1728556 - Video placeholder is empty at indianexpress.com with ETP set to STRICT

Status: NEW

(Web Compatibility :: Privacy: Site Reports, defect, P3)

Description

[Raul Bucata]

Attachment: Screenshot_22.png

Environment:
Operating system: Android 11
Firefox version: : Firefox Nightly 93.0a1 (2015831403 -🦎93.0a1-20210829215733🦎)

Preconditions:
ETP set to STRICT
Clean profile

Steps to reproduce:

1. Navigate to : https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/food-wine/ginger-garlic-paste-cooking-hack-easy-aarti-madan-fresh-months-7470474/
2. Scroll the page
3. Observe the video placeholder

Expected Behavior:

The video is present and can be played
Actual Behavior:

The video placeholder is empty

Notes:

• Not reproducible with ETP set to STANDARD
• Works as expected using Chrome
• Screenshot attached"

Comment 1

[Tim Huang[:timhuang]]

Changing severity to S3 because this is a TP issue on Strict mode.

Comment 2

[Thomas Wisniewski [:twisniewski]]

The video is actually an iframe from https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php, which is being blocked. We might be able to extend our Facebook shims to handle this case.

Comment 3

[Ciprian Georgiu, Desktop QA]

I've reproduce this issue using an affected Nightly build (2021-09-01), with STR from comment 0, running Win 11. The issue is still repro on latest Nightly 140.0a1 under Win 11.

Edited: This also repro with Standard mode in PBM.

Comment 4

[Raul Bucata]

Viewing more content from articles, including embedded videos, is not blocked by a paywall. More content can only be seen if a valid paid subscription is available. For a brief 2/3 seconds, I can reproduce the issue based on comment 3. With Standard ETP in Private Browsing Mode based on the new testing flow, the issue does not reproduce in Android, only in Desktop. Since shims might solve this issue, what should we do here Tom? Should be close as invalid, since we are blocked by a paywall?

Tested with:

Browser / Version: Firefox Nightly 140.0a1 (2016093159-🦎140.0a1-20250526095203🦎)
Browser / Version: Firefox Nightly 141.0a1 (2025-05-27)
Operating System: Windows 10
Operating System: Google Pixel 3 (Android 12) -1080 x 2160 pixels, 18:9 ratio (~443 ppi density)
Operating System: Oppo Find X5 (Android 13) - 1080 x 2400 pixels, 20:9 ratio (~402 ppi density)

Comment 5

[Thomas Wisniewski [:twisniewski]]

For now, I let's keep the bug open with the understanding that we're blocked on not having credentials to figure out the underlying problem and investigate making a shim.