Google has disabled the filter that prevents unwanted autoplay of videos. A temporary disable, time for improvement, full filtering is a bit too effective: some games and sites that use beeps in their normal functioning have been rendered unusable. The developers’ initial goal was, first of all, to prevent the proliferation of autoplay videos used by aggressive advertisements. Many site administrators and developers had complained about the issue in a Chromium.org thread until Google decided to justify them.
Chrome no longer disables video autoplay until October 2018
Google Product Manager John Pallett explains: “We misreported the impact of the new autoplay policy on developers using the Web Audio API. [Nous allons] Give developers using the Web Audio API more time to update their code”. In reality, the feature was only deployed for months after discussions with developers and site administrators. However, not all participated. While this is usual practice for the company, in general these discussions revolve around features that have less impact for developers.
Going back, Google admits that it needs to change its communications strategy, for example by addressing those who might be affected more directly. We told you that this disabling of autoplay is only temporary. With the release of Chrome 70, Google plans to re-enable the feature in a few months in October 2018.
