Hacker News

uBlock filter list to hide all YouTube Shorts

2026-02-1417:361172344github.com

Maintained - uBlock Origin filter list to hide YouTube Shorts - i5heu/ublock-hide-yt-shorts

A maintained uBlock Origin filter list to hide all traces of YouTube shorts videos.

Copy the link below, go to uBlock Origin > Dashboard > Filter lists, scroll to the bottom, and paste the link underneath the 'Import...' heading:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/i5heu/ublock-hide-yt-shorts/master/list.txt

> uBlock Origin subscribe link < (does not work on GitHub)

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/i5heu/ublock-hide-yt-shorts/master/comments.txt

> uBlock Origin subscribe link < (does not work on GitHub)

After the initial createor of this list @gijsdev is now vanished for half a year, i ( i5heu ) took it on me to maintain this list.

This project is an independent, open-source initiative and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or associated with Alphabet Inc., Google LLC, or YouTube.

See CONTRIBUTING.md

See LICENSE.md


Read the original article

i5heu

Karma: 1273
...
 @Hacker__News
@hacker._news

Comments

  • By freehorse 2026-02-1420:518 reply

    In addition to the unhook addon that others also recommended and is great, I would also suggest, as an alternative, setting a redirection rule from "www.youtube.com/shorts/XYWZ" to "www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYWZ". This will play the short but in the classical youtube video (landscape) format, with no infinite scrolling, or replay or autoplay (assuming these are in general disabled), which takes away a big part of the addictive aspect of shorts.

    • By divingdragon 2026-02-158:101 reply

      I use the rule

          ||youtube.com/shorts/*$uritransform=/shorts\/(.*)/watch\/\$1/`
      in uBlock Origin.

      (Except that it doesn't work if you click on a short from YouTube's interface - it loads with JavaScript which bypasses the redirection.)

      • By shubhangigovil 2026-02-248:03

        try tapermonkey script

        ``` // ==UserScript== // @name YouTube Shorts → Normal Player // @match ://www.youtube.com/ // @run-at document-start // ==/UserScript==

        function redirectShorts() { const match = location.pathname.match(/^\/shorts\/([a-zA-Z0-9_-]+)/); if (match) { location.replace(`/watch?v=${match[1]}`); } }

        // Catch initial page load redirectShorts();

        // Catch SPA navigation early (fires before page renders) document.addEventListener('yt-navigate-start', redirectShorts);

        // Fallback document.addEventListener('yt-navigate-finish', redirectShorts); ```

    • By netsharc 2026-02-152:251 reply

      Replacing "shorts" with "v" also works, so the resulting URL is www.youtube.com/v/XYWZ

      • By freehorse 2026-02-159:34

        Oh great, didn't know that! Thanks! That makes things much simpler.

    • By djsavvy 2026-02-1421:222 reply

      That's an awesome idea — sometimes I really do want to watch a short but not in that interface. Do you know how to set this up in general?

    • By ulam2 2026-02-157:562 reply

      I personally solved this by using revanced and disabling shorts completely.

      • By squarefoot 2026-02-1511:20

        Same here with FreeTube. YT has become a toxic experience on any browser and recently it has stopped working on my laptop with Firefox and uBlock Origin, no matter if I surf it as logged in in my main google account or not. The same arrangement works on my main desktop, but i mostly use FreeTube there as well.

      • By shmageggy 2026-02-1510:101 reply

        I personally solved this by never clicking a short. We don't have to engage with every technology presented to us.

        • By rightbyte 2026-02-1510:191 reply

          It is hard not to accidently click on shorts when they are interleaved in search results.

          • By Bender 2026-02-1514:24

            Adding that once one accidentally clicks on a short all the results are skewed in that direction afterwards. I have to close the browser, run BleachBit and start over.

    • By bigprof 2026-02-1522:12

      Instead of directly clicking the short to play it, open the menu at the bottom right and click add to playlist. This will play out in the classic player without having to configure ublock rules. And if the rest of the playlist is playing at more than 1x, this will also apply to the short.

    • By s4i 2026-02-155:49

      I personally solved this need with a simple bookmarklet: https://samulisuomi.github.io/youtube-unshortify-bookmarklet...

    • By sheept 2026-02-1510:44

      I have a userscript that does this, but one downside is that it refreshes the page, so if I go back in history (eg I misclicked), it resets the recommendation page

  • By TyrunDemeg101 2026-02-1514:416 reply

    A nuclear option that's worked extremely well for me is going into Youtube's settings and disabling history.

    I no longer am even able to see shorts, they don't get suggested to me.

    However, this is an extreme nuclear option and also disables the entire 'Home' and for-you type content. You can search and watch videos, but it flips it so it is 100% intention driven. Which means discoverability and browsing is non-existent. You're still able to see your existing subscriptions but that's it.

    It's REALLY helped me disconnect from the addictive dopamine of the infinite, short type formats. YMMV

    • By byproxy 2026-02-1516:421 reply

      This is exactly what I’ve done for my Google settings after feeling more and more upset with what the Youtube homepage was showing me. Not so much in that it was necessarily contrary to what I may have wanted to watch, but more-so me thinking “My god.. is this what I’ve become?”

      I now much prefer to open Youtube (quasi)tabula rasa. I still have subscriptions set up so I can follow “vetted” accounts, but for other things I now rely on that intentionality.

      The one minor bummer is that Youtube won’t remember your spot in a video, say if you’re watching in your phone and want to continue on your desktop (or vice-versa). Not the biggest hassle to manually check the time and sync it up, though.

      • By TyrunDemeg101 2026-02-1620:00

        Yea - the not remembering a spot in a video IS a slight inconvenience, but for me it's a small price to pay in order to not get sucked into HOURS thrown away chasing the next 'hit' of dopamine from shorts.

    • By caro_kann 2026-02-1515:25

      I think this is the best way of using Youtube if you're trying to avoid brain rot and doomscrolling. This way helped me alot and gives you full control over what you consume.

    • By 3form 2026-02-160:142 reply

      For an older Internet user, it feels baffling that returning a website to a state where it shows you what you search for, and what you subscribe to, is considered an extreme nuclear option.

      • By make3 2026-02-160:35

        Amazon and Spotify and Netflix are all enormous examples of not just giving you what you asked for (->recommendation engines).

        They were there all along, just less egregiously.

        Even PageRank (the secret sauce in the original Google search) is arguably a recommendation engine.

        You can just use PCA of some feature then use cosine similarity, this has been known forever.

      • By TyrunDemeg101 2026-02-1620:03

        I'm also an older Internet user, but I assumed that it was a nuclear option to so dramatically change the expected behavior that without warning people they would be quite shocked. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    • By cardiffspaceman 2026-02-1520:522 reply

      I have been happy with the serendipity of YouTube’s algorithm generally. I followed an external link to a YouTube video about an exotic piano, and played a few related videos afterwards. These were videos about other unusual musical instruments, such as very high-pitched and very low-pitched wind instruments. And somehow that was part of a process leading to Japanese metal bands.

      Dopamine-driven behavior in ourselves is certainly to be watched for.

      • By gardnr 2026-02-1521:43

        That's weird. They keep showing me rage-bait videos with like 100 views. I'd much prefer pianos and Japanese metal bands.

      • By TyrunDemeg101 2026-02-1620:02

        I DO miss the discoverability. I really do. But my self control for watching shorts ends up being incredibly self sabotaging. I truly wish I could permanently disable shorts in some way. I wish I could use my DNS to block shorts, but alas they're not distinct.

    • By LtWorf 2026-02-1515:51

      It doesn't break subscribed channels though so I just bookmarked that page as my youtube page.

    • By temp1514351 2026-02-1519:03

      This doesn't seem nuclear, this seems WAI. YouTube gives you the option of only seeing what you want to see.

  • By susam 2026-02-1421:071 reply

    I wrote this little quick and dirty userscript for myself sometime back:

      // ==UserScript==
  // @name No Shorts
  // @match https://www.youtube.com/shorts/*
  // @match https://www.facebook.com/reel/*
  // ==/UserScript==
  window.document.body.innerHTML = ''
    This isn't as comprehensive as the uBlock filter but it has worked pretty well for me so far.

    • By susam 2026-02-1423:582 reply

      Here is another one I found in my personal userscripts. I believe this script is more effective than my previous one because it prevents recommendations for Shorts or other videos from being shown.

        // ==UserScript==
  // @name  No YT Sidebar and Shorts
  // @match https://www.youtube.com/*
  // ==/UserScript==
  function noYTSidebar () {
    const element = document.getElementById('secondary')
    if (element === null) {
      window.setTimeout(noYTSidebar, 1000)
      return
    }
    element.getElementById('secondary').style.display = 'none'
  }
  function noYTShorts () {
    const elements = document.querySelectorAll('ytd-rich-shelf-renderer')
    if (elements.length === 0) {
      window.setTimeout(noYTShorts, 1000)
      return
    }
    for (e of document.querySelectorAll('ytd-rich-shelf-renderer')) {
      e.style.display = 'none'
    }
  }
  noYTSidebar()
  noYTShorts()

HackerNews

About