With the rampant corporatization of the Web in recent years, advertisements have become inescapable. Most company operated websites you visit will be filled with as many advertisements as possible, which can distract you or cause your Web browser to slow down, even on otherwise simple pages. Thus, using an ad blocker is more vital than ever before.
Mainstream online spaces such as YouTube have banned discussion of ad blocking because it hurts their bottom line. Thus, this guide will explain the importance of using an ad blocker, as well as how to set one up.
Why you need an ad blocker
Advertisements are largely disliked by most people, but oftentimes the effort of installing an ad blocker isn't seen as worthwhile for many people. However, advertisements can actually be very malicious in several different ways, including:
- Advertisements often lead to malicious websites which will download malware or attempt to scam you
- Advertisements can take away your attention from the content you are trying to access
- Advertisements slow down your Web browser, making Web pages perform slower than expected
- Advertisements often contain pornographic or other NSFW content
As a rule of thumb, you should never trust any service that's advertising online. It is very likely that even if the advertisement seems legitimate, it's actually not created by the expected company and thus will lead to malware, a phishing scam, or another malicious site.
Following an incident where a false version of GIMP was buying advertisements on Google searches, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation published an article warning the general public about malicious advertisements. One of the mitigation suggestions included a recommendation to use an ad blocking extension: Archived version on Internet Archive (due to the page being removed)
This recent wave in malicious advertising is likely caused by lax moderation standards on sites such as YouTube and Google, which regularly allow malware and scam ads on their platforms.
Another recent development mainly affecting video sharing sites such as YouTube is pornographic or otherwise NSFW advertisements. In some cases, users have reported videos containing full nudity and other sexual actions in YouTube ads. If you are letting a child access YouTube or you use YouTube in a work environment, an ad block is a must for your own personal safety.
The last reason I would suggest using an ad blocker is to leverage the small amount of power we have against the corporations which are running the Internet. Many websites ran by large corporations which case harm to people online for profit rely on ads to make money. By using an ad blocker, you are helping to fight back in their monopolization of the Web, which has largely been taken over from independent users.
How to install an ad blocker
Most modern Web browsers allow you to install extensions, or small programs that run in your Web browser and can modify Web pages. Ad blockers work by modifying pages before they are displayed to the end user, removing content which is detected as an advertisement.
Web browser suggestions
After a lot of backlash from the privacy and ad blocking community, Google released Manifest v3, an updated Web extensions platform which, among other things, greatly reduces the usefulness of ad blocking extensions. Google Chrome and most other Chromium based browsers such as Microsoft Edge now only support Manifest v3 extensions, making them less than ideal for daily Internet use.
The best Web browser to use with ad blocking is Firefox, or a Web browser based on Firefox such as LibreWolf. Mozilla, the developer of Firefox, has stated they will not remove Manifest v2 support for the time being. Manifest v2 extensions allow the best ad blocking experience, so if possible, it is strongly recommended that you migrate to Firefox.
Firefox can be downloaded from the Mozilla website. Firefox supports Windows, Linux, macOS, BSD, Android, iOS, and several other operating systems. TO install Firefox on Linux, BSD, or another Unix-like operating system, check your operating system's package manager for more information. On Android, Firefox can be downloaded from the Google Play Store, while on iOS it can be downloaded from the App Store. Additionally, if you do not want to use Google Play, you can install Fennec via Fdroid on Android.
Another option for an ad blocking browser is Brave. Brave integrates an ad blocker, meaning the user does not have to supply an extension. However, Brave has faced criticism in the past, including major controversies such as supporting cryptocurrency and alleged bigotry from their CEO. Several controversies have been compiled in this Reddit post. I personally cannot recommend Brave in good conscience, so I will leave it up to the reader to decide if they would like to use it.
Ad blocker extension suggestions
The best option for an ad blocking extension is uBlock Origin. uBlock Origin is free and open source software and is typically the best at blocking ads, especially on websites like YouTube. Usually whenever YouTube finds a way to block uBlock Origin, it is bypassed fairly quickly by the uBlock Origin developers.
When installing uBlock Origin, be sure that you are downloading the correct extension. The GitHub repository linked above has the latest extension links in the readme file. Many fake extensions called "uBlock" or "uBlock Origin" exist. Make sure to check the reviews to ensure it is not a fake version. Additionally, the Firefox version has a "Recommended" badge to show it is the real uBlock Origin.
uBlock Origin works best on Firefox. If you need to use a Chromium based browser that does not support Manifest v2, you can use uBlock Origin Lite, a version of uBlock Origin which is Manifest v3 compliant. Note that many users have found uBlock Origin Lite to be less effective at blocking ads due to the limitations of Manifest v3. Unless your workplace or organization requires you to use a browser such as Google Chrome, you should probably install Firefox instead.
While other ad blockers technically exist, there's little reason to use any ad blocker other than uBlock Origin or uBlock Origin Lite. Another popular option is Adblock Plus which works on Google Chrome, but it has faced controversy for allowing "non intrusive" ads to appear. There's no real reason to go with Adblock Plus over uBlock Origin/Lite.
A recent ad blocker that has been making the rounds called "Pie Adblock" should not be used. It is developed by the original developers of the Honey extension, which has been involved in a lot of controversy. Many of the controversies faced by Honey have followd to Pie Adblock. This video does an excellent job of explaining the controversies faced by Honey. If you don't want to watch it, the TL;DW is they've been proven to hijack referral codes from creators, replacing them with their own and essentially stealing credit for online sales.
Using your Ad Blocker
This section will assume you are using uBlock Origin on Firefox, as that is the most optimal choice. There is nothing you need to do once you've installed the extension. It will automatically start blocking all ads for you.
If a website refuses to work due to uBlock Origin, you can disable it for that website by clicking on the uBlock Origin icon and clicking the power button icon.
Blocking Advertisements on YouTube Mobile (Android only)
While you can use Firefox on Android to watch YouTube, additional options exist to modify the YouTube client to make it block advertisements, as well as remove certain annoying things from the YouTube interface such as YouTube Shorts.
The ReVanced Patcher allows you to patch YouTube's mobile client on your phone. This replaces YouTube Vanced, an older client which was DMCA'd out of existence by Google. ReVanced attempts to prevent DMCA takedown requests by having the user patch the client locally on their device rather than distributing a modified version of the app.
This guide does an excellent job of explaining how to set up YouTube ReVanced on your device and is kept up to date.
An additonal option is NewPipe, a custom built free and open source YouTube client. While you can't sign into your Google account and thus cannot post comments, view recommended videos, etc., you can import your subscriber list from your account. NewPipe is very light and well designed while not showing advertisements.
Alternative and Additional Options
If you are privacy minded and want to stop online tracking as much as possible, I would suggest installing the Decentraleyes and Privacy Badger extensions. These help to keep you safe from online trackers (although no extension can realistically prevent all of them).
If you are a YouTube user, I would additionally suggest installing SponsorBlock, an extension that uses crowdsourced data to skip sponsored segments on YouTube videos. It can also tell you if a video is a paid review for a product, among other information. SponsorBlock is also included in YouTube ReVanced. I personally highly recommend this extension if you value your time.
Another option for blocking ads is Pi-hole, which is a program intended to be run on a Raspberry Pi or another Linux computer. It filters advertisement traffic before it ever even reaches your devices. Note that Pi-hole requires some computer knowledge to set up. Specifically, you should understand basic Linux commands and how to set a custom DNS server on your devices. While Pi-hole can help to block some ads and trackers, I personally don't think it's really needed if you are using uBlock Origin on all of your devices anyways. I ran Pi-hole on an old laptop for around half a year in addition to uBlock Origin and really didn't notice much of a difference. Pi-hole reported that not much was really blocked, even though I was using multiple fairly strict ad blocking lists. Maybe it's more effective if you're using different websites than I am or if you don't have uBlock Origin on all of your devices.
Conclusion
Hopefully this guide was helpful in teaching you why and how to set up an ad blocker! If you have any questions or want me to add/correct something, you can message me on my Neocities profile, or you can message me on the Fediverse at [email protected]!
This guide was largely inspired by EasyUSSR's piracy guide. If you're interested in ad blocking, I'd suggest checking that guide out to learn how to safely torrent online!