Pop up ads in SmartTube
from SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world to selfhosted@lemmy.world on 01 May 17:04
https://lemmy.world/post/46307235

Heads up; ads appear to be leaking into Smarttube. I just got a pop up ad (as in, an actual pop up). I’m on version 31.63.

Ad popped up in lower right hand corner while scrolling Recommended. Some kind of skin care thing.

I clicked disable - will see if that holds.

I expect this is fun and games on YTs end / will be patched out. But, if not, might be time to spin up Tube archivist.

#selfhosted

threaded - newest

Joelk111@lemmy.world on 01 May 17:47 next collapse

Tube Archivist is great, as long as you don’t mind waiting a bit to watch stuff. As far as I know Grayjay is still working fine.

darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 01 May 18:07 next collapse

Are these youtube ads or are you saying the app itself is displaying the ad? No mention of it yet on github.

SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world on 01 May 18:13 collapse

The app itself! Which is why I posted; I’ve never seen it do that before.

I’m aware SmartTube has some issues with malicious code injection some time ago; I don’t think that’s what’s happening here per se. Much more likely that m.youtube.com (which I believe is what SmartTube uses?) has found a way to start passing on ads.

I wish I’d grabbed a photo of it; instead, sat straight up in bed, said “What the fuck” and spooked the dog

Submitted ticket.

darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 01 May 18:27 next collapse

Interesting. I’ll keep an eye out for it.

SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world on 01 May 18:28 collapse

Me too. Super frikken weird…but it does move my yl-dlp / Tube Archivist time-line up. It was always a matter of time; I’m surprised they’ve been able to play whack-a-mole for this long

darcmage@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 01 May 19:18 collapse

Do you remember which video triggered the popup?

A_norny_mousse@piefed.zip on 01 May 18:30 collapse

Much more likely that m.youtube.com (which I believe is what SmartTube uses?) has found a way to start passing on ads.

How could that happen without anyone implementing that into the app? At least it sounds like that’s what you’re arguing.

SuspciousCarrot78@lemmy.world on 01 May 18:40 collapse

Not sure. It’s my understanding that google has been playing whackamole with m.youtube.com for a while.

They’ve repeatedly made changes that break or affect unofficial clients. Maybe the next trick is to find a way to bypass standard adblockers.

Could just be a tin-foil hat moment but I wouldn’t put it past them.

[deleted] on 02 May 08:02 collapse
.
[deleted] on 01 May 20:21 next collapse
.
happypanda@lemmy.ca on 01 May 21:41 next collapse

Is it possible it was your Goggle TV that showed the ad?

Trincapinones@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 01 May 23:03 next collapse

This also happens to me, using the Smarttube flatpak, I think that it’s a “feature” from the youtube tv original app, and it bleeds into Smarttube because what it does is faking being the original youtube tv app with some extra modifications.

Edit, I am using VacuumTube from flatpak, not Smarttube, but it’s the same concept.

imLotus@lemmy.ml on 02 May 11:47 collapse

I’d highly recommend giving TizenTube Cobalt a try. It’s really solid and I havent had any issues so far.