Starting in late 2024, a small percentage of users have emailed me saying they see this message inside my embedded YouTube videos here on the Song Notes website. Here's a few important things to understand, including some suggested work-arounds.
VPNs seem to be the cause of this! If you’re running a VPN, or if your anti-virus software has a VPN feature, try disabling it. This has solved the issue for many folks who’ve emailed about this.
For example, here’s a submission from Brian about how disabling his VPN solved things:
I was also having this issue which started this past fall. But, I don’t have the issue anymore since I purchased a new wifi router (AX3000 wifi6). This solved it along with a lot of other issues including something you hit on which was the private VPN.
I use Norton 360, and they use a third party VPN service which seemed to cause lots of other issues for me on other sites. As additional background, I am using Firefox as my browser with standard security protections. And I don’t sign in to Google.
And Henry wrote in saying this:
I do have VPN and have just tried again as you suggested after disconnecting VPN and yes it appears to have resolved the problem. Fortunately, connecting and disconnecting VPN is straightforward.
First, understand that this message is coming from YouTube (who is owned by Google), and not from the Song Notes website you’re viewing now. I use YouTube to host my video lessons, and instead of showing my video they’re displaying this message instead.
YouTube is probably showing this message to crack down on nefarious use of bots – e.g. using bots to engage with videos, or download videos, or write spam comments.
Importantly, logging in to songnotes.net has no impact on whether or not this message is shown.
Understand that many other website creators (like me) have run into this same issue, where some of their audience is frustrated at this message. For example, the comments in this discussion thread shows how many others are impacted by this too.
No. I’ve never seen it on any of my devices. I’m guessing a very small percentage of users (1% or 0.1%) are seeing it, based on the small number of emails I’m receiving.
Trust me — if everyone was seeing this message on all my pages, my inbox would be flooded. Currently I get only 1-2 emails a week about this.
Even though it’s rare, I still take it seriously.
If disabling your VPN (or malware blocker) didn’t remove this issue, here are some more ideas.
Again, there’s nothing I can do on my end to fix this, unfortunately. But one of these may help.
1. Sign into a Google account - if you happen to have a free Google account (for Gmail, YouTube, etc), signing in may make this message go away. Just be sure to sign in the same browser you’re using to visit my Song Notes website. Even if it’s in a different tab, this may be enough to help Google know you’re not a bot.
2. Use a different browser - always worth a try! Google Chrome may help, as I find it plays nicest with Google’s suite of products. Most folks who encounter this error are using Safari, so that may be part of the issue.
3. Disable cross-site tracking [Safari only] - I read one person had success by disabling this feature. Here’s how to turn it off »
4. Reconnect to your internet or reboot your router - in the event your IP address is causing the issue, reconnecting to the internet might help. Rebooting your computer/iPad, or likewise rebooting your home internet router, may likewise help.
But again — disable any VPN or malware blockers if you haven’t done so yet. This has solved the problem for multiple folks (who have emailed me). I’ve also seen people mention in online discussion forums that turning off their VPN solves this issue. Related, if you’re running software such as MalwareBytes or SurfShark or BitDefender – try disabling it.
Email me and let me know which exact lessons you’re trying to access. I can prioritize uploading them to Vimeo, which I’ll use to replace the YouTube version on my site. This should solve the issue.
Finally, if this is a deal-breaker for you and you’re a member of Song Notes Premium, email me and I can cancel and refund your membership.
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