In November of last year, the internet was alive with speculation about Google deliberately slowing down YouTube on the Mozilla Firefox browser while keeping its own browser, Chrome, unaffected. However, Google quickly dispelled these rumors by explaining that the “suboptimal viewing” experience was not specific to Firefox and was occurring on various browsers. The tech giant attributed the issue to “installed ad blockers.”
Fast forward to January, and a similar incident has occurred. Numerous user reports emerged online, claiming that YouTube was running slowly when ad blockers were enabled. Unsurprisingly, many users were quick to blame Google for the problem.
Reddit users were the first to raise the issue, sparking a widespread discussion about the slowdown. It was later revealed that the cause of the problem was not YouTube or Google, but an issue with Adblock and Adblock Plus’ latest update, Version 5.17.0.
Users who were using a different ad blocker, such as uBlock Origin, may not have experienced any slowdown issues.
Developers of Adblock Plus acknowledged the issue as a performance regression and addressed it on their GitLab repository. The release of Adblock Plus version 3.22 upgraded the bundled extension engine to 1.1.1, while AdBlock released version 5.17.0, which also updated the extension engine to the same version. This resulted in reports of slow response time and performance issues.
It was determined that the problem lay within the extension engine, as Adblock Plus, AdBlock, and the EWE test extension all experienced similar issues with the 1.1.1 version of the extension engine.
The issue has since been resolved with the release of eyeo’s Web Extension Ad Blocking Toolkit (EWE) version 1.1.2, which reverted the breaking change.
Users who have been experiencing issues with Adblock and Adblock Plus are advised to update their extensions. Additionally, it is recommended to avoid running multiple content filters or ad blockers on the browser if performance issues are being encountered.
As a news publication, Neowin relies on advertisements to cover operating costs. For those using an ad blocker, whitelisting the site is greatly appreciated. Furthermore, Neowin offers an ad-free subscription for $28 a year as an alternative way to show support.
Conspiracy theories ran rampant last November as internet users speculated that Google was intentionally slowing down YouTube on the Mozilla Firefox browser while its own Chrome browser remained unaffected. However, Google quickly squashed these rumors by clarifying that the “suboptimal viewing” experience was not limited to Firefox and was occurring on various browsers. The tech giant attributed the issue to “installed ad blockers.”
Fast forward to January, and a similar incident unfolded. Numerous user reports claimed that YouTube was running slowly when users had ad blockers enabled. Unsurprisingly, many users were quick to blame Google for the problem.
The issue was initially raised by Reddit users, sparking a widespread discussion about the slowdown. It was later revealed that the cause of the problem was not YouTube or Google but an issue with Adblock and Adblock Plus’ latest update, Version 5.17.0.
Users who were using a different ad blocker, such as uBlock Origin, may not have experienced any slowdown issues.
Developers of Adblock Plus acknowledged the issue as a performance regression and addressed it on their GitLab repository. The release of Adblock Plus version 3.22 upgraded the bundled extension engine to 1.1.1, while AdBlock released version 5.17.0, which also updated the extension engine to the same version. This resulted in reports of slow response time and performance issues.
It was determined that the problem lay within the extension engine, as Adblock Plus, AdBlock, and the EWE test extension all experienced similar issues with the 1.1.1 version of the extension engine.
The issue has since been resolved with the release of eyeo’s Web Extension Ad Blocking Toolkit (EWE) version 1.1.2, which reverted the breaking change.
Users who have been experiencing issues with Adblock and Adblock Plus are advised to update their extensions. Additionally, it is recommended to avoid running multiple content filters or ad blockers on the browser if performance issues are being encountered.
As a news publication, Neowin relies on advertisements to cover operating costs. For those using an ad blocker, whitelisting the site is greatly appreciated. Furthermore, Neowin offers an ad-free subscription for $28 a year as an alternative way to show support.
