Are you tired of trying to watch a YouTube video on your computer or mobile device, only to have it blocked by a warning saying “This content is not available in your country”?
It’s frustrating and annoying! The good news is that there are a few different ways to get around this restriction. In this article, we will cover different methods for unhiding videos on your computer or mobile device.
What is a geo-block and how does it work?
A geo-block is a type of digital rights management (DRM) that prevents content from being accessed outside of its intended region.
A video can be geo-blocked for many reasons, but the most common is to control intellectual property and prevent piracy. Content providers use geographic coordinates – such as longitude or latitude – to determine where it should be available. These blocks are called geo-blocks because they limit access based on location in the world.
Geo-blocks work by checking your IP address when you log into YouTube’s website and preventing playback if it detects that you’re not located within their targeted territory; this includes any device connected to Wi-Fi networks provided by an ISP located outside that territory or VPNs that can spoof your location.
Geo-blocks are typically set by the content’s producer, which means they’re usually region-specific and vary depending on what you’re watching: a video about Japanese culture may be available to watch in Japan but not in America, for example.
The geo-block is often based on IP address – meaning that if we want to block YouTube videos from being played outside of their intended territory (even when using VPNs), then all we need to do is use an IP address belonging only within our targeted country or area.
How to unhide YouTube videos on your computer?
If you want to unhide YouTube videos on a desktop computer, here are the steps:
- Open the Google Chrome browser and go to your URL bar at top of the page. Type “chrome://flags” without quotes into the search engine box in the address bar
- Scroll down through all options until you find “Enable geolocation bypass for local networks” (if it is not there then we must uninstall/reinstall Google Chrome) – Click Enable button next to that option with a green checkmark above it which will be located under Location section in the flags menu list
- Restart Google Chrome by closing the window completely or going back one step from where we were before clicking on this flag and selecting Relaunch Now
- Next time we go to the YouTube app and log in, videos will be visible from any country or region
How to unhide YouTube videos on your mobile device?
If you want to unhide YouTube videos on a mobile device, here are the steps:
- Open the Google Chrome browser and go to your URL bar at top of the page. Type “chrome://flags” without quotes into the search engine box in the address bar
- Scroll down through all options until you find “Enable geolocation bypass for local networks” (if it is not there then we must uninstall/reinstall Google Chrome) – Click Enable button next to that option with a green checkmark above it which will be located under Location section in the flags menu list
- Close Google Chrome by going back one step from where we were before clicking on this flag or selecting Relaunch Now
- Next time we open the YouTube app, videos will be visible from any country or region
Why do you need an app or extension to watch blocked content on YouTube?
There are many reasons why you might need to watch blocked content on YouTube, such as when the video is a part of course requirements for school.
If you’re using an app or extension to get around restrictions, this software mustn’t track your activity and sell your data to other companies.
For example: if we use the Chrome browser like mentioned above where there is no specific setting made just for “YouTube”, then every time we log in and navigate through some videos which may be geo-blocked outside our targeted region (i.e., China), Google will know that we have been looking up these restricted videos even though they were not available from their country/region site – so any information given about us would be vulnerable to data thieves.
Is watching blocked content in any way illegal or unethical?
No, it is not illegal. In fact, many people use this technique to watch videos that they cannot access because of their location. However, you should be aware that some sites may have regional restrictions and the content may only be viewable in certain regions or countries where the video was uploaded from.
This can sometimes make viewing blocked content unethical if we find these restricted videos using a different country’s URL which doesn’t allow for such geo-restrictions. It could also lead to other ethical concerns like copyright infringement as well so please exercise caution when visiting any site with restrictive content offerings
We apologize for this inconvenience but unfortunately, your account does not meet our geographic requirements at this moment. We hope that someday soon YouTube will be available to you again.
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