Facebook and YouTube have had a long partnership that allowed users to easily share YouTube videos on their Facebook feeds. However, in July 2022, that partnership came to an end and now when you try to share a YouTube link on Facebook, the video itself no longer appears – only a plain link. This has led to a lot of confusion and frustration among social media users who heavily relied on cross-posting between the two platforms.
What changed between Facebook and YouTube?
For many years, Facebook and YouTube had an agreement that allowed Facebook to pull YouTube videos directly into the Facebook feed when shared by users. However, in summer 2022, that agreement expired and the two companies did not reach a new deal.
As a result, YouTube disabled the ability for Facebook to embed YouTube videos. Now when you share a YouTube link on Facebook, the video itself will not appear in the post. You’ll only see a plain text link to the YouTube site.
Why did Facebook and YouTube fail to reach a new agreement?
The exact reasons are not fully known publicly, but there are a few likely factors that may have led to the breakdown in negotiations between the two tech giants:
- Revenue sharing – Under the old agreement, ad revenue from YouTube videos shared on Facebook was likely shared in some fashion between the companies. They may not have been able to reach new revenue sharing terms.
- Competition – Facebook and YouTube increasingly compete for user attention and advertising dollars. Facebook may have wanted to reduce YouTube’s presence on its platform.
- API access – Facebook may have wanted more access to YouTube data and APIs than YouTube was willing to provide.
- Tensions – The overall relationship between the companies has grown more tense over issues like data privacy, advertising, and platform regulations.
Does this change affect all links to YouTube videos?
This change specifically affects sharing YouTube video links directly on Facebook. Here are some examples of what’s affected and what’s not:
| Affected | Not Affected |
|---|---|
| Posting a YouTube link directly on your Facebook feed | Sending a YouTube link in a private Facebook message |
| Sharing a YouTube video in a Facebook group | YouTube video embeds on other websites shared on Facebook |
| YouTube links in Facebook notes | Facebook Watch video embeds |
So the change primarily affects public posts containing YouTube links on personal profiles and pages. Other areas of Facebook that embed third-party videos like groups, events, stories, and private messages are not impacted.
What happens now when you share a YouTube link on Facebook?
As mentioned earlier, now if you share a link to a YouTube video on your Facebook feed, the video itself will not appear. Only a plain text link will be visible. For example:
Clicking the link will take you to the YouTube site or app to view the video. Some users report that a static image preview of the YouTube video may briefly flash before the plain link appears, but playback of the video itself no longer works on Facebook.
Are there any workarounds to embed YouTube videos on Facebook?
There are a couple of temporary workarounds floating around to try to re-enable YouTube video embeds in Facebook posts:
Use Facebook Watch links
Many YouTube videos are also available on Facebook Watch. If you can find the Facebook Watch version of the YouTube video, sharing that link will embed the video player directly in the Facebook feed.
Repost videos shared by friends
In some cases, you may be able to share a YouTube video embed on Facebook by re-sharing a post originally shared by one of your friends before the change took effect. However, this only works temporarily as Facebook’s system updates.
Share from YouTube app
The YouTube app has the option to share videos directly to Facebook. In some cases, these shares may still briefly embed the video player before reverting to a plain link.
But overall, there is no consistent workaround that permanently enables embedding YouTube videos on Facebook posts. The API-level integration that previously enabled it no longer exists between the platforms.
What do Facebook and YouTube say about the change?
Facebook and YouTube have both acknowledged the sharing change, though details are scarce. Here are brief statements each company has made:
YouTube Statement
“We???re committed to building great experiences for fans everywhere they watch YouTube – on YouTube, YouTube TV and across the web. Though Facebook discontinued APIs that enabled us to surface content directly on Facebook, we remain open to working with them on enabling that integration again in the future.”
Facebook Statement
“Last year, YouTube chose to stop a long-standing agreement rather than follow the same terms as other partners. We hope YouTube reconsiders their decision soon.”
Neither company has provided specifics around the financial or product-related disputes that led to the breakdown in their partnership. But the door seems open to eventually reviving some form of video integration between the platforms.
What does this mean for the future of video sharing on social media?
The rift between YouTube and Facebook highlights a larger trend of social platforms looking to control and keep users within their own walled gardens rather than drive traffic to other sites.
Some industry experts speculate that Facebook may be trying to leverage its massive user base in negotiations with other video platforms. Or potentially pushing more video creators to share natively on Facebook Watch rather than just cross-posting from YouTube.
Similarly, this may be YouTube asserting itself as the dominant global video hub, rather than playing second fiddle as embedded videos on Facebook. YouTube may prefer Facebook links drive traffic back to the YouTube site and app.
For users, it means we’ll need to adjust our video sharing habits and workflows across the disconnected platforms. But it’s unlikely this will deter people from watching YouTube or Facebook videos – it will just change how we discover and share videos across our social networks.
The rift is disappointing for users but makes business sense as the two platforms continue evolving their competitive video strategies and jockeying for positioning in the social video landscape.
Conclusion
The expired partnership between Facebook and YouTube that previously allowed seamless video sharing between the platforms has definitely caused confusion and frustration for many users. But the move also highlights the increasing competition between social media titans as they look to control the user experience and advance their own commercial interests.
It’s disruptive in the short term as we adapt our video sharing habits to the new reality. But ultimately, most users will likely continue consuming video content across both YouTube and Facebook through other means. And hopefully, the two companies can eventually agree on a new integration strategy that restores some of the cross-platform convenience users previously enjoyed.