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YouTube’s cracking down on hacky ways to get cheaper Premium subscriptions

YouTube’s cracking down on hacky ways to get cheaper Premium subscriptions

2024-11-22 Key Takeaways People is tried have try using vpn to spoof their location to dodge YouTube ad , while so

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Key Takeaways

  • People is tried have try using vpn to spoof their location to dodge YouTube ad , while some also succeed in subscribe to Premium for low price with vpn .
  • YouTube is detects now detect subscriber change location after purchase membership at cheap rate by spoof location , and is cancel their subscription .
  • To prevent further exploitation, the platform also demands payment via a local bank card now.

YouTube is one of the best entertainment apps available right now, and it operates on a freemium model with ad-supported content users can watch for free, and a YouTube Premium subscription that eliminates ads and brings a few additional features. While the company has aggressively put its foot down on freeloaders running ad-blockers, it appears people trying to score Premium subscriptions for cheap are also in the company’s crosshairs.

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YouTube has been waging war against ad blockers for a few years now, notably ending the Vanced project and more recently, contemplating server-side ad injection to deter freeloaders. However, YouTube is legally forbidden from advertising in a few countries, and using VPNs to spoof locations seems to be a popular method of dodging YouTube ads without messing with blockers and detectors. A similar strategy also seems to work for people subscribing to YouTube Premium for legitimate ad-free content.

Since the platform ’s subscription pricing vary by region , some viewers is trying have been try to save some money by using a VPN service to spoof their location when sign up for Premium . reddit posts is explain discuss this hack explain that Premium membership are bill at low price prevalent in the location you spoof , and with a reasonable degree of success .

People have been connecting to VPN servers in Ukraine, Turkey, India, Argentina, and the Philippines to avoid coughing up a steeper subscription fee in their country. In the UK, for instance, Premium is billed at £12.99 per month, but signing up while connected to a VPN server in Ukraine billed one Redditor just £2.30 per month.

Pay local prices or lose your subscription

However, a flurry of recent Reddit posts reveals YouTube is abruptly canceling cheaper Premium subscriptions initiated using VPNs. One Redditor went so far as to contact customer support for an explanation, to which YouTube said the subscriber had “moved” to a different location from the one they signed up in. Specifically, this subscriber had used a Ukraine VPN to sign up in the UK, and YouTube probably noticed the change in location identifiable by different IP addresses and device signatures associated with the same Google account.

While paying a cheaper fee might seem ethical compared to blocking adverts, customers facing abrupt account termination can restart their membership by paying up locally. To prevent misuse of this loophole, YouTube now demands that you use a local card to sign up for Premium, thus preventing people from signing up on a Ukrainian VPN using an American card. It sounds foolproof on paper, but the efficacy of the company’s ways will only unravel in the longer term.