The person saying "freetube is still engagement" is wrong. Most of the things that grab from YT are engagement. But freetube is not. Freetube hosts everything on YOUR pc. It blocks any tracking of traffic. If theres no youtube symbol = theres no ad revenue. Theres so many ways to grab videos without making calls to the platform which is what freetube does. My coder friends looked into the open source code.
They are correct that YT still makes money even when people use adblockers, and if you're not logged in and watching without logging in that still gives traffic and collects data. It just doesn't link it to an account. and if theoretically a platform that stops ads you logged into your YT on. You would still be logged, still be giving traffic to youtube on that site same as on apps.
But they are completely wrong about how freetube operates.
Ah, thank you for the details, my friend! It's greatly appreciated!
For anyone who needed this information, here you go!
Ok, so I know this isn't really my regular thing, but it kind of is because I think I've been pretty clear on my stance on censorship and AI and big companies and the government overstepping their boundaries, so I'm going to talk about it.
so, as some of you may have heard, Youtube has announced that they are going to start trying out a new AI age detection policy, and anyone who the AI suspects might be a minor based on what they watch and other algorithmic things will have their account flagged and be limited on what they can and can't see/do on the app and website.
Penguinz0 and a few others have already made videos talking about it and voicing some valid concerns, and admittedly, it's only through videos like this that I heard about it all.
I had no idea that the UK had even had that law passed, but now that I have, I also agree that it's fucked up.
The YouTube age detector AI is set to hit the US on August 13th, and though I myself am not an American citizen, I find this incredibly concerning. If this goes forward unencumbered, I'm sure it will come to my country next as well, so I do consider it my concern.
I looked it up, and apparently, it is somehow legal for YouTube to request your personal and sensitive information (like your ID or a selfie to help verify), though I don't believe it should be.
Regardless of my opinion, however, it's happening. starting on august 13th, American youtube accounts are going to start being monitored by a new experimental AI trying to find out how old the user is based on what they watch, explicitly ignoring whatever the accounts stated age is, and if its wrong, the only way to regain full access to your account is to fork over a piece of ID.
The excuse they are giving is that it's to "protect kids", but if they really cared about protecting children, they would have put effort into managing the adult content on their site with actual review and cleaned up their YouTube kids app so that THAT is actually appropriate for children instead of somehow worse(??)
I'd like to make it clear that I believe it is important to keep inappropriate content out of the hands of children. I myself saw damaging things way too young and suffered for it for a long, long time, and I have younger sisters whom I want to spare from that suffering and protect at all costs; however, this is not the way to do that.
Don't let them tell you otherwise; this is not about protecting kids. This isn't about protecting anything but their own self-interest. This is about censorship, monitoring and control. It's fascist, and we need to fight back. Fight the banks trying to tell you how to spend your money, fight the VPN's that have given in to government pressure to add backdoor spyware into their products, and fight any and every social media platform that wants to demand you hand over your personal information.
I want to draw attention to how this is not just about YouTube; this is about the internet as a whole. This is about all of our privacy. This is about control, surveillance, and suppression of a place they currently cannot control like they can in the real world. I don't care if you think porn is bad, or if you think no child under the age of 18 should be allowed a social media account, or if you think this post was too long and boring to read. Just look at what the UK is going through right now. Look at what is happening, and please try to understand how much worse this is going to make everything for everyone. Much of our lives are digitized now, and we cannot afford to let our freedoms be taken away here as well.
It starts with our games, our videos, our music, and that might not seem like that big of a deal, but what about when it's our schools, our jobs and our transportation? Computers are a part of everything at this point. The further we allow this to go, the more screwed we are. I don't trust them any further than they've earned, and they've earned nothing. And if you think I'm just being anxious and paranoid about all this, I hope you're right. I don't want to throw around words like "Fascist" and "Dystopian" around, but it really, really is.
"Rights aren't rights if they can be taken away. They're Privileges." -George Carlin.
We shouldn't have to fight for our privacy, but we do.
If you are in the UK, sign this petition to get the Online Safety Act revisited and hopefully rolled back.
If you are in Canada (like me), please check out this petition to stop Bill C-11, The Online Streaming Act.
And if you are American, please check out this petition on the Kids Online Safety Act.
Finally, there is this petition to stop YouTube's new rollout specifically.
Make sure to do your own research on everything, learn your country's rights because they probably aren't the same as America's, and never shut up about any of this.
Back to YouTube being fucking awful, let's try some alternate clients, shall we?
FreeTube is a feature-rich and user-friendly YouTube client with a focus on privacy.
ok, I know that was a lot. If I got anything wrong, please correct me, I just like a free internet. I love you, stay safe💕
For anybody looking to replace YouTube with a frontend (or switch from one frontend to another), here's a quick pretty long tutorial (with visuals)! ⬇️
If you're switching frontends or don't care about exporting your subscriptions, then you can skip to the Picking A Frontend section.
Leaving YouTube
Leaving YouTube behind sucks because you lose all your subscriptions. But it doesn't have to suck because there's a way to export those, actually!
Google Takeout is a service Google offers that allows you to export your data from their sites.
When you open the site, most things will be pre-checked. Hit the "Deselect all" button, as we only need stuff from YouTube. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, check YouTube, and then click the "All YouTube data included" button.
This will bring up a menu where you can select what exactly you want to download. You can hit the "Deselect all" button at the top of the menu, and then select only subscriptions.
Next, hit the "OK" button at the bottom of the menu, and then click "Next step".
This will bring you to the page where you choose how to receive the file, when/how often to export, the file format, and file size. The default options should work just fine, but you can pick another destination if it's more convenient (Email, Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive, etc.).
When you're done, click "Create export". Since the amount of data you're exporting is relatively small, it shouldn't take very long to receive the file. Once it arrives, download it to your device, and make note of where you saved it.
You will need to unzip the file once you've downloaded it to access the files inside. Use your file manager to unzip the folder and save it somewhere you'll be able to find it once we get to the Importing Your Data section.
Picking A Frontend
All YouTube frontends have their own pros and cons, so I'll list some of them here and you can decide what's best for your needs.
Desktop App Frontends
FreeTube
FreeTube is basically the best way to watch YouTube on any computer. It's available on Linux, Mac, and Windows. It's quite heavily customizable, and it's the only option I've listed (I believe) that has the option for parental controls and an optional password lock for the settings. It includes SponsorBlock. The feed reload times are pretty short, but the videos take a little longer to load than on some other frontends.
Browser Frontends
Invidious
Invidious currently has three public instances, but it can also be self-hosted (self-hosting is fairly resource intensive and complicated to set up). Each of the public instances are slightly different, so I'll give them their own sections. Instances and backends that are geographically closer to you tend to run better.
inv.nadeko.net — Nadeko is hosted in Chile. Accounts are supported.
yewtu.be — Yewtube is hosted in Germany. It does not allow users to make an account.
invidious.nerdvpn.de — NerdVPN is hosted in Ukraine. Accounts are supported.
The accounts you make on Nadeko and NerdVPN are different accounts and do not sync with each other. Invidious does NOT have SponsorBlock or Return YouTube Dislike. It has basically-instant feed reload times, but videos tend to take longer to load, and they might be at a lower quality and/or buffer frequently. You may also have to switch backends or instances while watching a video if you encounter an error.
Piped
I have not personally used Piped, but it seems fairly similar to Invidious. The main site is piped.video, but this instance is bugged and doesn't allow users to log in or register as of writing this. The only other instance currently up and running seems to be Private Coffee. I was able to register, however I'm getting a "sign in to confirm you're not a bot" error, so I don't know how well videos play. I also can't find an option for importing data. Piped includes SponsorBlock.
iOS Frontends
Unwatched
To be honest, I didn't know there were frontends available for iOS, but I heard this one being recommended, so I checked it out. Unwatched follows the same design structure that most iOS apps do, so it should be pretty intuitive to use if you're already familiar with iOS apps. The UI isn't very customizable, but the experience in general is. Unwatched is JUST a video player, though; you can't create playlists or read comments. The feed and videos load very quickly. Unwatched includes SponsorBlock.
Android Frontends
YouTube Revanced
YouTube Revanced is not actually a frontend, but I'm ignoring that for the sake of simplicity.
Revanced is the closest you'll get to the official YouTube app because it is the official YouTube app, just with fake Premium, SponsorBlock, and Return YouTube Dislike, as well as a lot of other QOL features that can be found in the settings. You can leave comments, post videos, scroll the Recommended/For You page, edit your channel, and everything syncs with the official YouTube app and site. You can probably get the age verification pop-up while using this app. This is NOT a good option if you're worried about privacy, as everything you do is still shared with Google.
Flow
Flow is a relatively new contender in the YouTube alternatives ring, and I'm checking it out specifically for this post. Its main perk is that it has its own algorithm that's kept local to your device, and you can see exactly why a video was recommended to you. You can alter what the algorithm shows you through Interests and Blocked Topics in the settings. The UI is very similar to the official YouTube app, but it's not as customizable as other options on this list. There are dedicated Shorts and Music tabs, and the UI for each stays very true to its official counterpart. Flow includes SponsorBlock and Return YouTube Dislike. Both feed and video load times are very quick.
LibreTube
LibreTube is another frontend I'm looking into just for this post. The UI is more similar to the official Youtube app than NewPipe and PipePipe, but it's not as close as Flow is. You can choose whether to fetch data directly from YouTube, or to use Piped to fetch data instead. LibreTube has an option to log into a Piped account, and this will allow you to sync your subscriptions and playlists to Piped. Includes SponsorBlock and Return YouTube Dislike. I did have to uninstall and reinstall it because it wouldn't show the newest videos from my subscriptions the first time.
NewPipe
NewPipe is probably the most basic frontend on this list. It does NOT have SponsorBlock or Return YouTube Dislike. It can theoretically act as a frontend for FramaTube/PeerTube, media.ccc.de, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp as well, but I haven't tested that out. Its a very solid frontend, though it is a bit slow to refresh.
PipePipe
PipePipe is a fork of NewPipe, and it has the features other fronends have that NewPipe lacks. It has SponsorBlock and Return YouTube Dislike. It can also be used as a frontend for BiliBili and NicoNico in addition to FramaTube/PeerTube, media.ccc.de, SoundCloud, and Bandcamp. It's faster to refresh than NewPipe is, as well. This is the frontend I personally use on my phone.
Importing Your Data
Importing subscriptions and playlists from YouTube to a frontend or from one frontend to another can be a... frankly shitty process. I'm here to make that shitty process as easy as possible.
Importing to FreeTube
Open Settings, click or scroll down to Data, hit Import Subscriptions and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to Invidious
Nadeko:
NerdVPN:
You must be signed in to import your data! Click the gear icon in the top right, scroll to the bottom of the settings page, click "Import/export data", click the "Browse..." button next to the "Import YouTube CSV or OPML subscriptions" option, and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to Piped
Piped doesn't seem to have a way to import data at this time.
Importing to Unwatched
On the Queue page, tap the meatballs menu, then "Import YouTube Subscriptions", then hit "Select File" on the pop-up that appears and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout. You will also be able to select exactly which subscriptions you want to import.
Importing to YouTube Revanced
There's no need to import data to Revanced as you will be able to connect your Google account and retain all your data as-is.
Importing to Flow
Tap the gear icon in the top right to open Settings, scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit "Import Data", then hit "Import from YouTube" and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to LibreTube
Open the kebab menu in the top right, open "Settings", hit "Backup and restore", then "Import subscriptions" and "YouTube (CSV)", and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to NewPipe
On the Subscriptions page, open the kebab menu in the top right, hit "Import from", then "YouTube", then tap the "IMPORT FILE" button at the bottom of the page and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Importing to PipePipe
On the Subscriptions page, open the dropdown menu in the top right, hit "YouTube" from the "Import from" list, tap the "IMPORT FILE" button at the bottom of the page and find the "subscriptions.csv" file from the Google Takeout.
Closing Thoughts
After your data is imported to your frontend of choice, you're done! Feel free to comment on this post or DM me if you run into any issues, or if I've made a mistake in this post. Thanks for reading!
Do you know if watching through a proxy - ie FreeTube - registers as youtube activity?
Short answer, yes.
But somewhat less than watching directly. It is still best to eliminate YT entirely, including via proxies/front-ends, but reducing your traffic is SIGNIFICANTLY better than doing nothing. Do the best you can. This is a collective effort. 100 people reducing their YT traffic by 75% for a month is WAY better than 100 people completely eliminating their YT traffic for a day and giving up.
I know some of you crave The Algorithm but if we could just download freetube and keep up with the channels we like there untill YouTube rolls back it’s shitty ai verification thing that’d be so tubular and sexy of you
If freetube still gives YouTube traffic lmk and provide alternative I’m just trying to do my best with wgat I know
Boycotting YouTube has simultaneously gotten easier and harder since my proxy (FreeTube) has been having issues every time I try to load a video today.
