YouTube points fingers for slow-loading videos

YouTube has begun directly citing Internet providers’ networks to explain slow-loading videos, according to a report from Quartz.

{mosads}The Google-owned video streaming site now shows users a notice when videos are slow to load, the report said.

“Experiencing interruption?” the notice asks, pointing users to a Google video quality report, which the company launched in May.

That site explains the video quality and capacity for a user’s Internet provider based on location.

The YouTube notifications are reminiscent of notices that Netflix showed to users, sparking a firestorm earlier this year.

Those notices told users that slow-loading videos were caused by congestion on their Internet providers’ networks.

Internet providers — especially Verizon — fought back, blaming Netflix, not congestion on their own networks, for the slow-loading videos.

In a cease and desist letter last month, Verizon threatened to sue Netflix over the “self-serving, deceptive, inaccurate and an unfair” notices.

Netflix initially held firm, saying that it would continue to test the notices in certain markets.

Later in the month, Netflix said it would stop showing the notices, citing a predetermined end date for the tests and pledging to “evaluate rolling it out more broadly.”