T-Mobile is apparently throttling YouTube videos without permission

Dave Smith/Tech Insider

YouTube is not very happy with T-Mobile right now.

The popular video sharing platform claims T-Mobile is intentionally degrading YouTube’s video quality for customers on its network without getting their consent first, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

T-Mobile recently introduced a program called Binge On that offers free video streaming — the catch is T-Mobile will lower the video quality to 480p in exchange for waiving any associated data charges.

But the problem is YouTube hasn’t signed onto T-Mobile’s Binge On program — and yet, YouTube claims its videos and clips are getting intentionally downgraded anyway.

“Reducing data charges can be good for users, but it doesn’t justify throttling all video services, especially without explicit user consent,” a YouTube spokesman told Tech Insider.

As for T-Mobile's stance on this issue, a company spokesperson relayed this tweet from T-Mobile CEO John Legere as the company's official statement:

—John Legere (@JohnLegere) December 22, 2015

According to the WSJ story, T-Mobile says there’s a technical issue with Binge On where it can’t always identify if an incoming video is from YouTube, and therefore can’t exclude it from the data limits set for all other videos on the platform. Still, T-Mobile maintains that customers can choose to turn this feature on or off at will, basically putting the onus on customers, not T-Mobile, when it comes to throttling video quality.

T-Mobile in November said it has 24 video providers signed onto Binge On, including HBO and Netflix, but it has yet to get YouTube, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of all North American cellular traffic. According to Ars Technica, YouTube says it’s had talks with T-Mobile about joining Binge On, but nothing has been finalized yet.