Incessant video popups make Safari unusable

Question

Incessant video popups make Safari unusable

On websites like Twitter and Quora, any videos (even in ads) aggressively pop-up to cover the full screen. I can dismiss them with ESC but they just pop up again. If I want to comment, I have to do my typing in TextEdit, then paste it into the comment box, because actually typing there is impossible. The "Never Auto-Play" setting has no effect whatsoever.

But even if Auto-Play were on, no sane user would want a video to keep popping up the instant after it had been dismissed. It's a bug. Fix it please. For now, it's Chrome for me.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 27, 2025 12:56 PM

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Answer 1

6x6

Level 6

16,868 points

Feb 27, 2025 4:59 PM in response to Lawrence C Paulson

Hello Lawrence,

In Safari, click Safari > Settings, click the Websites tab, select Pop-up Windows in the sidebar and select "Block and Notify" in the field "When visiting other websites". This will apply to all other websites. For the current websites open in Safari, choose "Blok and Notify" or "Block" for each website that troubles you.

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Answer 2

Feb 28, 2025 3:27 AM in response to 6x6

Many thanks for your prompt reply. I use this setting and it has no effect. To be clear: I am not talking about pop-up windows but rather about videos auto playing in full-screen mode. The "Never Auto-Play" setting should prevent this but it also has no effect.

This behaviour of repeatedly playing a video in full-screen mode no matter how many times it is dismissed must be a bug – not a behaviour that anybody could ever want.

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Incessant video popups make Safari unusable