this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023

506 points (97.6% liked)

Technology

58180 readers

5455 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

506

YouTube is reportedly slowing down videos for Firefox users (www.androidauthority.com)

submitted 10 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

30 comments fedilink hide all child comments

YouTube is reportedly slowing down videos for Firefox users::Users are reporting that YouTube has begun adding a five second delay when loading a video on non-Chrome browsers like Firefox. Read on!

all 31 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] Thann@lemmy.ml 108 points 10 months ago (2 children)

That's an antitrust lawsuit waiting to happen

[–] blindbunny@lemmy.ml 32 points 10 months ago

Time to break Google up so they can buy all the companies the government forced them to sale!

[–] stormesp@lemm.ee 51 points 10 months ago (4 children)

fun fact, i had been noticing this for over a week or two already, today, after the first posts about this were gaining traction it stopped. They are probably trying to erase their tracks and make it seem like something that only happened to a few people for an unrelated reason.

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 18 points 10 months ago

Or they do A\B testing and you fell from your initial group. Due to the nature of this lag, it's hard to confirm without internal leaks or investigation. At least, it got reported.

[–] set_secret@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I also noticed it. Put it down to my sometimes flakey wifi. But this makes more sense. What a bunch of babies.

[–] Sheeple@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

So that's why YouTube seemed to act weird. I thought my wi-fi was dying

[–] criticalthreshold@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Wow yeah. The delays have stopped on my end as well today.

[–] kusivittula@sopuli.xyz 1 points 10 months ago

i felt like this has been a thing since like 10 years ago. with 100 mbps connection yt would always struggle to buffer in ff

[–] ShunkW@lemmy.world 25 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is not Firefox specific. It's another anti ad blocker technique they're trying.

[–] Jolteon@lemmy.zip 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Wait, so their solution to people using adblock is to add a 5sec delay to everyone's videos?

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 9 points 10 months ago

Everyone not on chrome/chromium based browser it seems. Get everyone to switch to chrome then remove chrome's ability to block ads I assume is the plan, though I doubt anyone using Firefox isn't aware of chrome and this is likely to push them further away, not towards it.

[–] ShunkW@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

To anyone using an ad blocker it would appear. Not saying it's right, just trying to correct misinformation.

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Time to spoof the user agent?

[–] krigo666@lemmy.world 19 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Nah, just be patient and wait the 5s. They are trying to create an artificial problem to try to make users switch to their garbage Chrome browser. When they see that Firefox users are smarter and don't give a shit about their stupid tactics, or even better, use different apps like FreeTube to see the videos, they will stop. Either that or destroy the platform.

I wait the 5 secs, don't bother me at all. It's not like they are an ad... :D

[–] LWD@lemm.ee 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

deleted

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 10 months ago

Nah, wouldn't want to contribute to Chrome market share.

[–] Zeroxxx@lemmy.my.id 3 points 10 months ago

No, that just sweeps the issue under the rug.

[–] syrooks@infosec.pub 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Friendly reminder you can watch YouTube videos in VLC (I have not tested whether speed is affected this way)

[–] Shayeta@feddit.de 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I'm pretty sure it takes more effort, if not also time, to copy URL into VLC every time i find a video.

[–] syrooks@infosec.pub 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It’s about the principle lol

[–] Shayeta@feddit.de 1 points 10 months ago

Ah, spite, one of my favourite motivators. Carry on.

[–] Uniquitous@lemmy.one 13 points 10 months ago

The article gives the game away. Just change your user agent and you're golden.

[–] lapommedeterre@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't put it past them, but I think it needs more evidence.

[–] CriticalMiss@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Try spoofing your user agent and see if it improves.

[–] ledtasso@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Is anyone even able to reproduce the issue? It cannot be improved if you can't reproduce it in the first place.

[–] 3xa8yte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

They also restrict subscriptions to one account if you buy anything on the playstore. Subscriptions which aren't restricted by their creators. Google has become a full shitshow. I'll take care to give them 0$ from now on.

[–] EmoBean@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

I'll take care to give them 0$ from now on.

They think it's funny to throttle my connection because I'm using an ad blocker with Firefox.

I think it's funny to max my bandwidth playing videos through VLC and other non web browser front ends.

I've been far more petty, but it's the little things that keep me going. Force ads, I will force blockers. Force throttling, I will force my bandwidth. Once your site is fully enshittified I just leave. I don't care. I figure this is the last few usage I'll get of YouTube so enjoy it and fuck trying to save it.

[–] Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago

Petty Alphabet…petty. Do you not have a killer AI coming? What does YouTube even matter in the face of what is coming. Do you really have competitive AI?

[–] tabular@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

yt-[tab-tab] (paste)

[–] Betch@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

I've noticed that when I open a video in a new tab instead of just left-clicking it. Slightly annoying but better than ads and using chrome.