Google's done something to Youtube again

[OREllis]

Checklist

• I am able to reproduce the bug with the latest version given here: CLICK THIS LINK.
• I made sure that there are no existing issues - open or closed - which I could contribute my information to.
• I have read the FAQ and my problem isn't listed.
• I have taken the time to fill in all the required details. I understand that the bug report will be dismissed otherwise.
• This issue contains only one bug.
• I have read and understood the contribution guidelines.

Affected version

0.28.0

Steps to reproduce the bug

Attempt to View any video

Expected behavior

View video

Actual behavior

Error: Attempts to load the video, times out with provided exception

Screenshots/Screen recordings

No response

Logs

Exception

• User Action: play stream
• Request: Player error[type=ERROR_CODE_IO_BAD_HTTP_STATUS] occurred while playing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABCbeK_VJGg
• Content Country: GB
• Content Language: en-GB
• App Language: en_GB
• Service: YouTube
• Timestamp: 2025-10-16T00:53:50.955+01:00
• Package: org.schabi.newpipe
• Service: YouTube
• Version: 0.28.0
• OS: Linux samsung/b5qxeea/b5q:15/AP3A.240905.015.A2/F731BXXU5EYD9:user/release-keys 15 - 35

Crash log

com.google.android.exoplayer2.ExoPlaybackException: Source error
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.ExoPlayerImplInternal.handleIoException(ExoPlayerImplInternal.java:644)
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.ExoPlayerImplInternal.handleMessage(ExoPlayerImplInternal.java:616)
	at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:103)
	at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:257)
	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:342)
	at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:85)
Caused by: com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.HttpDataSource$InvalidResponseCodeException: Response code: 403
	at org.schabi.newpipe.player.datasource.YoutubeHttpDataSource.open(YoutubeHttpDataSource.java:425)
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.DefaultDataSource.open(DefaultDataSource.java:263)
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.TeeDataSource.open(TeeDataSource.java:52)
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.cache.CacheDataSource.openNextSource(CacheDataSource.java:796)
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.cache.CacheDataSource.open(CacheDataSource.java:609)
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.StatsDataSource.open(StatsDataSource.java:84)
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.source.chunk.InitializationChunk.load(InitializationChunk.java:99)
	at com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.Loader$LoadTask.run(Loader.java:412)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1156)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:651)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1119)

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Affected Android/Custom ROM version

No response

Affected device model

No response

Additional information

Tried across two devices and multiple VPN locations and get this consistently.

[OREllis]

Accidental dupe of other issue (by 4 mins to be fair)