With my marketing hat on I understand why Facebook did it.
Automatically playing videos will allow Facebook to claim higher viewing figures, which will in turn allow them to tell their investors and advertisers about how amazing Facebook is at getting brand x’s video to be watched by masses of people.
Meanwhile, in the real world, the video is merely a pain in the Aspidistra and you can’t wait to scroll past it.
You don’t have to put up with it. You can disable automatic video playback so that the video only plays IF you click on the play button.
Two Minute Fix
Step 1: Click on your Settings – the little lock icon at the right edge of the navigation bar
Step 2. From the drop down menu click ‘See More Settings’
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Step 3. At the foot of the left hand side menu click ‘Videos’, and in the top right switch from ‘On’ to ‘Off’.
NB: This setting only applies when you use Facebook on your computer. Go to your phone’s settings to change auto-play videos in your Facebook app.
