this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Google slows down Firefox users when watching YouTube....

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[–] ToxicWaste@lemm.ee 20 points 11 months 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 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months 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 3 points 11 months 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 11 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] Klear@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

That's borderline persecution fetish.