All free accounts and unregistered viewers can only view the first 15 minutes of a video before it abruptly ends with a message to get a Premium account if they want to see the rest of it. However, this doesn't apply to official videos that are purchased.
Free accounts can also only view videos in up to 480p quality, with the higher options locked behind the Premium paywall.
The above also applies to free accounts' own uploads.
Despite the above, videos can still have ads in them in arbitrary places.
The site now has a very stubborn anti-adblocking script that prevents any video from being played if it detects that the system is using an adblocker. In extreme cases, it can even lead to the account associated with the IP address of the system being banned.
How quickly could a competitor rise up to combat the YouTube giant?
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I often wonder if we are growing as a people... or in fact, regressing.