YouTube says it is ‘not hiding the skip button’ on ads

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Some YouTube users have observed the platform making it harder to skip ads in recent days. On Reddit, a user reported seeing black rectangles over the skip button on desktop instead of the expected countdown timer, and a few days later, Android Police reported not seeing a countdown to skip on mobile.
But in statements to The Verge, YouTube says it isn’t removing the skip button — it’s just changing some elements of how ads are displayed.