Strong suspicions are emerging online that YouTube is intentionally slowing down access to its online videos from browsers other than Chrome, Google’s in-house browser. The browsers affected by this discrimination include Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
At the origin of the case, the media Android Authority cites Reddit user @vk6_, who published a video on Tuesday showing a five-second delay when loading a YouTube video on Mozilla Firefox.
But when the video is transferred to Google Chrome browser, it plays immediately without delay.
The five-second delay could be caused by an ad
@vk6_ said that the delay is not due to a bug in the Firefox browser. He explains that the YouTube client’s JavaScript code contains code that artificially adds a five-second delay.
Other Reddit users also claim that YouTube videos loaded slowly in Firefox and Edge browsers. They located and published the code.
Android Authority confirmed that the code does indeed exist, but was unable to confirm that it is actually causing the videos to lag by five seconds.
Some sources suggest that the five-second delay could be caused by an ad that starts before the video plays.
This code appears to be related to YouTube’s anti-ad blocking features
This code appears to be related to anti-ad blocking features that YouTube recently rolled out.
If Google has set the ad to play at least five seconds before the video starts, if a user uses an ad blocker, the video may appear delayed for the five seconds the ad is playing .
“To support a diverse ecosystem and enable billions of people to access their favorite content on YouTube, we launched an initiative to encourage users with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience. Users who have ad blockers installed may not experience optimal viewing regardless of the browser they use,” a YouTube spokesperson told Cybernews about of this affair.
Source: “ZDNet Korea”