YouTube cracks down on VPN users, starts canceling subscriptions: report
YouTube is now cracking down on users who use virtual private networks (VPNs) to get a cheaper premium subscription, according to claims made by users on social media. In recent months, the video streaming service has been heavily focused on tackling the problem of third-party ad blockers that violate its terms of service. However, it now appears to have shifted its attention to another revenue source: YouTube Premium subscriptions.
Crackdown on VPN users
In a after Titled “Automatic YouTube Premium Cancellation?” on the YouTube subreddit, user @Alopez1024 shared a screenshot of a purported email from the video streaming service regarding the cancellation of the premium subscription. The email informed the user of the loss of YouTube Premium benefits while also guiding them through the process of getting it back.
In the comments, several users pointed out that this can happen to people who use a VPN to get a cheaper subscription. Notably, YouTube Premium, like many other subscription services, does not have the same price everywhere. For instance, it starts at $13.99 (roughly Rs. 1,170) per month in the US for the individual plan. On the other hand, the same plan costs Rs. 129 per month in India, which is almost 10 percent of the price in the US.
Due to this disparity, some users may have navigated to the YouTube website via VPN in regions where the premium subscription is cheaper, in order to get it. This is exactly the problem that YouTube is reportedly addressing with its latest move.
YouTube response
In a conversation According to TechCrunch, a YouTube spokesperson said: “To provide the most accurate plans and offers, we have systems in place to determine the country of our users. In cases where the registration country does not match where the user accesses YouTube, we ask members to update their billing information to their current country of residence.”
Streaming services have been seeing frequent price hikes lately. Spotify Premium recently saw its price increase for the second time in 12 months. YouTube Premium subscription prices have also been hiked to $13.99 per month from $11.99 (roughly Rs. 1,000) in July 2023.
