YouTube Channel Purge by Sp33d0r

YouTube Channel Blocker

A Firefox extension that allows you to block YouTube channels from appearing in your recommendation feed. When you block a channel, all videos from that channel will be hidden from the recommended videos section on YouTube.

This is primarily created for Firefox users that do not wish to login to YouTube using their Google account when browsing videos. if you have a YouTube account, you can right click '...' icon and add the channel to the exclusion list. As it was mentioned, if you don't have an account and wish to browse YouTube without the prying eyes of Google/Alphabet/YouTube, but also want to take advantage of the same functionality that YouTube accounts provide, you can use this extension instead.

Features

• Block channels by name - Simply enter the channel name to hide all their recommendations
• Persistent blocking - Blocked channels remain hidden even after browser restart
• Import/Export - Share your blocked channels list or backup for later use
• Real-time filtering - Automatically hides recommendations as YouTube loads new content
• Clean UI - Easy-to-use popup interface for managing blocked channels
• Badge indicator - Shows the number of blocked channels on the extension icon

Usage

Blocking a Channel

1. Click the extension icon in your Firefox toolbar (red YouTube icon with a block symbol)
2. Enter the exact channel name you want to block in the text field
3. Example: "The Heritage Foundation"
4. Channel names are case-insensitive
5. Exact match required - "The" won't block "The Heritage Foundation"
   Note: Sometimes the name of the channel might have an icon inserted between its full name by YouTube. Just type out the entire name without the special character or icon, and the extension will pick it up.
6. Use wildcard for partial matching:
7. Add * at the end to block all channels starting with that text
8. Example: "Fox News*" will block "Fox News", "Fox News Clips", "Fox News Shorts", etc.
9. Example: "BBC*" will block "BBC News", "BBC World", "BBC Sport", etc.
10. Click "Block Channel" or press Enter
11. The channel will be added to your blocked list
12. Reload YouTube or navigate to a new video to see the changes

Unblocking a Channel

1. Open the extension popup
2. Find the channel in your blocked list
3. Click the "Edit" button to modify the channel name
4. Click the "Unblock" button to remove the channel from the blocked list

Managing Multiple Channels

• View all blocked channels in the popup list
• See the count of blocked channels at the top of the list
• Clear all blocked channels using the "Clear All" button

Import/Export

Exporting Your Blocked List

1. Click the "📤 Export" button in the extension popup
2. A JSON file will be downloaded with your blocked channels
3. The file is named with the current date (e.g., youtube-blocked-channels-2026-01-02.json)

Importing a Blocked List

1. Click the "📥 Import" button
2. Select a previously exported JSON file
3. New channels will be added to your existing list (duplicates are automatically avoided)

Sharing Lists

You can share your blocked channels list with others by sending them your exported JSON file. They can import it into their extension.

How It Works

Technical Details

The extension works by:

1. Monitoring the YouTube page for video recommendation elements using a MutationObserver
2. Identifying channel names from the DOM structure:
3. Looks for yt-lockup-view-model elements (recommendation containers)
4. Finds .yt-lockup-metadata-view-model__metadata sections (metadata containers)
5. Extracts channel names from .yt-core-attributed-string spans
6. Hiding recommendations by setting display: none on matching elements
7. Persisting data using Firefox's browser.storage.local API
8. Handling dynamic content as YouTube is a Single Page Application (SPA)

DOM Structure Monitored

The extension looks for this HTML structure (generated dynamically by YouTube):

<yt-lockup-view-model class="ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer lockup">

<div class="yt-lockup-metadata-view-model__metadata">

<span class="yt-core-attributed-string yt-content-metadata-view-model__metadata-text">
Channel Name Here
</span>
</div>
</yt-lockup-view-model>


Permissions

The extension requires the following permissions:

• storage - To save your blocked channels list persistently
• https://www.youtube.com/* - To run the content script on YouTube pages

Troubleshooting

Channels aren't being blocked

1. Check the exact channel name: Make sure you entered the channel name exactly as it appears on YouTube
2. Reload the page: After adding a channel, reload the YouTube page
3. Check the browser console: Open Developer Tools (F12) and look for messages from "YouTube Channel Blocker"
4. Clear processed markers: Sometimes you may need to restart Firefox

Cannot find the channel name

1. Go to a YouTube video page
2. Look at the recommended videos on the right side
3. The channel name appears below the video title
4. Copy the exact name and paste it into the extension

Import fails

Make sure your JSON file has the correct format:

{
"version": "1.0",
"exportDate": "2026-01-02T12:00:00.000Z",
"channels": [
"Channel Name 1",
"Channel Name 2"
]
}


Privacy

• All data is stored locally in your browser
• No data is sent to external servers
• No tracking or analytics
• The extension only runs on YouTube pages

Known Limitations

• Channel name changes: If a channel changes its name, you'll need to update the blocked name
• Similar names: The extension matches exact names (case-insensitive), so "Channel Name" and "ChannelName" are different
• Dynamic content: Very rapid scrolling might occasionally show a blocked recommendation briefly before it's hidden
• Cosmetic hiding: The YouTube will still serve you those blocked channels and videos by its recommendation server and delivers it to your browser. It's just that the add-on will dynamically hide them in your browser, so you don't even notice they are there

License

This project is released under the MIT License. Feel free to use, modify, and distribute as needed.

Support

If you encounter issues:

1. Check the troubleshooting section above
2. Open Firefox Developer Tools (F12) and check the Console for errors
3. Look for messages prefixed with "YouTube Channel Blocker:"

Version History

• v1.0.0 (2026-01-02)
• Initial release
• Block channels by name
• Import/Export functionality
• Real-time content filtering
• Persistent storage

Note: This extension is not affiliated with or endorsed by YouTube or Google.