Does ANYONE like autoplaying videos on news sites / articles?
Does ANYONE like autoplaying videos on news sites / articles?
In today’s fast-paced digital world, we often rely on various online platforms to quench our thirst for knowledge, information, and entertainment. Among these platforms, news websites hold a significant position as they allow us to stay updated about current events across the globe. However, despite their essential role in delivering crucial content, many of these sites have resorted to irritating tactics that negatively impact user experience. One such tactic is the automatic playback of videos accompanied by full audio when one opens their webpage.
This practice has become increasingly common among news sites due to the belief that users prefer a multimedia experience over plain text articles. However, there is no empirical evidence to support this assumption. On the contrary, many have raised concerns over these autoplaying videos. These concerns range from audio intrusion into private spaces, lack of control over sound output, to the consumption of data and battery life on mobile devices. The most prominent criticism against this practice stems from the mismatch between the video’s subject matter and the article itself. In other words, these videos are unrelated to the content of the page and often serve solely as advertisements, disruptive interfaces, or attempts at misleading engagement metrics.
Does ANYONE actually like these videos? I typically scramble to find the close and/or mute button as soon as I can. Infuriating.
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Google news is my go to… I’m sure someone can tell me why that’s bad and that I’m stupid ):
I am in the habit of right click, open in new tab… then as that tab is loading, right click the tab and ‘mute tab’.
I’m using Firefox but I’m sure the other browsers have a mute tab function.
I seriously just want to read articles. I don’t want some loud bullshit screaming at me every time I open an article.
You can set Firefox to block auto-play, even if you open the tab in the foreground, put uBlock origin on top of it and you get rid of most of those annoying videos.
Sweet, I am liking Firefox more and more after making the switch a few months ago
You can actually set a thing on the tab so it mutes that particular site automatically. It's very cool.
I happen to use it for the very nerdy purpose of muting the fucking ads after I finish a puzzle on sudoku.net or so, but you may have a more lofty purpose. Hope it works for you as well as it works for me!
Interesting. I use Google News as well, and I have never had audio play. I tend to use it on mobile, and my default browser on mobile is Firefox. Specifically Firefox in private browser mode, so I don't have to worry about cookies.
I use Firefox on the desktop as well, but not usually in private mode. I also don't ever have video autoplay that way. I'm not sure why. I don't think I installed any extensions to turn it off, but I might have tweaked the browser settings shortly after installing.
I meant when I click on any of the articles curated by Google news… a lot of the sites that Google news aggregates are sites that auto play videos.
I think that we're talking about the same thing. When I read those articles curated by Google news in my mobile browser, I have never, not once, had audio play. Maybe try Firefox mobile?
I’m talking about on desktop, although come to think of it, I think on mobile in Firefox focus, the videos auto play on mute… maybe because my phone is on mute, not sure. I am using Firefox for both now. Ditched chrome about a year ago when I noticed edge was actually working better for things, then ditched edge during the YouTube debacle a few months back. Super happy with Firefox + UBlock.
Also maybe my local news sites are shittier than your local news sites. It’s mostly the local news sites that have the shitty auto play, along with some shitty national sites like Fox News. And even though I do avoid fox like the plague, sometimes I like to see how a legitimate story gets spun by the right.
With that said, others have mentioned that on desktop using Firefox, and probably mobile as well, rather than selecting mute tab super quick, there are settings to prevent auto play all together.