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This Video Is Sponsored By ███ VPN

Tom Scott · commentary · Watch on YouTube

Privacy, surveillance & cybercrimeProduct, marketing & salesNetworking & internet infrastructure

What it is

Tom Scott writes a more honest VPN ad, with the sponsor's name redacted, and explains why the typical claims in VPN advertising are misleading. He notes the sponsor was not happy about it.

Why Hacker News recommends it

The standard link when VPN marketing comes up, as a clear debunking of the scare tactics behind VPN ads.

  • 9 people recommended it
  • 9 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2019, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “Mad respect for him, and if he ever suggest a paid product in the future i'd trust him.”

    Tom Scott turned down VPN sponsorship and debunked the ads

    katbyte, 2021-04 · Strong recommendation · in “SponsorBlock – Skip over sponsorship segments on YouTube”

  2. “Tom Scott is the only person I've ever seen have a great video about this [0]”

    Great video on VPN scare tactics versus HTTPS

    jjice, 2023-09 · Strong recommendation · in “We have successfully completed our migration to RAM-only VPN infrastructure”

  3. “You may enjoy Tom Scott's video”

    Honest VPN commercial exposing sponsor's misleading claims

    throw0101a, 2019-11 · Recommendation · in “How Is NordVPN Unblocking Disney+?”

  4. “It's well worth the seven and a half minutes to watch it, IMO.”

    Honest VPN commercial the sponsor disliked

    jlgaddis, 2020-01 · Recommendation · in “U.S. surveillance laws have proven ineffective at countering terrorism”

  5. “Tom Scott put out a good video[1] that tries to debunk various marketing claims.”

    Debunks misleading VPN marketing claims

    Deathmax, 2021-03 · Recommendation · in “Latest Mozilla VPN features”

  6. “I think that this tom scott video summarizes the same sentiment nicely”

    Summarizes sentiment about misleading VPN ads on YouTube

    SahAssar, 2021-07 · Recommendation · in “VPN – A Very Precarious Narrative”

  7. “Tom Scott made a good video on the uses and non-uses of VPNs [1].”

    Uses and non-uses of VPNs

    rchowe, 2022-09 · Recommendation · in “Why is every podcast sponsored by a VPN company?”

  8. “Tom Scott said it better than I could”

    Explains misleading VPN ad claims well

    fellerts, 2024-06 · Recommendation · in “Google to shut down Google One VPN on June 20”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: vpn, sponsorships, tom scott, online privacy, advertising

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