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Google is taking a tough stance on YouTube viewers who use the best VPN deals to subscribe to cheap YouTube Premium in other countries. The Californian company has confirmed that it is pursuing subscribers whose current location does not match the sign-up country listed in the system.
If an discrepancy is noticed, Google will ask users to update their billing information.
Furious YouTube Premium subscribers flooded Reddit to complain that their subscriptions were canceled after Google detected VPN activity to purchase an affordable subscription outside their region.
“Looks like they’ve been pressuring people who use VPNs to subscribe,” says one user on the social news website moaned. “My premium YouTube subscription through Ukraine has been canceled. I tried to renew using the same Revolut payment card I always use, and now it asks for a card with an address in the country of the subscription.”
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Another added: “Same thing happened here. Message on homepage saying my previous country was incorrect (Turkey)”
VPNs are often used to protect your privacy by encrypting your online activities and hiding your IP address, keeping your location hidden from your broadband provider, advertisers, and hackers. Once the domain of business users, VPNs are now a regular security measure for millions of people around the world.
These handy apps can also be used to manually change your IP address to spoof your current location. This has applications for online gaming, Call of Duty Warzone VPNs remains incredibly popular, but also means you can unlock cheaper plans and prices only available in other countries.
Google – like most companies – changes its subscription prices in different regions. People used a VPN to change their IP address to a location where YouTube Premium was cheaper.
YouTube Premium costs 99 UAH in Ukraine, which converts to approximately £1.94. That same subscription – with all the same benefits – costs £12.99 in the UK.
In a statement to TechCruncha Google spokesperson confirmed the crackdown: “To provide the most accurate plans and offers available, we have implemented systems to determine the country of our users. In cases where the sign-in country does not match the country where the user is accessing has turned to YouTube, asking members to update their billing information to their current country of residence.”
The spokesperson declined to press whether it had canceled subscriptions purchased through VPNs.
However, a customer service representative who works for Google attached to PC Mag that YouTube has “initiated the cancellation of premium memberships for accounts found to have falsified login country information.”
The support agent said the wave of cancellations had started “recently” but did not confirm the exact date the crackdown began. The customer service representative added: “For violating YouTube’s paid terms of service, these users will receive an email and an in-app notification informing them of the cancellation.”
YouTube Premium includes all the benefits of YouTube Music, £10.99 per month, as well as ad-free viewing on all YouTube videos, the ability to download videos for offline viewing, and more
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Last summer, Google increased prices for YouTube Premium subscribers in Britain, increasing the monthly subscription from £11.99 to £12.99 for all new customers. At the beginning of this year, the same price increase was also applied to existing subscribers.
The Family plan, which allows up to six people to listen on their own devices, has risen from £17.99 to £19.99 in the UK. That is a price increase of 11%.
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YouTube Premium offers several benefits, including ad-free videos on YouTube.
It also lets you download videos to watch offline, and lets you play videos in the background while using other apps. The same monthly subscription also includes access to YouTube Music Premium, which is a rival such as Spotify, Apple musicAnd Deezer.
In addition to offline playback and curated playlists, YouTube Music Premium also bundles music videos.