Now even users who try to circumvent the law to sign up for YouTube through a VPN will be “touched”, and even have their accounts canceled.
In a new move, YouTube has once again shown how it is trying to squeeze out revenue from internet users. Live video platform The giant said it is sweeping Premium subscribers (paid subscribers) who use VPNs to buy cheap plans from other countries. other families.
In the past week, some Reddit users said they were very confused and disappointed when their YouTube Premium plan was suddenly suspended because of the previous they used a VPN to buy this plan through another country in the world.
While VPNs are often used to protect privacy and prevent cyberattacks, the tool also allows people to parachute hiding IP addresses and spoofing geolocations. This gives users the opportunity to access the Premium plan at a significantly lower price than their country of residence. For example, in some regions, the subscription price can be up to 90% cheaper than the price in the US.
For example, in the US, a YouTube Premium subscription costs $13.99 per user, while if you use a VPN to switch to Ukraine to buy, users may only have to pay about $2.50 for the equivalent plan. However, users will have to use international payment cards to make this transaction.
The company also confirmed to TechCrunch that it can detect a subscriber spoofing the country of registration and that the system will alert the personupdate their payment information.
A YouTube spokesperson affirmed: “To ensure the most accurate packages and offers, we have a country identification system in place a user. When we detect a mismatch between the country of registration and the place of access, we ask members to update their payment information by country of residence residing at present.”
A notification from YouTube shows that a user’s account was canceled for suspected VPN purchases for a lower fee.
In addition, a Google agent told PCMag that YouTube has “started canceling subscriptions for accounts identified as having fake national registration information. The representative also said that the wave of account cancellations has started recently and that users who violate the rules will receive email and in-app notification that their plan has been canceled. However, YouTube denies this.
This campaign takes place a year after YouTube increased the price of the Premium plan in the US from 12 to 14 USD/month for individuals. Currently, the Family plan costs $22.99/month, which includes features such as ad-free playback, YouTube Music, background and offline playback for up to 6 fishermen to use. Although Google has not made an official statement, this move is seen as an effort by the company to close loopholes in the company price.
With the current situation, YouTube Premium users are faced with a difficult choice: either accept a higher price in their country of residence, or face the risk of losing access to the premium service they are already familiar with. This move by YouTube does not only affect theuser experience, but also raises questions about fairness in the pricing of services on global digital platforms.