By strengthening the blocking of ad blockers, is YouTube breaking the law?

Since mid-October, YouTube has intensified the hunt for ad blockers, to the point that for many users around the world, it has become impossible to see anything on the video platform. They are left with two alternatives: remove the blocker or take out a paid subscription.

Read YouTube blocks ad blockers and this time, it’s serious

But the question of the legality of this blocking arises very seriously. Alexander Hanff, a lawyer specializing in the protection of privacy, filed a complaint before the DPC, the Irish data protection commission – YouTube being under the jurisdiction of this regulator, the Irish equivalent of the Cnil. It accuses the service of using JavaScript code to detect adblock extensions without the user’s explicit consent.

And indeed, Article 5 of paragraph 3 of the ePrivacy Directive “Privacy and electronic communications” (2002/58/EC) requires consent for any “ access or storage of information on an end user’s device that is not strictly necessary “.

According to Hanff, the script used by YouTube therefore violates the directive since there is no request for authorization from the Internet user: the deployment of this script would not be necessary for the provision of the requested service, it only serves the interests of the platform.

The DPC has taken up the matter and will request additional information from YouTube. And in accordance with the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Irish commission could require the service to stop the practice of blocking ad blockers.

YouTube unblocks

Alexander Hanff goes even further: he compares YouTube’s content blocker detection system to ” spyware »« there is no other way to describe it and therefore it is not acceptable to deploy it without consent », he says to The Verge. “ I consider deploying technology that can be used to spy on me on devices to be both unethical and illegal in most situations “.

For its part, YouTube explains that content blockers violate the platform’s terms of use and prevent creators from generating revenue from advertising. This assertion does not hold water, according to the complainant who opposes European law which actually takes precedence.