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Google Begins Requiring JavaScript For Google Search (techcrunch.com) 46

Posted by msmash from the major-changes dept.
Google says it has begun requiring users to turn on JavaScript, the widely-used programming language to make web pages interactive, in order to use Google Search. From a report: In an email to TechCrunch, a company spokesperson claimed that the change is intended to "better protect" Google Search against malicious activity, such as bots and spam, and to improve the overall Google Search experience for users. The spokesperson noted that, without JavaScript, many Google Search features won't work properly, and that the quality of search results tends to be degraded.

Google Begins Requiring JavaScript For Google Search More | Reply

Google Begins Requiring JavaScript For Google Search

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  • Explain (Score:5, Insightful)

    by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:02PM (#65096953) Journal
    many Google Search features won't work properly, and that the quality of search results tends to be degraded.

    How could not having javascript affect a search? You're going to the same data.

    What they really mean to say is not having javascript will affect their ability to throw more crap at you through "interaction".

    • Re:Explain (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:49PM (#65097127)

      Yeah, I want to know what these scripts are doing that makes them worth me not using an alternative search engine.

      I suspect whatever they're doing will do the exact opposite - make it worth going elsewhere. The idea that it's for my good is laughable.

      • Where to though? Isn't the only other real option is Bing? Bing is garbage

        • Bing has historically been reported as pretty good at porn searches. I have found they caught up to, and in some places exceeded, Google maps (excluding Street View).

          But yeah, not any great options. I can't find any search engines with good results, good results formatting, and with good query syntax support.

        • >"Where to though? Isn't the only other real option is Bing? Bing is garbage

          https://startpage.com/ [startpage.com]

          Same Google results but without Google spying on you or "steering" you, and without the logo activist nonsense.

          There is also https://duckduckgo.com/ [duckduckgo.com] although those results will mostly be Bing stuff.

    • Re:Explain (Score:5, Informative)

      by Falos ( 2905315 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @02:27PM (#65097261)

      [Forcing javascript] is intended to "better protect" Google Search against malicious activity, such as bots and spam

      Disabling javascript is intended to "better protect" the searcher against malicious activity, such as bots and spam

      • Exactly. I find my user experience vastly improved with JS turned off. Doing so removes annoying video ads making reading much easier. That it occasionally obviates some paywalls is a bonus. I don't trust sites that still won't work if I explicitly allow JS for their site. Google search is one of those sites. Good riddance. If I actually need to use a JS pigged site, I can always use anon-mode in a different browser. But mostly I appreciate avoiding sites that require me to also use hidden URLs to functio

    • How could not having javascript affect a search? You're going to the same data.

      No, definitely not the same data. Same page appearance maybe, but that's not the same thing.

  • The web platform is too complex (Score:4, Insightful)

    by xack ( 5304745 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:07PM (#65096977)
    I still try to use Firefox, but I've had to give up on Waterfox and other forks of Gecko because they are even move far behind in Google's imposed standards than Firefox. Javascript has basically become a jet engine in complexity that is built into every browser. So much functionality relies on JavaScript, that trying to go without it is like having a car without wheels. Google has far exceeded Internet Explorer's monopoly from the 90s and now they are turning the screws. Firefox is only 2.5% now, even worse than the 90s when Netscape 6/Seamonkey were the main Mozilla products. The "supporters" of Chromium browsers by the Linux foundation will just embed javascript and Chromium into even more apps.
    • I install Firefox with addons on any computer I touch. It works absolutely fine if you add uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, Disable Autoplay, Unshort.Link, Bypass Paywalls, JShelter and a few others...

      • I install Firefox with addons on any computer I touch. It works absolutely fine if you add uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, Disable Autoplay, Unshort.Link, Bypass Paywalls, JShelter and a few others...

        I'm already using the first three but was unaware of the rest. JShelter especially looks really promising. Thanks!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mspohr ( 589790 )

        I use DuckDuckGo on all my computers. It does a good job of blocking lots of crap without installing lots of add-ons.
        I've been using it for several years now and I'm always happy with the search results.

    • Google has far exceeded Internet Explorer's monopoly from the 90s

      Hmmm. What could it be. What would posses nearly 70% of PC users to go out of their way to download a second browser, replacing Firefox on Linux, Safari on MacOS, or Edge on Windows?

      Microsoft's legal problems weren't that their browser was preferred by most users. It was that they exploited their desktop OS monopoly to build a browser monopoly. If a user runs Chrome, it's because they went out of their way to download and install it, not because they were forced into it by bundled software.

      far exceeded

      Chrome's market s

      • >"Hmmm. What could it be. What would posses nearly 70% of PC users to go out of their way to download a second browser"

        Many years of effective "advertising" on all of Google's sites.

        >"It was that they exploited their desktop OS monopoly to build a browser monopoly."

        And their non-standard "standards" trying to lock everyone into the browser. Something Google has already pulled, although not as badly yet.

        >"Chrome's market share as of the end of 2024 was 68%, and IE peaked at over 90%, so no. 68% is

      • What would posses nearly 70% of PC users to go out of their way to download a second browser, replacing Firefox on Linux, Safari on MacOS, or Edge on Windows?
        [...]
        If we were talking mobile, you might have a point.

        You may have answered your own question.

        Web use is the sum of desktop web use and mobile web use. StatCounter currently lists mobile as 64% of web use and desktop as 36%. What possesses desktop users to also buy a mobile phone are 1. portable web terminal and mobile Internet hotspot, 2. running mobile applications that aren't ported to desktop operating systems, 3. running second-factor authenticators, and 4. making and receiving voice calls and sending and receiving text messages to and from phone numbers.

  • That's degrading (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sphealey ( 2855 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:10PM (#65096995)

    "many Google Search features won't work properly, and that the quality of search results tends to be degraded."

    Google started degrading their own search results 4-5 years ago, and that has only accelerated with the use of [phony, IP-stealing] "AI" to display monitized results on the first 1-1/2 pages.

  • Google Search (Score:3)

    by systemd-anonymousd ( 6652324 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:16PM (#65097011)

    If you're still using Google Search in 2015 you;re behind the times.

    What, that was 10 years ago? Jesus Christ. Now it's like riding a dinosaur. Use something else. Perplexity.ai is pretty good.

    • I just tried perplexity.ai (without a paid account) to search for a specific item I'm shopping for by part #, and it did well.

      google.com/shopping is really verging on unusable. There's so much spam it feels like they are hardly even listening to your search terms.

      • Absolutely! This This This!

      • Its sad Google's product search is so bad. That seems something right up their ally. With how the search is gamed by SEO, makes you wonder if they care about delivering good search results. A really good product search could cannibalize some of their ad revenue.

      • I tried searching Google Shopping for a book by ISBN, zero results. They have that book on Google Books though, so they obviously know the ISBN number. Only reason I could imagine they don't want to use such a useful and unique identifier is that then they can't give you similar-sounding sponsored results.

  • A sysop I know lets me and my small cadre of clients use his Whoogle instance, a search proxy ... one of my chumps emailed me and said it was borked 2 days ago... today Whoogle is working again... somone figured it out ... check the github page of Whoogle.. I think there's news there

    • We have already had a Google proxy for many years. It is called StartPage.

      https://startpage.com/ [startpage.com]

      All the same Google search results, but essentially anonymously, without the personalized Google "steering", without Google spying on you, without Googles AI "junk" polluting the results, and without the activist logo stuff.

      https://duckduckgo.com/ [duckduckgo.com] if you want something different, although most of the results will be Bing (but without Microsoft spying on you or steering you).

  • Worse that it already is? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by a9db0 ( 31053 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:20PM (#65097035)

    Really? Now that would be an achievement.
    Between the AI crud that's remarkably inaccurate and the litany of sponsored links, it's hard to get Google to return results of value anymore.
    Perplexity (mentioned in systemd-anonymousd' comment) is one good alternative. Here's another (IMHO):
    https://www.startpage.com/ [startpage.com]
    Useful Google results without the crud.

  • Companies often do some kind of greedy grab at cash and resources as they start to fail. Google has been slipping for a while, now. Personally, I quit using them in about 2016. Forcing Javascript is definitely going to be used for bad behavior and ad-tracking reasons. They can absolutely kiss my ass, because we don't need them at all anymore. Their search has been so politicized (esp since CV1984) that they are completely untrustworthy propaganda pushers.

    Good riddance to bad rubbish.

  • DDG FTW.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LVSlushdat ( 854194 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:30PM (#65097069)

    Sounds like moving to DuckDuckGo for search was a great idea...

    • But the ddg people need to add opensearch capability to their main search page. They have it for ddg-lite but the main page doesn't for reasons that I've never understood.

  • So everybody switches to a competitor (I think its called But Its Not Google )

  • "Degraded results" (Score:5, Funny)

    by Sebby ( 238625 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:45PM (#65097117)

    The spokesperson noted that, without JavaScript, many Google Search features won't work properly, and that the quality of search results tends to be degraded.

    You don't need any javascript to get degraded search results from Google.

  • I must say: (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Pseudonymous Powers ( 4097097 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:46PM (#65097121)
    Google is doing an admirable job dismantling their own formerly untouchable market dominance. Now, I'm not saying they're doing it on purpose. But if they were, would they behave any differently?

    • Google is doing an admirable job dismantling their own formerly untouchable market dominance.

      Their browser market share went from 64.7% to 68.3% in 2024. So, seems like they are doing just fine.

  • Can we throw this internet out and get a new one? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DMJC ( 682799 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @01:50PM (#65097129)
    Honestly I'm sick of the modern internet. Everything about it it just awful. It felt like in the past computers were genuinely making our lives better and now it just feels like it's a constant battle against enshitification. Chat used to be better, search was better, garbage social media services were better. Everything is becoming so annoying and awful to use. It's actually turning me off of technology. I'd rather go play with a MiSTer FPGA console than use a computer these days. The modern internet is awful.

    • The Internet at large started dying a long time ago, with the advent of NAT. We have the ability to return the Internet to usefulness with IPv6, but I don't see it happening without a government mandate to discontinuing IPv4. It's just like had to be done to get us from analog to digital TV. The technology existed long before the switchover, but the market would not do it without government intervention.

      The Web (which is what you're calling the Internet) is just a port on the Internet.

      • >"The Internet at large started dying a long time ago, with the advent of NAT. We have the ability to return the Internet to usefulness with IPv6"

        I hate to break this to you, but switching to IPv6 will do essentially nothing when it comes to the "ens**tification" of the internet which is mostly due to things like horrible websites, horrible site designs, monopolistic search engines, draconian usage policies, tracking, spam, censorship, spying on users, selling user data, etc.

      • How did NAT harm the internet? And how would ip6 solve Twitter, FB, and the rest?

    • When they get payed whenever you visit a link (or scroll or just have the page loaded), the incentives for content are very different.

  • It works, trust us! (Score:3)

    by Tough Love ( 215404 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @02:10PM (#65097207)

    Walker said Google's current approach to content moderation works

    Narrator: it doesn't.

  • Maybe if you don't have JS enabled you won't get the AI stuff? Could they make it that easy to avoid?

  • This is an interim step before they go full obfuscated, Ajax'ified, encrypted SERPS to thwart rank checkers. As long as it displays in a browser, there will be ways around it, but this is Google's lates salvo.

  • Expect more like this from entrenched players. (Score:3)

    by WolfgangVL ( 3494585 ) on Friday January 17, 2025 @02:14PM (#65097221)

    The incoming super business friendly administration has already signaled free reign in return for an "inauguration fund donation"

    Expect lots of blatant market leader abuse over the next 4 years.

  • I get several ads, followed by several paid placements, followed by a results that are the opposite of what I specified even with google foo of -terms and +terms .

    I get my results from AI now and only verify with google. it hasn't been my primary search engine for over a year. It's results are corrupt and worthless.

  • >"Google says it has begun requiring users to turn on JavaScript"

    Good thing I haven't seen a Google search page in many, many years. Searches on all my machines are either duckduckgo.com or startpage.com

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