News Google allegedly crippling Firefox's YouTube performance — company's response to five-second video delay for non-Chrome users misses the point

[Admin]

YouTube has responded to accusations that it is introducing artificial delays in Firefox and Edge video loading by conflating the issue with the use of ad blockers.

Google allegedly crippling Firefox's YouTube performance — company's response to five-second video delay for non-Chrome users misses the point : Read more

 

[usertests]

Miraculously, the YouTube video loading delay disappears when the browser self-identifies as Chrome via an extension which facilitates these kinds of adjustments.

Call it what it is, a "user agent switcher".

 

[BX4096]

If the video delay disappears with a simple user agent switch, it definitively proves that Google's "ad blocker" response is utter BS.

Personally, I don't care if it's a 30-second delay. I'm still not switching to Chrome as my default PC browser. Firefox's countless addons and better privacy make it an infinitely superior browser regardless of minor speed differences. My larger concern is I've seen several other high-profile websites starting to have compatibility issues – mostly minor, but still – with Firefox in the past year, so this kind of scummy tactics may force more casual users to switch.

 

[atomicWAR]

This war on adblockers, which is certainly part of why this happened, will backfire as they always do... They'd be better off adding more (affordable) tiers for subs than pissing off a large portion of their user base. People need to support the services they use but this is not the way

 

[atomicWAR]

If the video delay disappears with a simple user agent switch, it definitively proves that Google's "ad blocker" response is utter BS.

Personally, I don't care if it's a 30-second delay. I'm still not switching to Chrome as my default PC browser. Firefox's countless addons and better privacy make it an infinitely superior browser regardless of minor speed differences. My larger concern is I've seen several other high-profile websites starting to have compatibility issues – mostly minor, but still – with Firefox in the past year, so this kind of scummy tactics may force more casual users to switch.

Ditto...I typically only use firefox. This changes nothing and wouldn't change even if they outright broke YT on firefox.

 

[PEnns]

There is a reason many people choose FireFox over Chrome.

I am not switching to that miserable data harvester no matter how many dirty tricks Chrome and its ghoulish parent dish out.

 

[bigdragon]

The same delay exists on Samsung's mobile browser. I'd rather sit through 5 blank seconds than 2 annoying ads.

 

[peachpuff]

Hdr is also missing from YouTube on Firefox, is that googles doing also?

 

[hotaru.hino]

Instructions aren't clear on how to add the uBlock filter. So from https://www.reddit.com/r/uBlockOrigin/comments/17tm9rp/comment/k9i62zu/

Click on uBO icon > ⚙ Dashboard button > Add the filter(s) in "My filters" pane > ✓ Apply changes > Open new tab and test again.

Hdr is also missing from YouTube on Firefox, is that googles doing also?

No. HDR support was added for the macOS version: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/05/03/firefox-100-hdr-video-mac/

I can't find the post, but the excuse I found from the dev team was processing an HDR video is complicated and there are bigger fish to fry.

 

[hotaru251]

This war on adblockers, which is certainly part of why this happened, will backfire as they always do..

yup.
last yr Twitch went rabid to try and fight em and kept makign uopdates every few hrs to break blocker fixes.

They realized that it wasn't winnable and now they basically gave up.

Google will learn that too.

& if they purposefully do harm other web browsers (and its provable in a court) they will not like outcome.

I have never liked Chrome (yes early on it was good but still disliked interface then)

now-a-days its not soemthign special as other browsers have caught up.

Firefox until I die & if someday YT block it? well guess I will have to touch grass more? (not like i havent done it when I cut off FB)

 

[atomicWAR]

No. HDR support was added for the macOS version: https://www.macrumors.com/2022/05/03/firefox-100-hdr-video-mac/

I can't find the post, but the excuse I found from the dev team was processing an HDR video is complicated and there are bigger fish to fry.

I missed that. Hopefully it will come to other FF platforms soon.

 

[HaninTH]

Let us not forget that a sizable portion of Firefox's financial funding comes from Alphabet/Google by way of the default search engine "fund".

 

[tamalero]

The war against firefox has been ongoing for quite a bit but not for most public.
For example, I always get less than 20% of my internet capacity to upload when using firefox. Uploading the same video using chrome uses 100% of it.

 

[pclaughton]

Alright Mozilla lawyers, time to earn those paychecks.

 

[Colif]

I don't get this, instead ever since Friday, when I scroll down the recommended page, it jumps back up to show videos I have already seen. Its annoying as I do have Premium and they still messing with me.
Latest version of Firefox

its funny as I can't see any videos at all on Chrome, its been broken for months. Its why I use Firefox to start with.
Not going to use Edge... pass.

Google made 80% of its revenue in 2021 from just Advertising. That is why they care so much, they may paint it as protecting security but its really about more profit. How dare people not share their data... the bots won't learn otherwise.

I stopped using Chrome when it added a targeted ads option. None wasn't an option it offered. I rejected it.

 

[nitrium]

Just switch to Brave browser. Chromium based (so most of the Chrome extensions work) and you don't even need to install adblockers or tracker blockers since those are built-in.

 

[RedBear87]

Chromium based

I might as well switch to Edge and make Nadella happier, then... not that I particularly care for Mozilla and the way they've been (mis)managing their software over the years. At this point it's really just a matter of habits, I've been using Firefox since 1.5.

 

[umeng2002_2]

I've been using FF since the mid 00s. I almost switched to Chrome before FF went mutli-thread, but I stuck with it. I will never switch to Chrome.

 

[Dragos Manea]

I agree that brave is the better options here, Chromium based, no delay, privacy, adblockers integrated and keeps chrome campatibility in websites or addons. Firefox is long dead for me because it has performance issues and crashes for general browsing.

 

[dalek1234]

Google is lying. I have the Privacy Badger and UBlock Origin ad blocker addon in Firefox and in Chrome. YouTube videos misbehave on Firefox, and run fine in Chrome. It has been like that for long time. And it's not just some 5-second delay. There are mid-video slowdowns, video re-starts, other interruption on Firefox, never on Chrome.

Google, you are a bunch of dirty suckers!

Originally, when YouTube videos started having problem in Firefox, I immediately through "I bet Google is doing this on purpose. I bet the videos will play just fine in Chrome" So I switch to Chrome to test out my 'theory'. My 'theory' became fact

 

[-Fran-]

I went back to Firefox after years of using Chrome because was more convenient as FF lacked a lot of functionality. It has been a nice come back to form for me, being back to FF and enjoying it.

I'll uninstall Chrome shortly and just get rid of it in all my devices after FF runs without issues for more than a month.

No friggen wonder Google removed their "do no evil" slogan.

Regards,

 

[dalek1234]

...No friggen wonder Google removed their "do no evil" slogan.

...

I believe it was "don't be evil". But it doesn't matter. Same meaning.

I respected Google for not being 'evil', while they actually followed that mantra. Then things changed. Now they are like the rest of them.

 

[hannibal]

Dominant market position is newer problematic...
right...

 

[cknobman]

I use firefox desktop and mobile.
I have no delay or issues playing YouTube.

This is across 2 different laptops, a phone, and a tablet.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I use firefox desktop and mobile.
I have no delay or issues playing YouTube.

This is across 2 different laptops, a phone, and a tablet.

If you're not using an ad-blocker, the site likely doesn't do anything. And sites can detect if you're using an ad-blocker.