Why YouTube is slowing down videos for some users – and how to fix it

Some YouTube users have reported that the website takes an extremely long time to load.

The issue seems to mostly affect Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge users, but there have been fewer reports of the issue in Chrome.

The issue is related to ad blockers, according to YouTube.

When ad blockers are enabled, even on Google Chrome, some YouTube users have reported on Reddit Wait five seconds The site will load when you open a new tab.

But users reported that the issue occurred to them on browsers other than Chrome, when they were not using ad blockers.

Read more: Google ordered to sell parts of its lucrative digital advertising business, as Europe’s antitrust watchdog says this is the only way to tackle anti-competitive practices

The 27-nation European Union has led the global movement to crack down on Big Tech companies — including pioneering rules on artificial intelligence — but has previously relied on issuing massive fines, including three antitrust penalties on Google worth billions of dollars. This is the first time the European Union has told a tech giant that it must split up major parts of its business due to violations of the EU’s strict antitrust laws, although no details have been revealed about what that would look like. Google can now defend itself by presenting its case before the committee issues its final decision. The company said it disagreed with the outcome and would respond accordingly, as the EU investigation focuses on a narrow portion of its advertising business.

All of this comes in the middle of the United States government Antitrust case Against Google, which owns YouTube, which is accused of anticompetitive practices related to online advertising.

So the appearance that Google is making the YouTube experience worse for people using competing web browsers could spell even worse news for the company.

Members of the r/Piracy subreddit pointed out earlier this year that YouTube was Test ad blockers.

However, none of this explains why using Edge or Firefox causes problems.

The mystery is deepening, as many media outlets and individual users have been unable to replicate the delay.

Android Authority was unable to implement a five-second delay on Firefox, Chrome, or Edge, despite being one of the first to do so Report on this issueAnd even identify the code snippet that is supposed to be causing the delay.

Youtube 404 Media said The delay some users are experiencing is due to their use of ad blockers, and it should not have anything to do with the browser they are using.

“Users who have ad blockers installed may experience a suboptimal viewing experience, regardless of the browser they use,” the company told the news outlet.

404 Media was unable to replicate the delay across multiple browsers either.

If you’re worried about YouTube penalizing you with a “sub-optimal” experience, try turning off your ad blocker.

It’s not an ideal solution if you prefer not to watch ads, but it can at least prevent weird lag.

Even after turning off ad blockers, some users reported continued lag, leading many to suspect that the lag was related to their specific accounts.

As YouTube rolls out new ad technology, including ad blocking detectors, the company may be testing such features on some users but not others, according to 404 Media.

To overcome lag in Firefox, some Reddit users reported that using the user agent switcher eliminated the five-second lag.

This method makes the user’s browser appear to be a different browser – in this case, Chrome instead of Firefox.

So, if you are facing lag even after turning off your ad blocker, this could be the perfect solution.