YouTube starts cancelling premium subscriptions purchased using VPN: Report

Reportedly, YouTube is cancelling premium subscriptions if the users' location does not match the signup country

YouTube is cancelling premium subscription of those accounts where the country of signup does not match the users’ location. If the user has purchased a YouTube premium subscription using a virtual private network (VPN) to set the country where it is cheaper, then the user could possibly lose the subscription, reported The Verge.

According to the report, many users have reportedly found their subscription to be automatically cancelled. Reportedly, YouTube is also sending emails to users about the cancellation of YouTube Premium at dates specified by the company. When the user restarts the membership, YouTube asks for a card with the address of the current residence of the user.

Google-owned video streaming platform YouTube’s Premium prices are decided on the basis of purchasing power and consumer expectations, which results in varying prices across the world. Users have utilised this difference in prices to subscribe from a location where the premium subscription is offered at lower prices. After subscribing via this method, the Premium service does not require VPN.

YouTube spokesperson Paul Pennington told American technology news website The Verge that the company has systems in place to determine the location of users. YouTube is asking users to change the subscription billing information to their current location and subscribe from payment methods of their countries so that pricing could also be charged according to the region.

In order to encourage more users to buy Premium subscription, YouTube has been cracking down on users who find a loophole in their system and use spoofing tactics. Few days ago, YouTube users also started facing buffering issues and seeing an error when using a third party ad blocker. YouTube has said that using ad blockers is a breach of its Terms of Service.