This is a definite guide how to disable JavaScript to bypass paywalls of publications and news websites.
Turning off JavaScript in your browser is one of the popular ways to get past paywalls.
There are three ways to disable JavaScript to read articles blocked by a paywall:
- Disable browser JavaScript settings
- Disable JavaScript for specific websites
- Disable JavaScript for a specific web page
i. Disable browser JavaScript settings
Mozilla Firefox Browser:
Go Firefox, type about:config into the address bar.
Click the "Accept the Risk and Continue" button.
You could see "javascript.enabled" shows under it.
Double click anywhere within the javascript.enabled box to change the value from "true" to "false".
REMINDER: Remember to activate the browser JavaScript settings back to "true" after used. If not, some websites may not work properly, and others may not load at all.
Google Chrome Browser:
Click the three dots on the top right hand side of the address bar.
A menu drops down, click "Settings".
Next click "Privacy and security" on the left side of the page.
Scroll down a little, and click "Site settings".
It opens a new page, scroll down until the "Content" section.
Click "JavaScript".
Under the Default behaviors, select "Not allowed to use JavaScript".
Similar to Firefox, after using it, remember to revert the settings back to "Sites can use JavaScript".
Brave Browser:
By default, Brave browser allows JavaScript.
To disable or turn off Brave browser Javascript is similar to Chrome.
Go to Brave browser, click the three parallel horizontal lines (aka Hamburger Menu) at the top right hand corner.
A menu drops down, click "Settings".
Next click "Privacy and security" on the left side of the page.
A box pops up on the right side, click "Site and Shields settings".
It opens a new page, scroll down until the "Content" section.
Click "JavaScript".
Under the Default behaviors, select "Not allowed to use JavaScript".
Similar to Chrome and Firefox, after using it, remember to revert the settings back to "Sites can use JavaScript".
ii. Disable JavaScript for specific websites
Google Chrome Browser:
For example you want to bypass The Boston Globe paywall.
At the Chrome browser, click the three dots on the top right hand side of the address bar.
A menu drops down, click "Settings".
Next click "Privacy and security" on the left side of the page.
Scroll down a little, and click "Site settings".
It opens a new page, scroll down until the "Content" section.
Click "JavaScript".
Under "Customized behavior", go to "Not allowed to use JavaScript".
Click the "Add" button.
A box pops up, type in this line.
[*.]bostonglobe.com
Click the blue "Add" button.
After this, you can access all the The Boston Globe articles without an account.
Alternately, you can use any of these two disable JavaScript Chrome extensions.
NoScript Security Suite extension
Install and pin it on the toolbar.
Go to the website homepage, enable the extension by clicking on its small icon at the toolbar.
At the same time, you can see this JavaScript Disabled icon in the address bar.
To turn off JavaScript of a particular site, again use a browser extension.
Once again, you can use these two Firefox disable JavaScript extensions:
NoScript Security Suite extension
Install and pin it to the browser toolbar.
To remove the paywall, click the small extension icon at the toolbar.
Now you can read all the articles of that site without the paywall interruption.
Brave Browser:
This is how to disable JavaScript of Brave browser for a particular website.
For example, you want to read all The New Yorker articles without being blocked, then this is what you do:
Go The New Yorker homepage, click Brave browser icon (lion head) at the tool bar.
A menu box drops down, click on the toggle switch next to "Block scripts".
The white button slides to the right and changes to blue color, and next to it, shows the number of blocked JavaScripts.
Now you can read every New Yorker articles and stories online.
iii. Disable JavaScript for specific web pages
Google Chrome Browser:
Use either of the two browser extensions for Chrome.
NoScript Security Suite extension
Install and pin it to the toolbar, but do not enable it.
When at the paywalled article, then click the icon to enable it.
Instantly the full article would appear.
Mozilla Firefox Browser:
Similarly, use any of the two Firefox browser extension below to turn off JavaScript.
Disable JavaScript Firefox Add-On
Download and install, then pin it to the toolbar.
When at the blocked article, click the icon to enable it.
Automatically the full article would appear.
Two more ways are by using the DevTools and uBlock Origin.
Follow these two tutorials:
How to disable JavaScript with DevTools to bypass paywall
Disable JavaScript with uBlock Origin to bypass paywall
These are various ways how to disable JavaScript to bypass paywalls.
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