How to Block Videos on YouTube

With over 2 billion monthly logged-in users, YouTube delivers enormous power to view content spanning harmless cat clips to more questionable fare. This guide details multiple techniques to block videos based on your preferences – from restricting channels showing up in recommendations to sheltering children‘s browsing.

As Spiderman’s uncle memorably said, with great power comes great responsibility. We’ll explore responsible ways to curate your YouTube experience avoid spoilers, distractions and inappropriate media.

Why Block Videos on YouTube?

You may wish to block certain videos for reasons like:

• Avoiding plot spoilers for movies or shows you plan to watch later
• Increasing productivity by limiting procrastination-fueling content
• Shielding children from adult content and comments
• Skipping videos from channels you find annoying or untrustworthy
• Preventing recommendations likely to skew negative due to outrage-inducing topics

Personalized blocking allows consciously limiting your information intake. However, beware risks of over-filtering into echo chambers or missing reasonable commentary.

Now let’s explore available blocking methods, from quick browser tools to systemwide configurations. We’ll rate effectiveness and ease-of-use to determine an overall recommended approach.

YouTube’s Restricted Mode – The Baseline Filter

Restricted Mode offers a baseline defense, using automated evaluations, community flagging and human reviewers to detect violence, sexual content, profanity, and related categories.

Enabling Restricted Mode

Available on all platforms, this mode filters searches, recommendations and channels’ video content itself:

Desktop:
Click account profile pic > Settings > Restricted Mode > Toggle ON

Mobile app:
Tap account icon > Settings > Restricted Mode> Toggle ON

Once enabled, note the shield icon signifying filtering is active:

Restricted Mode hides inappropriate videos and thumbnails site-wide based on YouTube’s guidelines – except on consenting accounts with verification checks. Content decisions aim towards global norms though remain America-centric.

Limitations of Restricted Mode

This imperfect first line of defense comes with notable restrictions around:

• Inconsistent filtering: Questionable videos may slip through while benign videos get blocked incorrectly
• Personalization: Other users won’t have Restricted Mode enabled unless they activate it themselves
• Bias: Factors like LGBTQ status and cultural biases may shape filtering
• Evasion: Channels could titillatingly toe up to the line of explicit content without crossing it

Due to these limitations, complement Restricted Mode with additional blocking methods for fuller control. Think layers of Swiss cheese stacked together – each has holes but overlapped they more fully block unwanted content.

The Stats on Restricted Mode

How effective is baseline filtering? YouTube disclosed instructive statistics around usage and speed addressing flagged content:

• Over 1.5 billion logged-in users have access to Restricted Mode, with usage varying by country and likelihood of blocking
• In 2022, over 11 million videos got restricted, a 50% jump from 2021
• YouTube removes over 80% of flagged adult content within 8 hours, and over 70% of violent extremist content within 6 hours

So while helpful, even responsive filtering mechanisms fail to capture disturbing media quickly enough. Hence why layered defenses work best.

Blocking Individual Videos

Beyond baseline filtering, you can block individual videos directly:

Desktop

Right click video > Block video > Confirm

Mobile App

Tap ⋮ by the title > Block video > Confirm

This removes that video from future suggestions and search results. Manually block videos containing spoilers, nudity, misinformation, or other unwanted content.

While easy, this method only blocks on your account rather than systemwide. It also fails to limit an undesirable channel’s other videos. Still, it provides surgical precision for striking select items.

Browser Extensions for Blocking Channels and Keywords

For less tedious blocking, browser extensions help automate the process including channel-wide and keyword-based restrictions.

We’ll focus on Video Blocker with similar options emerging like ViewBlock and Channel Blocker.

Installing Video Blocker

Download Video Blocker for your desktop browser:

• Chrome: Install for Chrome
• Firefox: Install for Firefox
• Edge & Opera: Install Chrome version

Once added, the toolbar icon allows managing blocked videos and channels.

Blocking Videos & Channels

Video Blocker enables quick blocking by:

• Right-clicking any video or channel name
• Choosing “Block videos from this channel”
• Adding channel to your blocklist

This hides all future videos from that channel across YouTube.

Bulk block channels via the Video Blocker control panel, uploading channel names or CSVs for entire niches like “Flat Earth Theory,” “UFO Conspiracies” and “Mandela Effect Supercuts.”

The plugin even adds a dashboard showing statistics on videos and channels blocked:

Blocking Keywords

Complement channel blocking by preventing videos matching certain keywords. Setup filters so videos titled “Major Movie Spoilers” or “Shocking Series Finale” never appear.

From Video Blocker’s menu, choose:

• Keyword Matches Video Title / Description / Captions
• Enter blocked keywords like “spoilers”, “leaked footage”, etc.
• Save rules and keywords get blocked automatically

This significantly cuts down on surprise spoilers. Customize filters for interests from cult sci-fi shows to upcoming cinematic universe titles.

For even broader restrictions, some users block keyword categories wholesale like “politics,” “social issues,” or “pop music” during periods wanting less engagement with current events.

What About Comment Blocking?

Video Blocker focuses on blocking videos rather than comments. For the latter, browser extensions like Hide YouTube Comments allow disabling comments entirely or filtering comments using keyword lists similar to video blocking tools.

Now let’s estimate comparative blocking effectiveness for the tools above:

So browser extensions provide the best blend of ease-of-use, customizability and blocking precision.

App and Device-Level Blocking

Beyond browser-based blocking, device-level restrictions offer another layer by preventing unwanted videos from displaying at all.

Network-level filtering via router settings and DNS blocking provide extreme lockdown by blacklisting entire sites and services. But due to the likelihood of over-restricting reasonable content, focus on app-centric options.

YouTube Kids Parental Controls

The YouTube Kids app allows guardians to customize viewing for children’s accounts by:

• Blacklisting videos & channels from appearing
• Whitelisting only trusted channels viewable
• Blocking search to only show recommended videos

This provides peace-of-mind around limiting accessible content. Ensure you set viewer age appropriately for serving videos matching children’s developmental stages.

Downsides include needing to set up a dedicated Kids account and losing access to potentially constructive content. Evaluate appropriateness for your household.

Parental Control Apps

Third-party apps like Qustodio, Bark and Mobicip let you define rules around YouTube use on children’s devices including:

• Blocking channels or keywords
• Limiting total viewing time per day
• Enabling SafeSearch filtering of results
• Monitoring inappropriate words detection

These provide oversight for households leery of granting children unfettered YouTube access given monetization pressures and recommender algorithms driving extreme content.

Smart TV Platform Restrictions

Block video suggestions on television by restricting YouTube itself or categories promoting concerning bingeing and radicalization risks:

YouTube App Blocking

Platforms like Android TV allow limiting installed apps and disabling YouTube entirely. However this heavy-handed nuclear option prevents reasonable use.

Restricting Genres

Platforms like LG Channel Plus let adults pinpoint categories like Politics, Violence or Horror blocking them across services like YouTube. Tailor to your comfort levels.

Weigh the need for each layer of blocking against likelihood of over-restricting. Find the right balance through testing configurations.

Unblocking and Appealing Videos

If you go overboard limiting reasonable content, reverse previous blocks by:

Unblocking Videos

Account > Settings > Blocked Videos > Unblock

Unblocking Channels

Account > Settings > Blocked Channels> Unblock

This opens access previously denied.

You can also appeal videos getting filtered incorrectly by Restricted Mode and other mechanisms via YouTube Studio Content settings. Explain why you believe the content deserves restoring for users.

The Future of Content Control

YouTube continually invests in improving filtering processes to balance open access with addressing harm.

Recent and upcoming changes include:

• Expanding warning interstitials cautioning viewers before showing potentially offensive videos from sensitive categories like tragedies
• Compressing borderline content to lessen impacts should it play before viewers toggle it off while aiming to avoid outright censorship
• Developing accountability systems allowing tracking each content removal or appeal to ensure fairness
• Moving away from simply deleting content towards limiting views and recommendations of borderline videos
• Exploring product tweaks previewing video captions before playing potentially-insensitive footage

No approach works perfectly in isolation. Instead evaluate an overlapping mosaic of blocking techniques based on your priorities.

Think multidimensional content filtering reducing impressions of unwanted videos from various angles – across apps, devices and services.

Stay vigilant, assess each method’s precision and don’t over-filter to remain open to reasonable counter-perspectives. Keep calibrating and exploring new mechanisms as the media landscape evolves.

Now enjoy YouTube while consciously limiting channels and keywords counter to your viewing intents. Curate your feed mixing automated filtering with surgical video blocking strikes!