this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
1550 points (99.1% liked)

Technology

59608 readers
3621 users here now

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


Our Rules


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

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Firefox users are reporting an 'artificial' load time on YouTube videos. YouTube says it's part of a plan to make people who use adblockers "experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using."

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

lol, I take back the snark I gave in another thread the other day about Google doing this to fuck with people now. Egg on my face for giving them the benefit of the doubt.

They can't honestly think this will have the desired effect. I also bet the poor sod that had to implement it "strongly advised not to do it". But was over ruled by some know it all shit head MBA.

[–] vasametropolis@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

Can you say "anti-trust"

[–] EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That's already been confirmed to be bullshit....And what I mean by that is that youtube's claim is bullshit.

[–] Sordid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I wish I could make YouTube "experience suboptimal revenue" in retaliation, but sadly I can't block more than 100% of ads.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] badbytes@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (4 children)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] mmagod@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

they're so shockingly inept, i can't believe it anymore

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 13 points 1 year ago

I don't believe this instance of anticompetitive behavior was an accident either. They just thought while doing it for ad blockers, might as through in the competition in the net too. They just got caught. Now they can plausible claim it was an accident.

Like much of big tech, they are too big. This makes also being anticompetitive just too easy to resist.

[–] spacehedgehog@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I don't understand why companies still place ads on youtube. I've never ever bought a product or visited a company's website which was advertised on youtube.

Are there really people who listen to youtube ads?

[–] Cyberflunk@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Absolutely. I've participated in several campaigns that resulted in ~20% increases in sales for targeted ads. It makes a difference.

Sadly.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Buttons@programming.dev 22 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

make people who use adblockers “experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using.”

The sad thing is, I consider this an upgrade. I'll take a moment to breathe and maybe break out of the negative spiral that is modern internet use.

[–] RoyaltyInTraining@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Five seconds of loading is an upgrade over five consecutive ads

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] snooggums@kbin.social 21 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Huh, I just thought youtube was running slow. Still better than ads.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's like when a teacher can't target the bad kid so they punish the whole class instead.

[–] recapitated@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

GrayJay is still working pretty good. I cannot use the YouTube app, or mobile browsers because most of the content I'm interested in isn't highly visual so I like to turn my screen off and listen. I am ok with a reasonable amount of ads but the anti-feature of background play disabled without premium is just stupid.

[–] 800XL@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

You need YouTube ReVanced.

[–] Mango@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Ads are sub suboptimal viewing.

[–] BlackPit@feddit.ch 17 points 1 year ago

Google's modus operandi - business as usual. Deploying their dirty tricks on their mass of servers to edge out and destroy competition. When caught out they apologize all surprised Pikachu style, then do it again differently. This is likely in response to news about Firefox mobile finally allowing extensions to work. People are probably trying it out, but their Youtube experience will be crap, so they'll go back to chrome.

[–] badbytes@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Whatever you say Google. Hey EU, Google wants to chat with you.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] tristar@lemmyfly.org 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

when are they gonna learn that any client-side restriction or hindrance can and will be defeated? sleep(5000) is kinda like them throwing a fit, not actually trying to punish anyone. obviously we'll find a way to avoid waiting the 5s, do they think we'll just give up?

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

Still illegal

[–] badbytes@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Cruelty, is Thy name.

[–] thejml@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I feel like all the people running Firefox (most of my friends/family and many colleagues) are just going to say “damn, YouTube sucks. I should look elsewhere” and not “oh, it must be slow because I’m not on chrome.” Heck my parents don’t even know what chrome is.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] milan@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 1 year ago

i never experienced that delay in the first place...

[–] Destraight@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

I'll just blame it on my ISP being shit

[–] CannedCairn@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Oh wow, I just opened lemmy because a YouTube video was taking extra time to open in Firefox lol.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›