Starting today, YouTube is almost unusable on Firefox

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Reported YouTube–Firefox Problems

  • Many Firefox users (Linux, Windows, Debian, Arch, macOS ESR) report YouTube becoming extremely slow or freezing, especially with comments, chats, infinite scroll, or Shorts; some see huge CPU/RAM spikes and even tab crashes.
  • Some see a Chrome-promo “use Chrome” interstitial, and odd UI bugs (wrong metadata for the playing video, missing settings text).
  • Others say YouTube works “fine” or unchanged on recent Firefox versions, often on Windows/macOS, sometimes with Premium, uBlock Origin, and various YouTube-tweaking extensions.

Role of Ad Blocking, Premium, Versions

  • Several users suspect the slowdown is tied to YouTube’s anti‑adblock measures; some see “ghost” ad behavior (brief keyframes/black screen, or ad labels with no ad playing).
  • One report: same Firefox install is fast with a Premium account but slow with a non‑Premium account.
  • Some point to older Firefox versions (e.g., ESR, v88, 110, 115, 121) as more affected.

Possible Technical Causes

  • One commenter benchmarked and blames a recent Polymer/desktop_polymer.js change that creates many custom elements and possibly patches core DOM methods, hitting Firefox’s JS engine harder than Chromium’s.
  • Others mention known codec and GPU issues (e.g., VP8/9 vs h264), WebGL performance, and general complexity of modern web specs.
  • A minority argue this could be a Firefox bug or architectural weakness, not a YouTube bug.

Malice vs. Incompetence

  • Many see a pattern of Google services “coincidentally” regressing on Firefox (Gmail, Docs, Flights, Meet, AdSense, printing behavior), calling it de facto sabotage or negligent anti‑competitive behavior.
  • Others invoke Hanlon’s razor: likely under‑tested edge platform with tiny share (~2–5% desktop, far less overall YouTube usage), not an explicit attack.
  • Some note Google’s antitrust losses and say deliberate sabotage now would be risky; others counter that repeated “oops” incidents are indistinguishable from intentional harm.

Antitrust, Mozilla, and Market Power

  • Strong calls to break up Google (search, Chrome, YouTube separation) and enforce antitrust more aggressively in US/EU.
  • Debate over whether Google is keeping Firefox on “life support” via search deals vs. having already undermined it; internal criticism of Mozilla’s management and dependence on Google money.

Workarounds and Alternatives

  • Common mitigations: uBlock Origin, h264ify, Nova YouTube/Enhancer scripts, yt-dlp/tubesync + local playback (e.g., Jellyfin), using Chrome/Brave only for Google sites, or alternative clients/apps.