How to Watch YouTube if You Can’t Access it

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Are you one of the millions of people that are having trouble accessing certain digital streaming content that is really important to you? This could be several things, as copyright restrictions and censorship tend to throw a cog in the number of digital entertainment needs of millions of citizens in several countries worldwide. 

Could this be YouTube content in your case? Well, in that case, we are going to take a moment and help you out with what is actually a pretty big issue for most. You need that all-important entertainment at your fingertips, so you should know that to access YouTube with a VPN is your solution. This is the only way you are going to unblock any copyright or geographical limitations pertaining to YouTube content, and it is the safest and easiest way to do it.

What Are Copyright and Censorship Restrictions?

This is a difficult issue that millions of people around the world face. Several countries are explicitly known to severely limit certain activity and certain platforms/websites on the internet. This can range from social media to digital streaming portals like YouTube. This has always been a matter of politics and how certain countries fare on free speech and the stance towards Western media. There is a list of heavily regulated countries in that regard, but the entire issue is certainly not limited to just these countries; North Korea and China, Iran, certain areas in the Arab peninsula, Turkey, Belarus, Thailand, Turkey, and more. 

As far as the areas where YouTube is explicitly unavailable as of 2022, these are countries such as; China (not including Hong Kong and Macau), South Sudan, North Korea, Eritrea, and Iran. YouTube was formerly blocked in several countries that have since lifted the ban, such as; the UAE, Turkey, Brazil, Venezuela, and even Germany. After all, YouTube is the biggest digital streaming platform out there with hundreds of millions of videos, which means that it is a bastion of unfiltered content.

Not only might you have issues with YouTube because you are in a restricted regime, but this also may be the network settings at your work or school, broadcasting rights reasons, the uploader’s custom settings, and more.

If you are met with a “This video is not available in your country” message followed by a “Sorry about that” text, then you have the issue we are talking about. 

What is a Virtual Private Network?

Thankfully there is a solution that allows you to view YouTube no matter what the reasons are for it being restricted or censored, wherever you are. You need a little cybersecurity app known already to millions known as a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to be able to do this. These apps are offered by several companies based all over the world, and the software effectively cloaks your internet connection and can change your connection details to reflect another country. 

This means that internet algorithms cannot pick up your real location while you have a premium VPN activated, thereby you can bypass restrictions. Why are we constantly talking about a “premium VPN”? Well, simply because you need solid, verified software that has the capacity and technical qualifications to bypass censorship and restrictions. That is why only premium VPNs can do this, and you should avoid the free VPNs in general anyway.

How to Unblock YouTube With a VPN

Starting this process does not require technical prowess, nor does it take a lot of time. All you need is a few dollars a month to subscribe to a premium VPN and to download a free privacy browser to aid the process. Premium VPNs can be found on both the Google Play App Store, as well as the Apple App Store. They will also turn up in the search results of an online search conducted via a laptop, tablet, or desktop computer. These all-in-one apps work on any device that runs on an operating system, or OS, such as; Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Linux.

Now, what you need to do is first select a premium VPN. The popular ones are NordVPN, Cyberghost, Surfshark, PIA and more like these. It is up to you to research each of these, like reading the expert reviews via the link at the top of the page, where you will find a selection of premium VPNs that will help you with unblocking YouTube streaming.

So, you’ve found and subscribed to a premium VPN. Now, download a privacy-conscious browser like Brave or Mozilla and open a new page in private/incognito mode. Next, make sure your VPN is running, and connect to a server list from the list of available servers that are outside of your current country. That’s it! Activate Youtube, and enjoy!

Apart from VPNs, remember that you can also try to use the famous Tor anonymity browser to unblock YouTube. Alternatively, you could just simply download YouTube videos onto your device with a service like “Loader”, if you are visiting a restricted region for a short period and not have to deal with any blockage that way. 

Furthermore sometimes just adding “HTTPS://” to the address bar instead of “HTTP” can unblock YouTube if the network you are connected to is blocking it (say at school or work). At the end of the day, a VPN might be your best bet as it is a “set it and forget it” solution that most of us would like to have.

On a final note, did you know that this same VPN workaround works for other blocked platforms, not just YouTube? Yes! Use the same process to unblock anything from Netflix to other services with these same steps in descending order;

  • Create an account on the VPN website
  • Download the VPN software
  • Install the software
  • Log in
  • Choose a server outside of your country that is unrestricted like a server in Iceland, the U.S., or elsewhere
  • Use the VPN and enjoy unblocked, unfiltered content!

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