Google forced Vanced to shut down. Could NewPipe be next?

[jadreas]

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What is/are your question(s)?

Vanced has been discontinued. In the coming days, the download links on the website will be taken down.

A mod on reddit said: "You don't have to know the exact reason this had to happen, you can probably figure it out yourself, considering we had to do it."

Newpipe is next or there some protection?

Additional information

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/Vanced/comments/tdazfr/discontinuation_of_the_vanced_project

[nin0-dev]

Google killed Vanced because of the fact that it modified original YT app (I think). So no, Newpipe is pretty safe.

[VMFortress]

This, while I get the reasoning, it shouldn't be the developers choice whether or not a user can login. If I want to login then surely that is up to me to know and understand that Google/YouTube tracks through that(obviously).

NewPipe explicitly does not use any Google frameworks or the YouTube API. It's core concept does not seemingly align with the idea of logging into a YouTube account and it does not seem to be intended to be a YouTube Vanced replacement.

[VMFortress]

Realistically, any large enough power like Google can get small projects like these take down through legal pressure regardless if there's a case.

However, in this case, the YouTube Vanced app being distributed still had the actual YouTube app at its core so the distribution of it was distributing copyrighted material. If they could figure out how to distribute it as a layer that could be placed on a normal YouTube app and contain no copyrighted material whatsoever, they may have been able to survive.

[CONIGUERO]

This is why I think the most important question to ask is, does NewPipe have the funds and willingness to fight back in court if Google wants to go after them?

[VMFortress]

Almost no independent open-source project does. The best you'd hope for is a big enough presence and completely free from legal wrongdoing to the point it would cause an outcry in the news enough for Google to back off.

[litetex]

Before we begin:

• Please add sources when you mention anything - I couldn't verify the above issue until I found the reddit post (linked it).
• This is not a place for discussing which features NewPipe is lacking when compared with Vanced it's an issuetracker. Feel free to do so on other platforms.

With that said now some personal answers from my perspective as a developer:

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Newpipe is next or there some protection?

Background:
I don't know much about Vanced but as far as I know it's a modified version of YouTube client.
Update: I just installed it on my emulator and it looks like they are actively distributing a modified version of the Youtube APK (downloaded dark.apk).

Normally there is a condition in every closed source software that states something like "do not distribute what we developed".
Take as example the Minecraft EULA and the corresponding modding community.
Every (legal) minecraft mod/mod loader requires that you have minecraft installed locally. So when you download the mod you don't download any minecraft (source) code. The mod then uses the local installation to make itself work.

Youtube has that same statement clearly written in their terms (under "Downloadable Software"):

You are not allowed to copy, modify, distribute, sell, or lease any part of the software, or to reverse-engineer or attempt to extract the source code of that software, unless laws prohibit these restrictions or you have YouTube’s written permission.

So what YouTube vanced is doing - if I interpreted it correctly - is high-grade illegal/license-fraud and if Google is taking them down that's completely understandable.

NewPipe uses a very different approach and is therefore not affected by the same takedown vector as YT vanced.
For further question about "Is NewPipe legal?" see the following issues:

• Legal question #969
  • recommend reading this comment: Legal question #969 (comment)
• Legality of Newpipe #1160
• What about legal threats? iv-org/invidious#130 was asked in https://github.com/iv-org/invidious which uses NewPipe

There is also currently an issue open to backup the organization(#7996) in case something like a DCMA takedown occurs (happend to youtube-dl ~1 year ago).

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I was soooo happy to see it supports Android 4.4

Don't be tooooo happy, this is scheduled to be removed: #7613 😉

[CONIGUERO]

Almost no independent open-source project does. The best you'd hope for is a big enough presence and completely free from legal wrongdoing to the point it would cause an outcry in the news enough for Google to back off.

I was mostly talking about legal fighting through courts, not necessarily public image.

[CONIGUERO]

So what YouTube vamced is doing - if I interpreted it correctly - is high-grade illegal/license-fraud and if Google is taking them down that's completely understandable.

Well, an argument could be made that there is no need to even accept the EULA in order to access the YouTube app and website.

[khirendra03]

it does not seem to be intended to be a YouTube Vanced replacement.

I'm not saying it should or intend to be a replacement, I'm saying if it wanted to be one. But I can see NewPipe avoiding it as to not end up like Vanced.

I don't see how Vanced got the take down anyway, they're only implementing features you can get with extensions through browsers and they don't take down adblock or sponsorblock so it seems a bit backwards to me.

Vanced is taken down because they try to profit directly from vanced app. Like vanced NFT.
I think this tweet will help more
https://twitter.com/aseldesu/status/1503117413679869952

[opusforlife2]

The question has been answered in #8025 (comment), so I'm closing this.

Please search the existing issues for bugs and feature requests, and leave comments only if you have something new to add. If you merely want to show support for it, just upvote the issue description.

If you want to discuss this situation, that's off-topic for a bug tracker, but you're welcome to our IRC channel (https://web.libera.chat/#newpipe), and our subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/newpipe).