Block youtube shorts

[cam8528]

i heard brave browser has a feature to block youtube shorts when browsing. i am very pleased with norton private browser and associated extensions. could such a feature be added to norton private browser with native support? would really appreciate this one little detail. thanks, from cam.

[bjm]

@cam8528

i heard brave browser has a feature to block youtube shorts when browsing. i am very pleased with norton private browser and associated extensions. could such a feature be added to norton private browser with native support? would really appreciate this one little detail. thanks, from cam.

Hello @cam8528

Brave includes built-in tools (via its Shields feature) that let users disable YouTube Shorts directly in the browser without needing extra extensions. This includes options to remove Shorts from the home feed, recommendations, and other sections for a cleaner experience.

This is one of the native capabilities that sets Brave apart from standard browsers.

Brave Browser blocks YouTube Shorts using built-in content filters that remove shorts from homepages, trending lists, search results, and sidebars without requiring third-party extensions.

On Mobile (Android/iOS):

• Navigate to Settings > Media .
• Enable the toggle labeled “Block YouTube Shorts”.
  

On Desktop (Windows/Mac/Linux):

• Go to Settings > Brave Shields & Privacy (or Shields ) > Content Filtering .
• Enable the “YouTube Anti-Shorts” content filter.
  

This feature works by hiding the shorts interface elements and URLs, effectively removing them from the browsing experience while leaving long-form videos intact.

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Norton Private Browser does not have a native “Block YouTube Shorts” feature because its development priorities and architectural approach differ significantly from Brave Browser.

Core Differences in Philosophy

Security vs. Content Curation Norton Private Browser is designed primarily as a security and privacy tool focused on protecting users from malware, phishing, and data tracking. Its feature set (Web Shield, Privacy Guard, Anti-Tracking) targets safety threats rather than content format preferences. Blocking specific UI elements like “Shorts” is considered a content curation or usability feature, which falls outside Norton’s core mandate of threat protection.

Proprietary vs. Open-Source Ecosystem

• Brave is open-source and community-driven, allowing it to rapidly integrate community-maintained filter lists (like the “YouTube Anti-Shorts” list) directly into its core code.
• Norton is a proprietary product owned by Gen Digital. Its features undergo a stricter corporate development cycle focused on broad security standards. It relies on its Privacy Guard to block trackers and ads generally, but it does not currently support the granular, community-sourced cosmetic filtering required to hide specific YouTube interface elements like Shorts without breaking the site’s functionality.

Technical Limitations

Lack of Granular Cosmetic Filtering Blocking Shorts requires “cosmetic filtering” (hiding specific HTML/CSS elements) rather than just network blocking. While Brave has built-in support for advanced cosmetic filtering rules, Norton’s ad-blocker is optimized for blocking network requests (ads/trackers) and lacks the specific engine tweaks needed to surgically remove Shorts from the DOM (Document Object Model) without affecting long-form videos.

Product Philosophy: Security vs. UX Curation

Norton positions its browser strictly as a security and privacy utility . Its native features (Web Shield, Anti-Tracking, Ad Blocking) are designed to block threats (malware, phishing, trackers) and intrusive ads (network requests).

• Brave’s Approach: Treats “Shorts” as unwanted content/clutter to be removed for a better user experience (UX), integrating community-driven cosmetic filters directly into the core product.
• Norton’s Approach: Treats “Shorts” as valid content. Blocking them requires cosmetic filtering (hiding specific HTML elements), which Norton leaves to third-party specialists rather than building into its own security engine.

Maintenance and Liability

Native support for blocking specific UI elements like “Shorts” requires constant maintenance because YouTube frequently changes its code to break these blockers.

• By not making it a native feature, Norton avoids the liability and development overhead of constantly updating its core software to keep up with YouTube’s interface changes.
• They offload this “cat-and-mouse” game to extension developers, who can update their filter lists much faster than a corporate software release cycle allows.

How to Enable It Yourself

Norton Private Browser supports Chrome extensions.

1. Open Norton Private Browser .
2. Navigate to the Chrome Web Store .
3. Search for “YouTube shorts blocker”.

for example:

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Norton Private Browser - FAQs

[bjm]

Hello @cam8528
Care to share your progress
Thanks

[cam8528]

hello bjm,

it seems there are 3rd party extensions available to help block youtube shorts.

as i understand norton doesnt want to get on google’s bad side and legal agreements by offering youtube shorts blocker as a feature in its norton private browser.

thank you for your time

[bjm]

Neo browser does not have a built-in feature to block YouTube Shorts.
While Neo includes robust security features and a built-in AdBlock designed to block intrusive advertisements on webpages, YouTube Shorts are a core content format of the YouTube platform rather than traditional ads. As a result, they are not filtered out by the browser’s default ad-blocking systems.

If you are looking to block or hide YouTube Shorts, you would typically need to rely on third-party browser extensions specifically designed for content filtering on YouTube, or adjust your feed preferences directly within your YouTube account settings.

Norton Private Browser does not have a built-in feature designed to block or disable YouTube Shorts.
The browser’s security and privacy tools, such as the built-in AdBlock, are engineered to block intrusive advertisements, malicious scripts, and online trackers to enhance your safety and browsing speed. Since YouTube Shorts are considered native platform content rather than advertisements or trackers, they are not filtered by these security features.

The underlying architecture and specific technical implementation of ad-blocking engines can vary significantly between browsers.

While Brave utilizes a high-performance ad-blocking engine written in Rust, browsers like Norton Private Browser and Neo are designed with their own specific approaches to security and privacy protection. These browsers focus on a core set of features—such as anti-phishing, anti-fingerprinting, and blocking malicious trackers and intrusive ads—to ensure a safe and private experience for all users.

Whether a browser uses a specific language or engine like Rust is a design choice made by its development team based on their goals for performance, security, and maintainability. A decision to add specific content-filtering features, such as blocking YouTube Shorts, would be based on the browser’s overall development roadmap and the specific needs they aim to address for their user base, rather than a fundamental technical limitation inherent to the language used for their existing ad-blocking implementation.

Waterfox’s Built-in Ad Blocking

While Waterfox recently integrated a high-performance, Rust-powered ad-blocking engine, its primary job is network-level and cosmetic blocking of advertisements, trackers, and malicious scripts.

Because YouTube Shorts are considered native platform elements rather than external ads, standard ad-blocking rules do not automatically hide them.

How to Block YouTube Shorts on Waterfox

Since Waterfox is built on Firefox’s architecture, it is fully compatible with Firefox add-ons. If you want to completely block or customize how Shorts appear, you can easily do so by installing third-party extensions from the Firefox Add-ons store:

• Youtube Shorts Block: This extension can fully block Shorts, soft-block them (removing them only from the Home and Trending feeds), or automatically convert them to open in the standard YouTube video player.
• YouTube Shorts Blocker: A lightweight, minimal extension designed to cleanly hide Shorts tabs, shelves, and videos across the platform.
• uBlock Origin: If you already use uBlock Origin on Waterfox, you can add custom cosmetic filters (such as www.youtube.com##ytd-rich-shelf-renderer[is-shorts]) to manually hide the Shorts shelves from your feed.

Brave is virtually alone among major mainstream browsers in offering a native, built-in toggle specifically designed to hide or block YouTube Shorts out of the box without requiring any external tools.

This unique position comes down to a few factors:

1. Brave’s Custom Ad-Block Engine

Brave’s built-in ad blocker (“Brave Shields”) is written in Rust and allows for highly customized, element-level cosmetic filtering directly within the browser’s native code. While other security-focused browsers (like Norton Private Browser, Neo, or Waterfox) also have strong ad blockers, their default configurations are tailored to block traditional ads, trackers, and malicious scripts, rather than modifying how legitimate websites like YouTube format their content.

2. The Native vs. Extension Divide

While Brave stands alone in offering this natively, other browsers achieve the exact same result through the use of browser extensions:

• Firefox-based Browsers (like Waterfox): Because they support full-featured web extensions, users can install dedicated add-ons like Shorts Blocker for YouTube or uBlock Origin to cleanly wipe Shorts from their feeds.
• Chromium-based Browsers (like Norton Private Browser or Neo): These can also utilize extensions from the Chrome Web Store. However, because Google has transitioned Chrome and Chromium-based browsers to Manifest V3, full-featured ad blockers like uBlock Origin face tighter restrictions on Chrome-based platforms. Firefox and its forks (like Waterfox) continue to support the more powerful Manifest V2-style filtering, making them a preferred alternative for users who want heavy cosmetic content filtering.

3. Alternative Clients

Outside of standard web browsers, the only other platforms that “natively” block Shorts are unofficial, third-party client applications. For example:

• SmartTube (for Android TV/Fire TV) allows users to set feed limits to 0 or completely blacklist the Shorts shelf.
• ReVanced (for Android mobile) patches the official YouTube application at the bytecode level to permanently remove the Shorts button and shelves.

For the average user wanting a simple, one-click browser setting to escape the vertical-scroll feed without dealing with third-party extensions or custom coding, Brave remains the exception rather than the rule.

Brave allow users to opt out of the browser’s monetization features.
Brave’s business model is centered on a “privacy-first” approach to digital advertising. The browser includes an optional “Brave Rewards” system that allows users to view privacy-respecting ads and earn tokens in return, but this feature is entirely opt-in.

How Brave’s Monetization Settings Work

• Brave Rewards: This is disabled by default. If you never enable it, you will not see any Brave-specific ads, and you will not earn or participate in their token economy.
• Brave Private Ads: You have full control to toggle “Brave Private Ads” on or off within the browser’s settings. If turned off, you will not receive any Brave-sponsored content.
• Standard Ad Blocking: Regardless of whether you participate in their rewards program, Brave’s core “Shields” engine functions independently to block third-party trackers and intrusive ads from websites.

If you choose not to enable these features, Brave functions primarily as a standard, privacy-focused Chromium browser. You are not forced into their monetization ecosystem, and you can disable any related features through the settings menu at any time.

uBlock Origin Lite does block YouTube Shorts ads and can hide specific Shorts elements, but with significant limitations compared to the full uBlock Origin extension.

• Ad Blocking: uBO Lite effectively blocks Shorts ads, pre-rolls, and mid-rolls, though users may occasionally see blank placeholders before playback.
• Element Removal: It lacks the full custom filter and dynamic filtering capabilities of the original uBlock Origin. While you can use the element picker to hide specific UI elements like the Shorts sidebar, these changes are often temporary (especially if using the “zapper”) and may not persist across page reloads or new videos.
• Browser Context: The full version of uBlock Origin remains available for Firefox and Brave, offering superior control over hiding Shorts entirely. On Chrome , where only uBO Lite is supported due to Manifest V3 restrictions, complete removal of Shorts is more difficult and less reliable.

Manifest V3 (MV3) ad blockers (such as the MV3 versions of AdGuard , AdBlock Plus , and uBlock Origin Lite ) can block YouTube Shorts ads and hide Shorts UI elements, but they face significant limitations compared to their Manifest V2 predecessors or non-Chromium alternatives.

Effectiveness on Chromium Browsers (Chrome, Edge, Opera)

On browsers enforcing Manifest V3, ad blockers rely on the Declarative Net Request (DNR) API, which restricts the number of filter rules (capped at 30,000) and prevents dynamic, real-time request interception.

• Ad Blocking: MV3 extensions generally succeed in blocking standard Shorts ads (pre-rolls and mid-rolls). However, they struggle with Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) , where ads are stitched directly into the video stream, making them indistinguishable from content.
• Element Hiding: While cosmetic filters (hiding the Shorts shelf, sidebar button, or search results) still work, they are less flexible. Users may need to manually add custom filters to remove specific Shorts elements like ytd-rich-shelf-renderer[is-shorts] .
• Update Delays: A critical weakness is the inability to push rapid filter updates. When YouTube changes its code to detect blockers or alter element classes, MV3 extensions often require a full extension update (subject to store review) to fix the issue, leading to days of vulnerability where Shorts or ads may reappear.

Comparison with Non-MV3 Solutions

• Firefox (Manifest V2): The full version of uBlock Origin on Firefox remains the most effective solution. It uses the unrestricted webRequest API to dynamically intercept and block Shorts ads and elements instantly, without the rule caps or update delays of MV3.
• System-Level Blockers: Standalone applications like AdGuard for Windows/Mac or DNS-level filtering operate outside the browser’s extension constraints. They can block Shorts traffic and ads more reliably across all browsers and even some native apps, bypassing MV3 limitations entirely.
• Mobile: On mobile devices, MV3 browser extensions offer limited protection. Solutions like YouTube ReVanced (Android) or using Firefox for Android with uBlock Origin are required for comprehensive Shorts blocking, as standard mobile browsers often fail to block Shorts ads embedded in the app or mobile web view effectively.

Brave browser’s native Rust ad blocker engine is not limited by Manifest V3 (MV3) rules.

Unlike Chrome extensions which are forced to use the restricted Declarative Net Request (DNR) API, Brave Shields operates as a core component of the browser itself.

• Native Integration: The ad-blocking engine is written in Rust and compiled directly into the browser binary. It intercepts network requests at the browser engine level, completely bypassing the extension APIs that MV3 restricts.
• No Rule Caps: Because it does not rely on the DNR API, Brave Shields is not subject to the 30,000 static rule limit or the restrictions on dynamic filtering that cripple MV3 extensions like uBlock Origin Lite.
• Filter List Compatibility: It utilizes the same filter list syntax (EasyList, EasyPrivacy) as uBlock Origin but processes them with its own high-performance engine, allowing for rapid updates and complex procedural filtering without needing extension store approval.
• Extension Support: Additionally, Brave has implemented workarounds to continue supporting full Manifest V2 extensions (like the original uBlock Origin) on its own infrastructure, further distinguishing it from Chrome’s strict MV3 enforcement.

Norton Private Browser and Norton Neo face significant hurdles that make effective YouTube Shorts blocking unlikely compared to browsers like Brave.

While Norton Private Browser and Norton Neo feature native ad-blocking engines (bypassing Manifest V3 extension limits), their current implementation relies on standard filter lists (like EasyList ) rather than the advanced, procedural filtering required to reliably defeat YouTube’s dynamic anti-adblock measures.

Key Limitations for Norton Browsers

• Filter List Dependency: Norton’s “Privacy Guard” and Neo’s native blocker primarily use static filter lists. YouTube frequently changes its code to bypass these static rules. Unlike Brave’s adblock-rust engine, which supports complex cosmetic filtering and rapid, script-based rule updates, Norton’s engine appears less equipped for the “cat-and-mouse” game of hiding dynamic elements like the Shorts shelf or blocking Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) .
• Lack of Advanced Features: There is no evidence that Norton’s engine supports procedural cosmetic filtering (essential for hiding elements based on complex logic) or scriptlet injection (needed to neutralize YouTube’s anti-adblock scripts). Without these, blocking Shorts ads and UI elements is often temporary; once YouTube updates its detection scripts, Norton users may see ads return until Norton manually updates their core engine or lists.
• Update Mechanism: While Norton updates its lists independently of the Chrome Web Store, the frequency and sophistication of these updates are critical. Brave has a dedicated team and engine specifically optimized for ad-blocking warfare. Norton’s focus remains primarily on security (phishing/malware) rather than the granular content filtering required for YouTube.

Conclusion

If YouTube continues to tighten its anti-adblock defenses (as expected in 2026), Norton Private Browser and Neo will likely struggle to block Shorts effectively unless Gen Digital significantly upgrades their native engine to match the capabilities of uBlock Origin or Brave Shields. Currently, they are better suited for blocking standard display ads and trackers, not the complex, embedded video ads found in Shorts.

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