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Severity
40 / 100▲2
ACUTEpeak 43ranked #27 of 42people’s rank #40 · preview
Case 027 · Video · Admitted 2020
The Enshittification of YouTube
The Enshittification of YouTubeFrom 2020 onward, YouTube removed community features, extended advertising to videos from creators who receive no revenue share, and introduced longer unskippable ad formats on TVs. It then moved against ad blockers globally while repeatedly raising YouTube Premium subscription prices and discontinuing its cheaper Premium Lite tier in its original markets.
First symptom
Jul 2020
Symptoms on file
7
Categories
3
Prognosis
Acute
3 pricing · 3 ads · 1 features
Alternatives
The Paper Trail
| Date | Category | Symptom · rating · source |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-07 | features | YouTube ends community captions featureYouTube announced it would remove community contributions, which let viewers submit captions and subtitles for videos, effective September 28, 2020, citing low usage and spam. Deaf and hard-of-hearing creators and viewers criticized the removal as harming accessibility.↳ 9to5Google |
| 2020-11 | ads | YouTube runs ads on non-partner channels unpaidYouTube updated its terms of service to assert a 'right to monetize' all content, allowing it to place ads on videos from channels outside the YouTube Partner Program without sharing revenue with those creators.↳ CNBC |
| 2023-05 | ads | YouTube brings 30-second unskippable ads to TVsAt its Brandcast upfront event, YouTube announced 30-second unskippable ads for its connected TV app, replacing two consecutive 15-second ads, and introduced ads that display when video is paused.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2023-07 | pricing | YouTube Premium price rises to $13.99YouTube raised the U.S. price of its individual Premium plan from $11.99 to $13.99 per month and the annual plan to $139.99, while YouTube Music Premium rose from $9.99 to $10.99 per month. The change applied to both new and existing subscribers.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2023-09 | pricing | YouTube discontinues cheaper Premium Lite planYouTube began shutting down Premium Lite, a roughly €6.99-per-month ad-free tier available in several European countries, directing subscribers toward the more expensive full Premium plan after October 25, 2023.↳ 9to5Google |
| 2023-11 | ads | YouTube expands ad-blocker crackdown globallyYouTube confirmed it had launched a global effort against ad blockers, blocking video playback for users with ad blockers enabled unless they disabled the blocker or subscribed to YouTube Premium. The move followed a smaller experiment that began earlier in 2023.↳ TechCrunch |
| 2026-04 | pricing | YouTube Premium price rises again to $16YouTube raised U.S. prices for Premium and Music subscriptions, with the individual Premium plan increasing from $13.99 to $15.99 per month, its first U.S. increase since 2023.↳ TechCrunch |
The Wall
- No complaints on file yet. Be the first to vent.
<a href="https://enshittification.xyz/youtube"><img src="https://enshittification.xyz/badge/youtube.svg" alt="YouTube on the Enshittification Index"></a>The Enshittification Index · 42 case files · no source, no entry · updated Jun 2026
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