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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."

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[-] nfsu2@feddit.cl 74 points 11 months ago

I do not think Google deserves the benefit of the doubt anymore, people need to stop using their services.

[-] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago

~~Do No Evil~~

Be A Lil Bitch

[-] kattenluik@feddit.nl 9 points 11 months ago

No one's going to unless someone recreates YouTube, which isn't happening anytime soon.

[-] irreticent@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

It's already been recreated (vevo, peertube, etc.) it's just that those services don't have anywhere near the content Youtube has.

[-] nfsu2@feddit.cl 8 points 11 months ago

Thanks fot saving my time answering for all of us

[-] greenmarty@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago
  • they don't have Alphabet's backing
[-] Draconic_NEO@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The ad funded model is dying AKA endless free money is dying, it doesn't work because there's no real business there it works based on the empty promise of making money elsewhere on the products they are selling without any guarantee that the advertisement is what's making them the money. The analytics are starting to tell them that it's not as good of an investment as they once thought. Advertisement has become overvalued, that's why people are saying that there is a bubble and that it's going to burst, just like it happened before with the dotcom crash.

In other words a platform like YouTube is already very flawed. Sure you can make alternative video sharing platforms and you can get them by on donations (or maybe even nationalize it in some places) but that money making component for creators isn't something that can be as easily replicated. They can do sponsorships, they can ask for donations, but donations are hardly anything to live by unless you're famous, and sponsorships can have the same problem as the aforementioned over-inflated ad revenue.

[-] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

Idk, this one is pretty easily explained by Hanlon's razor. I'm sure others will disagree, which is fine, but it seems not only plausible, but likely that they intended for this to target all ad block users and not just FireFox. Google has waged a war with adblockers, and they are making quick retaliatory changes as the adblockers block the adblocker blockers. It's literally Google making changes and people changing the adblockers back. It genuinely seems more realistic for them to have tried to target all adblockers than just FireFox...

[-] mlg@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Yeah except changing your user agent to chrome bypasses the load slowdown lol

Thanks to HTTP being a complete mish mash and meme of protocols and standards, there's no way for google to easily target ad blockers without either significantly changing the entire youtube API, or trying to enforce stupid DRM bullcrappary by updating or pushing for a new web standard.

Even crunchyroll doesn't crackdown on ad block even with DRM playback enabled.

[-] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Yeah except changing your user agent to chrome bypasses the load slowdown lol

Did you test this yourself? Rather than just ask your source, I was going to test it myself. However, I cannot get a slow down at all. Everything is loading instantly and ad-free. Perhaps the servers providing my instance of YouTube don't have the change, I'm not sure, but I have not been able to personally create this. So without a reliable source or evidence, I cannot just take your word for it that changing the user-agent alone fixed the issue.

[-] greenmarty@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Rossmann tested it in latest video. No difference between browsers. And that dude is strong ad block and none Google browser supporter.

[-] Dewded@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Pretty much. Doesn't help that Firefox is the best browser for customizing your browsing experience. So all adblockers are very good on it.

Probably some summer trainee tasked with solving the Firefox + ublock Origin combo made an oopsie.

With all that said: fuck Google for even beginning their crusade against adblockers.

this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
1689 points (100.0% liked)

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