How can you watch any YouTube video regardless of what country you’re in? Read on to find out.
In a dispute over licensing on the platform, YouTube disabled thousands of videos in Finland earlier this morning. A major performance rights organization in the country had called out the platform just two months prior. The move came just days before the country is set to celebrate its 100th year of independence. The blocked videos in question, including the country’s national anthem, remain readily available in other countries.
So, if you live in Finland, you can still access the geo-blocked YouTube videos geo-blocked using a VPN. But one developer has a simpler idea.
Getting around YouTube’s geographic restrictions.
Sometimes, when traveling outside of the United States, you’ll find yourself in the mood to watch some funny videos. More often than not, however, you’ll find a message telling you that you can’t watch the video.
“The uploader has not made this video available in your country. Sorry about that.”
So, what do you do? Simple. If you happen to use Chrome, you can download and install “F*ck YouTube.”
According to the developer, the Chrome extension lets you watch blocked YouTube videos at anytime.
Previously, you could download “F*ck YouTube” on the Chrome Web Store. All you would have to do is add it to your Chrome browser, head to YouTube, and start enjoying any video. However, prior to this article’s publication, Google has pulled the app.
So, how can you install it now? Simple.
First, you’ll have to head to the developer’s GitHub page here. Then, simply click on “Clone or Download” and select “Download Zip.” Compressed, the current extension weighs 41.1MB, so make sure to download this at your home or work computer. (You won’t find the asterisk bleeped out in the file, so if you’re at work, make sure that your employers don’t track what you’ve downloaded.)
Here’s where things get tricky. After downloading the zipped file, you’ll have to unzip it, preferably in your ‘Downloads’ folder. Then, you’ll have to look for the “releases” subfolder. There, you’ll find another compressed file titled “release_0.0.0.3.” Unzip that file to a safe location.
Now, once you’ve unzipped “release_0.0.0.3,” head to chrome://extensions on your Chrome browser. Then, click on “Load Unpacked Extensions.” Navigate to your unzipped “release_0.0.0.3” and select it. You’ll now see “F*ck YouTube” added to your Chrome browser.
Finally, head to YouTube and enjoy watching your videos.
Featured image by AlessandroFC15
I release and/or allow the relaese of my (music)videos only in those countries in which youtube has an agreement with PRO’s and Mechanical Rights Organisations , to make sure that I get paid royalties as a composer thru my PRO, and BLOCK the release of my videos in those countries/territories where YOUTUBE has no agreement with any PRO . ( Sarcasm ON … ) ” So, thanks for posting your little guide to overcome the Geo-block system ” ( … Sarcasm OFF ).
I think the point of the article was to show how flimsy those geo restrictions actually are. YouTube is claiming these restrictions work. They don’t.
Uh…nice try. Almost half the article is a step by step how-to to install this…
This is very cool extension. And thank you for sharing this, i will try it. Until now I used VPN and it also served me well. I use good VPN which bypass all geo restrictions and I want to thank VPNMentor which have thousands of VPN user reviews, that help me find this VPN.
Geo restrictions…. lol !
Geo blocking …….lol !
Why are you showing people how to bypass this?
For anyone who comes across this page, it’s a lot easier to download than the author made it seem.
Go to the github page, then in the file listing, click on “releases”, then “0.0.0.5” then “release_0.0.0.5.crx”.
Then click on the “Download” button. Only 30kb rather than downloading the full repository.