782
Youtube has started to artificially slow down video load times if you use Firefox (old.reddit.com)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by to c/mildlyinfuriating@lemmy.world
71 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Spoofing Chrome magically makes this problem go away. The slow down is 5 secs according to the video.

Update 1: Safari faces the same treatment

Update 2: Google confirms 5 sec delays for ad-block user

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 163 points 2 years ago (7 children)

I dont believe this will have the desired affect Google thinks it will. I, personally, will never buy Premium or switch to Chrome without an AD block. If anything, I will just download via linux or just not watch Youtube anymore.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 13 child comments
    •
  • [–] 20 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Ever since I discovered Piped and LibreTube, I never looked back.And I used premium for years.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
    •
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    If only there was an easy way to selfhost piped or viewtube...

    I swear there would be more instances if they made an easy step by step guide but I guess that's life when you choose FOSS...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    Piped is just too inconsistent for me. I gave it a solid month or two, but half the time I open it up none of the instances are loading any videos. Eventually I gave up and looked into other options, ended up using FreeTube.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 7 child comments
    •
    • load more comments (5 replies)
    • load more comments (4 replies)
    • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 91 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    I'm pretty sure this is going to directly violate Internet neutrality laws when the FCC votes them back into effect.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 5 child comments
    •
    • load more comments (3 replies)
    [–] 82 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Didn't similar shit get Microsoft hit with antitrust lawsuits?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    Yes… many years later, and while those lawsuits were slowly being resolved, Microsoft was busy laying the groundwork for other bullshit that was unethical but not technically illegal.

    If you actually expect a solution in a reasonable amount of time, either invent time travel or spoof Chrome.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 74 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

    Ive been noticing this recently too also buffering occasionally on random videos from time to time when im having 0 connectivity issues. This isint going to make the average person think firefox is bad but rather that youtube is garbage

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 25 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I'm one of 5 people who have premium (I use YouTube Music) and they're still slowing down videos for me. Also maybe it's in my head, but I think the Google search has been taking longer too. I've noticed some extra loading time that doesn't show up in Microsoft edge, or if I use duckduckgo/bing from Firefox.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago

    I have had random freezing on the mobile Firefox for months now. I typically search in a private tab with a bunch of trackers disabled. If I do the same search in Chrome, Edge, Samsung Internet (in their incognito tabs) the searches load. This seems like a block on Firefox itself

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
    • [–] 40 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Gonna keep talking about Peertube until it starts to take off.

    Seriously, how great would it be for your fave youtubers to have their own Peertube instance, and know that your donations go DIRECTLY to support them and maintain their server? With NO advertisements or possibility of Google shutting you down just cuz they dont like you

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 39 points 2 years ago

    I was wondering what that was for a few days. I thought it was just uBlock Origin doing its work.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 36 points 2 years ago

    Fuck Google

    Use Invidious or Piped to bypass the ads, tracking as well as the slow down. You can combine it with LibRedirect to automatically redirect all YouTube links to Invidious or Piped. Works like a dream. Another option is FreeTube, it's a desktop client for YouTube that can also use the Invidious API.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 36 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    This should not be legal.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 23 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Yeah, user agent switcher set to chrome, made vids load immediately. Shitty move google.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Is this only in certain areas? YouTube is still working fine for me on FireFox.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
    • load more comments (1 reply)
    [–] 19 points 2 years ago

    I use https://piped.video/trending as an alternative to YouTube.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 16 points 2 years ago

    US DOJ has an anti-trust complaint page... Easy to find via search...

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Begun, the Chrome spoof wars have.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
    • [–] 11 points 2 years ago

    Fuck Google, Fuck Youtube, Fuck Alphabet, Honestly just fuck everyone who does this shit

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 9 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I've noticed this happening on Firefox, but not with LibreWolf for some reason

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 9 points 2 years ago

    I am not spoofing my user agent and I'm going to continue using FOSS front-ends to access YouTube until an alternative takes off. Fuck you Google.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    I had this the past ~3 days, but now it's gone as of yesterday evening.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 8 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I called it. However I didn't expect them to do it that early.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    What is a user agent changer you'd recommend? When I'm on Linux, I use a Firefox PWA as my YouTube webapp.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    What if I would change the useragent?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
    • load more comments
    view more: next ›