YouTube

Free Ad Blocker for iPhone, Android, and Desktop Uses DNS Parsing Without Libraries and Skips YouTube Influencer Ads From the First Second

A new free ad-blocking solution has been released for iPhone, Android, and desktop platforms. The tool relies on a lightweight DNS parser that operates without external libraries. It includes a dedicated mode for users who already run VPN connections. An accompanying browser extension automatically skips sponsored segments in YouTube videos, even when the advertisement begins at the zero-second mark. The developer describes the technical challenges encountered after launch and the fixes applied to maintain compatibility across operating systems. The project emphasizes user privacy by avoiding unnecessary data collection and third-party dependencies.

How Social Media Recommendation Algorithms Shape Content, Behavior, and Regulation Worldwide

Social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube rely on sophisticated recommendation systems that analyze user behavior to predict engagement rather than simply ordering posts chronologically. These algorithms form candidate sets and rank content using signals including watch time, likes, comments, and device data, creating personalized feeds that can diverge significantly between users. Research shows mixed effects on political views and mental health, with personalization capable of both amplifying polarization and reducing it depending on optimization goals. Regulatory responses vary: China mandates transparency and youth mode limits on Douyin, the EU's Digital Services Act requires non-profiled alternatives for large platforms, and Russia enforces disclosure rules under Federal Law No. 408-FZ since 2023. Practical steps allow users to reset recommendations and provide negative feedback to retrain feeds. The article debunks myths of dopamine addiction and inevitable radicalization while highlighting both risks and benefits of algorithmic curation.

Russian TSPU Systems Redirect DNS Queries to Google and Cloudflare Servers Toward National Domain Name System

Since the evening of August 26, Russian technical means of countering threats (TSPU) began intercepting open DNS queries sent to Google and Cloudflare public resolvers. For domains such as YouTube and RuTracker, UDP-based queries received NXDOMAIN responses while TCP queries successfully reached the original servers and returned valid IP addresses. Analysis with low TTL packets revealed that responses originated from IP address 195.208.5.1 belonging to the National System of Domain Names (NSDI). The mechanism performs targeted DNAT on recognized DNS traffic, making the query appear directed to NSDI rather than the foreign resolver. The redirection is imperfect, allowing subsequent identical queries sent in quick succession to bypass the system and reach Google. The findings come from experiments conducted by Habr user angry_agent and have not yet received official confirmation from Russian authorities.

Hacker Leaks Suno Source Code Exposing Massive Scraping of 2 Million YouTube Music Tracks and Customer Data Breach

A hacker known as ellie.191 has leaked the internal source code of Suno, one of the largest AI music generation services, to 404 Media, revealing extensive unauthorized scraping of copyrighted material from YouTube Music, Deezer, Genius, and other platforms. The leaked files, believed to date from 2023 and 2024, detail how Suno collected over 2 million music tracks and hundreds of thousands of hours of audio, including 152,000 hours from YouTube Music alone, along with 420,000 podcasts totaling nearly 1 million hours. Additional datasets came from Pond5, Jamendo, Freesound, MuseScore, and other libraries, with the company using Bright Data proxies to bypass restrictions and tools to isolate vocals from instrumental tracks. The breach also exposed hundreds of thousands of customer records, including emails, phone numbers, and partial Stripe payment data, which multiple users have already confirmed as accurate. Suno claims the incident was limited, occurred in November 2025, and involved only outdated code, while denying any leak of sensitive payment information. The hacker gained access via an employee account compromised by the Shai-Hulud worm, which stole GitHub and cloud credentials, and stated the attack was driven purely by curiosity rather than a specific motive. This disclosure lends support to ongoing lawsuits from the Recording Industry Association of America alleging direct copyright infringement by Suno.