This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Wannan tattunawa ta zama daɗaɗɗiya. Yi sabuwar tambaya idan ka na bukatar taimako.

Twitch knows which tab is opened and on top?

jwhite8055
jwhite8055
more options

Recently Twitch and WarGaming, as well as other advertisers, collaborated on "Twitch drops" Somehow, Twitch is able to determine which tab is on top and being viewed by visitors to the website. It's one thing for Twitch to know I'm visiting the website, and quite another for them to determine if in fact the tab I have open is front and center. Seems to me this is a privacy issue that needs to be addressed.? (I have not yet determined if this Twitch snooping is working in private tabs yet, but I soon will)

Recently Twitch and WarGaming, as well as other advertisers, collaborated on "Twitch drops" Somehow, Twitch is able to determine which tab is on top and being viewed by visitors to the website. It's one thing for Twitch to know I'm visiting the website, and quite another for them to determine if in fact the tab I have open is front and center. Seems to me this is a privacy issue that needs to be addressed.? (I have not yet determined if this Twitch snooping is working in private tabs yet, but I soon will)

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

There is are some standard web APIs and JavaScript events that sites can use to know when you left the page for another window or tab. For example, there's one hotel booking site that freaks out every time I go to look at something else. Some sites also pause video when it's in the background.

There are add-ons that can disable some of these features, but I don't know whether there is a comprehensive solution. One of the reviewers on this add-on mentioned success on Twitch, but I haven't tried it myself:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/always-visible/