YouTube accused of criminal “spying” for ad blocker detection in Europe

In late October, YouTube started cracking down on ad blockers. The company wants users to either watch videos with ads as intended or sign up for YouTube Premium if ads bug them. This move annoyed many people, and now, one is taking action.

As per The Register (via Android Authority), a privacy advisor is gearing up to file criminal charges against YouTube in Europe. The reason? Scripts that detect and limit the use of ad blockers on the platform.

Alexander Hanff is taking legal action against the streaming platform under Ireland's computer abuse law. The privacy advisor mentioned he gave the National Police a heads-up about his plan to share details on the criminal complaint. The police have apparently acknowledged the complaint and requested more info.

Hanff claims that YouTube engages in the use of unauthorized tracking scripts aimed at identifying ad blockers. According to him, this activity is akin to unauthorized surveillance of EU citizens. Additionally, Hanff has lodged a civil complaint against YouTube's browser interrogation system, designed to identify and counter ad blockers. This complaint has been filed with the Irish Data Protection Commission.

The regulatory authority has reached out to Google and now waits for the company to share its take on Hanff's claim.

But this privacy consultant is not solely pointing fingers at YouTube. He asserts that over the past 5 years, Meta has also been in the game of “illegally” intercepting data transmissions within an information system (aka devices) to monitor his behavior.

When questioned about the choice to file a criminal complaint, Hanff explained, "I chose to go down the criminal complaint route because historically, EU regulators have been absolutely terrible at enforcing the ePrivacy Directive.”

However, things are shifting with the newly embraced Digital Markets Act (DMA). The EU is laying out clear criteria for gatekeepers—those big digital players like Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Apple. With the DMA in play, these companies have to revamp their policies, and some have already started.

Meta, for instance, rolled out an ad-free paid subscription in the EU, a move demanded by the EU for users who prefer an ad-free feed. And there is more to come, as Apple is gearing up to tweak its App Store policies in line with the DMA, opening up its ecosystem to competition.