Google, Like Apple, to Disable Autoplay Videos in its Browser (Sep 15, 2017)

Google has announced that its Chrome browser will begin either silencing or blocking autoplay videos with the version it currently expects to release in January 2018, echoing Apple’s decision to disable autoplay videos in the latest version of its Safari browser (which also limits retargeting using third party cookies, as I wrote yesterday). That so many websites still run autoplay videos – especially with sound – is egregious, so it’s great to see both of these major browser makers take steps to limit the impact. Both browsers will offer some fairly granular controls on both a general and site by site basis for disabling or silencing autoplay videos. As far as I can tell, Microsoft’s Edge browser doesn’t yet support blocking autoplay in general, while Firefox allows blocking but only through a fairly fiddly process of editing its config file.

via Google


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