YouTube doesn’t just encourage users to upgrade to a Premium subscription instead of using ad blockersand takes steps to ensure that subscriptions are priced correctly – without taking advantage of cheaper regional prices in other countries.
Some Reddit users have reported that YouTube has suddenly canceled their Premium subscriptions. The common thread in many cases is that users used a VPN to subscribe to YouTube Premium at a lower price than what is available in their home market.
YouTube offers different Premium prices for certain markets to better match the purchasing power of the local currency and the expectations of local consumers. Many people have used VPN connections to mask their country of origin and take advantage of this regional pricing.
For example, one common country for such bypass subscriptions is Ukraine. Here, a YouTube Premium subscription costs 99 UAH per month, or about $2.44 at the current exchange rate. For comparison, in the US, the same subscription costs $13.99 per month. Moreover, after such a subscription, Premium will work fine even without a VPN. So, by using a VPN with a Ukrainian IP address, you can save more than $100 a year. But not anymore.
Reddit users who contacted customer support received a response that the subscription was canceled because the user «moved» to a different location than the one from which he or she subscribed. They were advised to continue subscribing using their local card and address, which would inevitably bring them normalized regional prices.
So, the loophole with VPNs and local Ukrainian prices for YouTube Premium is now closed.
Source: androidauthority