Has Google crippled YouTube on Microsoft Edge? Users certainly think so, but there might be a fix

Microsoft Edge users are reporting issues with lag and hardware resource spikes on YouTube

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What you need to know

The weekend is supposed to be a time to rest and relax, but for a number of folks who useMicrosoft Edge, it’s far from that. There are threads appearing on Reddit suggesting that Google has nerfed YouTube performance in Microsoft’s web browser to a level that makes the site unusable.

Our own data also suggests a fairly wide-reaching problem. A post on Windows Central from way in 2018 relating toYouTube performance on theoldnon-Chromium Edge browserhas resurfaced in our tracking. While it’s unfortunate that post isn’t going to help anyone since that browser has long gone, it made me go and take a look to see what’s going on.

This is howone of the threadsstarts:

Another user in a different thread has even reported seeing a popup on YouTube telling them to try using Google Chrome if they’re having performance issues. The browser wars really are just the worst thing.

For some, the fix seems to have been to disable (or update) their ad blocker. We already know thatGoogle is going hard on ad blocking on YouTubeand encouraging people to sign up for Premium to go ad-free. This isn’t a post about the moral implications of blocking ads, but if you’re experiencing this issue, and you’re running one, this would be the first thing to try.

SIlently breaking things is still dirty

Personally, I’m really tired of shenanigans. Obviously Google wants you to use Chrome, and obviously Microsoft wants you to use Edge. But it feels incredibly underhanded for Google to push some code that silently just wrecks performance, if indeed that’s what has happened. It’s hard to see how it would be anything else, though, given the sudden spike in issues.

At no point should loading up YouTube pin your CPU and or GPU to high usage while simultaneously just not working properly.

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Richard Devine is a Managing Editor at Windows Central with over a decade of experience. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently, you’ll find him steering the site’s coverage of all manner of PC hardware and reviews. Find him on Mastodon atmstdn.social/@richdevine