diff --git a/brozzler/cli.py b/brozzler/cli.py
index 7523008..bea5153 100755
--- a/brozzler/cli.py
+++ b/brozzler/cli.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 """
 brozzler/cli.py - brozzler command line executables
 
-Copyright (C) 2014-2023 Internet Archive
+Copyright (C) 2014-2024 Internet Archive
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -544,12 +544,27 @@ def brozzler_worker(argv=None):
         finally:
             signal.signal(signal.SIGQUIT, dump_state)
 
+    def get_skip_av_seeds():
+        # TODO: develop UI and refactor
+        SKIP_AV_SEEDS_FILE = "/opt/local/brozzler/skip_av_seeds.txt"
+        try:
+            # make set from seed IDs in SKIP_AV_SEEDS_FILE
+            with open(SKIP_AV_SEEDS_FILE) as skips:
+                skip_av_seeds = {int(l) for l in skips.readlines()}
+                logging.info("running with skip_av_seeds file %s" % SKIP_AV_SEEDS_FILE)
+        except Exception as e:
+            skip_av_seeds = set()
+            logging.info("running with empty skip_av_seeds")
+        return skip_av_seeds
+
     rr = rethinker(args)
     frontier = brozzler.RethinkDbFrontier(rr)
     service_registry = doublethink.ServiceRegistry(rr)
+    skip_av_seeds_from_file = get_skip_av_seeds()
     worker = brozzler.worker.BrozzlerWorker(
         frontier,
         service_registry,
+        skip_av_seeds=skip_av_seeds_from_file,
         max_browsers=int(args.max_browsers),
         chrome_exe=args.chrome_exe,
         proxy=args.proxy,
diff --git a/brozzler/model.py b/brozzler/model.py
index b0f216d..fe9f8c0 100644
--- a/brozzler/model.py
+++ b/brozzler/model.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 brozzler/models.py - model classes representing jobs, sites, and pages, with
 related logic
 
-Copyright (C) 2014-2022 Internet Archive
+Copyright (C) 2014-2024 Internet Archive
 
 Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -235,6 +235,8 @@ class Site(doublethink.Document, ElapsedMixIn):
             self.last_claimed = brozzler.EPOCH_UTC
         if not "scope" in self:
             self.scope = {}
+        if not "skip_ytdlp" in self:
+            self.skip_ytdlp = None
 
         # backward compatibility
         if "surt" in self.scope:
diff --git a/brozzler/worker.py b/brozzler/worker.py
index 2bad677..633ace7 100644
--- a/brozzler/worker.py
+++ b/brozzler/worker.py
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ class BrozzlerWorker:
         self,
         frontier,
         service_registry=None,
+        skip_av_seeds=None,
         max_browsers=1,
         chrome_exe="chromium-browser",
         warcprox_auto=False,
@@ -73,6 +74,7 @@ class BrozzlerWorker:
     ):
         self._frontier = frontier
         self._service_registry = service_registry
+        self._skip_av_seeds = skip_av_seeds
         self._max_browsers = max_browsers
 
         self._warcprox_auto = warcprox_auto
@@ -261,7 +263,7 @@ class BrozzlerWorker:
             except brozzler.PageInterstitialShown:
                 self.logger.info("page interstitial shown (http auth): %s", page)
 
-            if enable_youtube_dl and ydl.should_ytdlp(page, site):
+            if enable_youtube_dl and ydl.should_ytdlp(site, page, self._skip_av_seeds):
                 try:
                     ydl_outlinks = ydl.do_youtube_dl(self, site, page)
                     outlinks.update(ydl_outlinks)
diff --git a/brozzler/ydl.py b/brozzler/ydl.py
index 9caf662..361c693 100644
--- a/brozzler/ydl.py
+++ b/brozzler/ydl.py
@@ -32,9 +32,14 @@ import threading
 thread_local = threading.local()
 
 
-def should_ytdlp(page, site):
+def should_ytdlp(site, page, skip_av_seeds):
     # called only after we've passed needs_browsing() check
+
     if page.status_code != 200:
+        logging.info("skipping ytdlp: non-200 page status")
+        return False
+    if site.skip_ytdlp:
+        logging.info("skipping ytdlp: site marked skip_ytdlp")
         return False
 
     ytdlp_url = page.redirect_url if page.redirect_url else page.url
@@ -42,6 +47,21 @@ def should_ytdlp(page, site):
     if "chrome-error:" in ytdlp_url:
         return False
 
+    ytdlp_seed = (
+        site["metadata"]["ait_seed_id"]
+        if "metadata" in site and "ait_seed_id" in site["metadata"]
+        else None
+    )
+
+    # TODO: develop UI and refactor
+    if ytdlp_seed:
+        if site.skip_ytdlp is None and ytdlp_seed in skip_av_seeds:
+            logging.info("skipping ytdlp: site in skip_av_seeds")
+            site.skip_ytdlp = True
+            return False
+        else:
+            site.skip_ytdlp = False
+
     return True