Although it doesn’t seem to be totally accurate, a representative states that ad filters, not browser type, are the cause of the five-second delay.
A few users of Mozilla Firefox have noticed an odd five-second lag when opening a YouTube video. The same individuals claim that playing happens normally when they switch to Google Chrome, leading others to speculate that the problem may be browser-related.
Reddit user /u/vk6_ posted a video to the /r/YouTube subreddit on Sunday, which is among the earliest complaints of the delay. In the video, /u/vk6_ is seen opening a Firefox music video. YouTube shows a blank loading page for five seconds before allowing the video to start, rather than playing it right away.
The caption for /u/vk6_ says, “They’ve added in this artificial 5 second delay here.” “I’ll now modify the User-Agent to make YouTube believe I’m using Chrome.” The five seconds pass after /u/vk6_ completes that switch.
Reports of a similar nature have appeared on Tumblr, X, and Reddit. While not all Firefox users are affected, those who are can completely eliminate the lag by switching browsers or altering the user agent of their browser. Even deeper into YouTube’s desktop client, Reddit user /u/paintboth1234, discovered a segment of JavaScript code called “setTimeout” that appears to be the source of the pause.
Has YouTube entered the browser wars as a pawn? Maybe. The anti-ad blocker “experiment” that YouTube started back in May has been expanded to force users to subscribe to Premium. The uBlock Origin browser extension and Firefox swiftly became the go-to alternatives to watching advertisements or shelling out $14 a month for a Premium membership. Given that YouTube is owned by Google, it makes reasonable that the company would encourage people to switch to Chrome, even if doing so required using a dubious tactic like this one. It wouldn’t be shocking in the slightest if the YouTube staff wasn’t excited about this.
YouTube refutes the delay’s link to web browsers in a message to Android Authority. A representative for YouTube stated on Tuesday, “We’ve launched an effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience. Our goal is to support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and enable billions to access their favourite content on YouTube.” “Regardless of the browser they are using, users who have ad blockers installed may suffer inferior viewing.”
Although this provides some information, it doesn’t explain why the problem goes away when they switch to Chrome. The statement “users who experience the delay are advised to either allow ads for YouTube or subscribe to YouTube Premium” is even worse, according to Android Authority. This “advice” seems to be from a representative of YouTube, which puts us back at the beginning.