Roger Fingas
Facebook on Tuesday began a limited test of new video autoplay technology for its mobile app, including a version that begins playing audio automatically as a person scrolls past a clip in their News Feed.
At the moment the test is limited to some app users in Australia, but a portion of those people will hear audio from all forms of video — including ads and live streams — by default, as long as their iPhone or iPad isn't muted, Mashable noted. Another group has audio off unless they tap an icon in the bottom right of a clip.
Both groups are being presented with an initial pop-up message explaining controls. For people with audio on by default, they can choose to silence video for each clip individually, or by toggling an "always off" option in the app's Settings menu.
Audio-on autoplay is unlikely to make it into widespread release, as even Facebook's own data suggests that 80 percent of people react badly to having sudden sound playing from video ads. Indeed the technology could create problems for people browsing Facebook in public spaces, especially given the unfiltered nature of live video.
Thomas Sibilly
Christine McKee
Marko Zivkovic
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William Gallagher
26 Comments
Yet more reasons to not use the app.
Oh god no!
What a disgusting company.
I will never be on Facebook. In certain places in Europe, you can get arrested for merely posting on Facebook, if you write a post that the Gestapo disapproves of. Facebook has partnered with the Gestapo to make sure that only certain speech is allowed.
I would definitely be arrested and charged if I was on Facebook in one of those fascist EU countries.
But I'm not, so they all can go and bite me! Zuckerburg can go eat a turd.
I'd like to see Facebook follow in the path of Gawker.