YouTube admitted on Monday that it intentionally delayed the loading times of its videos for an express organization of users.
The controversy arose after Firefox browser users began using YouTube in recent days to slow down the loading of videos by five seconds for anyone other than Google’s Chrome browser.
The purported effort was seen as proof that Google, which owns Chrome and YouTube, punishes users who don’t use its products.
After receiving widespread attention online, Google posted a confirmation that Express users “may enjoy suboptimal viewing,” but denied that it was aimed at those who use Chrome.
Instead, Google told 404 Media that it is imposing a five-second hold on those using ad blockers, regardless of their browser.
“To support a diverse ecosystem of creators around the world and enable billions to access their favorite content on YouTube, we have introduced an effort to incentivize audiences with ad blockers enabled to allow classified ads on YouTube or visit YouTube Premium to “enjoy a delight without advertising,” he said. the company spokesperson said. “Users who have ad blockers installed will likely experience suboptimal results regardless of which browser they are using. “
But many are skeptical of Google’s claims. Some users have tested the theory with user-agent switches, computers that trick websites into thinking you’re another browser.
One X user said he was affected by the lag when his browser presented as Apple’s Safari without an ad blocker enabled. Others on internet sites like Reddit also reported experiencing a slower experience with the Brave browser.
Still, the effects are inconsistent and seem to point to implementation issues on Google’s part, expressly targeting non-Chrome users.
However, there are a lot of negative reactions about this factor online. Google’s move comes just days after it revealed that an upcoming edition of Chrome would weaken the features of ad blockers.
Google said the changes would help the browser’s security. Critics, however, point to security considerations with advertising, such as malvertising, an attack that injects malicious code into online ads.
The current fiasco isn’t the first time Google has been accused of targeting users in this way. An engineer at Mozilla, the Firefox company, also claimed in 2018 that Google was slowing down YouTube load times for users who don’t use Chrome.