Google slows down Firefox users when watching YouTube.... : firefox

[–] Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today 39 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Might be a very dumb financial decision but maybe it's time to rethink that whole google search contract renewal coming up in a year or so. Feeling like a toxic relationship

Edit: the time frame is just an assumption due to it being a 3 year contract made in 2020. I would try to seek a relationship with bing tbh, it sucks with privacy but would be a kick to google's balls. Plus the majority of firefox users who start giving a crap about their privacy, change to duckduckgo in the beginning of their journey so it wont be a massive shift from bing imo in terms of searching experience.

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The biggest problem is the loss of users that that incurs… it would be long term damage for temporary financial boost. I think they already tried once to switch to yahoo and it was an unmitigated disaster

[–] Extrasvhx9he@lemmy.today 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah I expect that would be the case but I honestly think out of all the other longterm rivals with deep pockets, bing is firefox's best chance of maintaining most of it's current userbase and maybe even growing it in the longterm especially if bing ai's features keep expanding. Else why would bard be a thing if google didn't feel a bit threatened. Again just my thoughts would like to hear what other opinions are out there.

Edit: would also be a big win for microsoft since a respectable browser is now using it's search engine and not just a butt of the joke like edge is, so maybe firefox can leveage a good chunk of change from them to keep their browser running for a while unlike the deal they did with google. Think it would ultimately destroy edge though but since edge can now be user uninstalled thats bound to happen in a couple of years anyways and with this deal bing will still get some traffic so still a win for microsoft.

[–] GrapesOfAss@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I would be willing to donate if they dropped ties with Google to help supplement the less of revenue

[–] spaduf@slrpnk.net 21 points 2 years ago

Google paying them an absolute shitload of money (still pretty small compared to what Google pays Apple). It'd be pretty hard to get the donations to make up a missing half billion.

[–] echo64@lemmy.world 37 points 2 years ago (7 children)

I know everyone wants to be mad, and I'm no fan of Google. But this is almost certainly an unintentional bug.

Google, more than anything, wants watch hours for ad money. They don't want you frustrated by the alow ux. They want you watching advertisements.

[–] dan@upvote.au 34 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Not a bug - they literally added a 5 second timer in the code: https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/17ywbjj/whenever_i_open_a_youtube_video_in_a_new_tab_its/k9w3ei4/

[–] ToxicWaste@lemm.ee 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes, there is a 5s timeout in youtube's code. However, it is not aimed at Firefox users.

The same code shows up on a fresh chrome installation without any extensions. And the code does not check for the user agent. So the 5s timeout is not there to make Firefox a bad choice for youtube. Following response to your link goes a bit deeper into what the code could mean: https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/17ywbjj/whenever_i_open_a_youtube_video_in_a_new_tab_its/ka08uqj/

[–] dan@upvote.au 1 points 2 years ago

That doesn't explain why it stops happening when you change your user agent in Firefox.

[–] Hegar@kbin.social 22 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I could believe this, but if google doesn't want me to be frustrated on youtube, why do they make it so annoying?

Pushing youtubetv in annoying new ways, putting ads in the middle of songs, serving ads with frustrating frequency, using multiple types of ads so your brain can't just tune out until you hit skip, locking basic functions like add to playlist behind premium accounts.

From their behavior it sure looks like they want me to be annoyed.

[–] SuiXi3D@kbin.social 11 points 2 years ago

They want you making money from them. So watching ads and paying subscription fees. If you aren’t doing either of those things, you’re causing them to lose money. So yeah, they’re gonna make it annoying.

[–] Perfide@reddthat.com 19 points 2 years ago (4 children)

wants watch hours for ad money

Ads which can still be blocked fairly easily on Firefox, unlike in Chrome, which is banning ublock(& likely all other blockers) browser-wide next year. They want to make the firefox experience worse so people have a reason to go back to their ad infested browser.

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[–] FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.org 11 points 2 years ago

Well this rumor came from the linus tech tips forums so just by that I assume it's sensationalized bullshit.

[–] Bremmy@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago

Unfortunately not. It's intentional as someone else looked to the explanation below

[–] Kidplayer_666@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

If they are able to make you switch, you become a heck of a lot more profitable long term as they’re able to collect a loooot more data

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[–] SasquatchBanana@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Has space bar stopped working for anyone else with Youtube? I keep spamming it and it sometimes doesn't work.

[–] mirtuevagnet@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Us j, k, l (-10s, play/pause, +10s). Does not require player focus.

[–] QuazarOmega@lemy.lol 17 points 2 years ago

Based vim user

[–] fiddlesticks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wait its not just me?

[–] SasquatchBanana@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

I had a feeling this was Youtube fuckery.

[–] dan@upvote.au 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Here's the actual source: https://old.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/17z8hsz/youtube_has_started_to_artificially_slow_down/

The link in the post is just recycling the reddit content.

[–] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 24 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Ah, even more reason for me to use less Youtube.

Been substituting it with Nebula, Odysee, and just watching less video content.

[–] MylesRyden@social.vivaldi.net 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

@BombOmOm @furycd001
I am sort of in a content slump right now. The YouTube adblocker blocker has me watching much less and noticing the content actually kinda sucks.

Most news sites are either paywalled or adblocked blocked or so stuffed with ads it's unreadable.

Even my library app doesn't have books newer than like 2019.

This DRM shit totally sucks.

[–] Fosheze@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What ad blocker are you using? I'm using ublock origin and I still haven't seen the ad blocker blocker thing on anything.

[–] MylesRyden@social.vivaldi.net 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

@Fosheze
I use PiHole at home for sytem wide blocking and Vivaldi as my main browser.

I get the adblocker blocker on my main google account, but I have a couple of others for hobbies and I have not seen the blocker there.

[–] Fosheze@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Even though Pi hole doesn't block youtube ads, that's probably what is triggering the ad blocker blocker. Unfortunately I don't know a way around that but I'm sure someone in one of the pihole communities has figured it out.

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[–] H3L1X@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I am in a similar situation. I did just start using RSS and that has been interesting. Nice to get everything in one spot, with no ads, and it's specifically what I'm interested in.

[–] MylesRyden@social.vivaldi.net 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@H3L1X
It would be nice if RSS feeds were easier to discover. I think people feel that no one uses them anymore and doesn't bother to put it front and center or to make lists of good feeds to follow.

[–] H3L1X@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That is very true. This page is a good starting point: https://github.com/plenaryapp/awesome-rss-feeds. It has some interesting feeds, but it is very hard to find things "in the wild" now.

[–] MylesRyden@social.vivaldi.net 2 points 2 years ago

@H3L1X
That looks good 😃

[–] krigo666@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Try FreeTube viewer, still in alpha but already works great. You can create profiles with the channels you want in each one.

https://freetubeapp.io

On mobile (Android) you have NewPipe, GrayJay or SkyTube.

[–] ToxicWaste@lemm.ee 19 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Guys relax. Most of the 'research' comes from this reddit post: https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/17ywbjj/whenever_i_open_a_youtube_video_in_a_new_tab_its/k9w3ei4/

It points out following code in youtube's polymer script:

setTimeout(function() {
    c();
    a.resolve(1)
 }, 5E3);

But exactly this code does show up on a stock installation of chrome too, and it does not check for the user agent. One of the responses goes a bit deeper into what the code above could do: https://old.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/17ywbjj/whenever_i_open_a_youtube_video_in_a_new_tab_its/ka08uqj/

It is rather clear, that this code is not aimed at firefox users to slow down their loading time.

[–] frogbellyratbone_@hexbear.net 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

you spent 20 minutes going through this while i just ran a ping test in 30 seconds

it's real

[–] ToxicWaste@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

I know that you are memeing - but some ppl probably don't have the background to see the difference.

A ping does not contain a http header containing a user agent. The response to a ping is not a webpage - and even if it was, your console won't execute the JS.

[–] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago

It is rather clear, that this code is not aimed at firefox users to slow down their loading time.

alternatively it's just well designed

[+] TGioiellieri@mastodon.uno 19 points 2 years ago

[deleted]

[+] adam_b 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

[deleted]

[–] verysoft@kbin.social 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

Mine instantly loads. Perhaps there's some other stuff going on with hardware/software or something this person is running?

[–] LollerCorleone@kbin.social 8 points 2 years ago

Same, I am not facing any issues too.

[–] iAmTheTot@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago

I use YT every day and use Firefox as my main browser. I've never experienced this. Just tested out of curiosity, it loads fine.

[–] oatscoop@midwest.social 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I've experienced this issue firsthand, although it's more like 3 to 4 seconds. Changing the user agent to Chrome causes videos to load instantly, and restoring it to the original user agent causes the "lag".

Some possibly relevant information: I'm running Firefox with unlock Origin on Linux Mint. I've also received the "playback will be disabled after 3 videos" message in the past -- so it's possibly only affecting users they strongly suspect are still using ad-blockers with workarounds.

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[–] CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I wonder what would happen if Google manages to destroy itself with increasing shenanigans like this.

I mean, so much of digital based stuff relies on them for some extent.

[–] 7bicycles@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago

we get a lot of people learning what "digital sovereignity" means

just kidding, the state is going to pay every business affected gajillion dollars to buy more google

[–] FALGSConaut@hexbear.net 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Google is declared "too big to fail" and get a multi-million dollar bailout

[–] GarfieldYaoi@hexbear.net 3 points 2 years ago

"But you see, capitalists take on a risk..."

[–] CrowAirbrush@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

Tax dollars are paying for that right?

I'm Dutch myself, but i know a lot of people who can't afford another increase in cost of living...i'm quite certain America has many more people in the same situation.

[–] middlemanSI@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

First thing that comes to mind is user agent spoofer. Anyway I say let them, it's their company with userbase content and it's based in US. They can do whatever they want with it because terms of service. I can just look at my sexy John Oliver poster on the wall for 30 min and replace their service.

[–] GrapesOfAss@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

It's actually how the discovered this, user agent was changed to chrome and it was no longer slowed down

[–] frogbellyratbone_@hexbear.net 3 points 2 years ago

i've got some irrational nerd rage going on right now reading this

less about google, more about the individuals who programmed this. holy hell