YouTube, the 13-year-old video sharing website has become so popular that current statistics indicate that it is the number one source for videos ranging from hilarious cat videos to movies to tutorials to news channels, and many more.
YouTube is available worldwide and anyone anywhere can access a video you have shared. However, some YouTubers (people running YouTube accounts) prefer limiting access to their content to people from only specific countries or regions. Such content, if accessed by someone outside the region or country, an error message appears that lets the user know that they are not allowed access to the content. This irritating message “The uploader has not made this video available in your country” can be bypassed and here’s how:
Bypassing YouTube censoring
The first most effective way of bypassing this blocked access is through the use of a VPN. Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) are applications which when installed allow you to choose a different server to connect to and encrypt your data. These then assign your device an address from that specific country whose access is not restricted. This gets you to access to YouTube content since the website or application will consider you as a user from a different country than that you are actually in.
Once you have the VPN downloaded and installed, go ahead and launch it so it can assign your device a new address. Once a new address is registered, you can go ahead and launch the YouTube application or website and you will be free to watch any content assuming the country you are using has no one restricting it. The video should be able to load without error messages popping up. However, some VPNs can be slow.
A user will have to look out for one that offers good speed. Sometimes a pro (usually paid) version of a VPN will be faster and has more features that can be of great importance.
Should the VPN be complex for you, the second alternative you could go for is by using a proxy. A proxy works like a VPN and masks your device’s address but is always less secure and doesn’t encrypt your traffic.
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A proxy can easily be discovered and blocked by a service provider as opposed to VPNs which are hard to trace. Proxy configuration is quite similar to VPNs but requires you to select a server through a web browser extension and access is provided there and then.
Any user who finds both the above options difficult to use can easily access YouTube videos with restrictions by simply downloading them first. Once a video is downloaded, no number of blockages or restrictions can prevent you from watching it. YouTube videos can be downloaded through third party websites where you have to copy and paste the video URLs into the websites that generate for you a download link. Examples of such third-party websites include https://en.savefrom.net
However, YouTube content is subjected to privacy policies and shouldn’t be downloaded. Always endeavor to ask for permission from the YouTubers that post their videos so they can send them to you. People choose to restrict or block access because of their reasons and these decisions should always be respected.
Related:
YouTube moves to crack down on fake news
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