Any app that uses the YouTube API to block ads will be banned as a developer. The video platform also warns that users of these apps may now experience long buffering or receive a “The following content is not available in this app” error when trying to upload a video.

YouTube says so These measures are necessary to protect creatorsbecause disabling ads affects the income they earn: “We want to emphasize that our terms don’t allow third-party apps to disable ads because that prevents creators from being rewarded by audiences, and YouTube ads help support creators and enable billions of people around the world to use the streaming service.”they explain.

For those who want to enjoy YouTube without ads, the company suggests subscribing to the Premium service, which costs between $13 and $18 depending on the user’s platform.