Google may be testing auto-playing the video thumbnails it has within its search results page. I am not sure if this is some sort of browser bug or something else, but Google may auto-play the video thumbnail without sound in the search results.
I should say, Google has for a while played these thumbnails when you hover over those video previews.
Mike Hardaker spotted this and recorded his screen of this happening. He said he did not hover his mouse cursor over the video preview, which is normally what would trigger it. He posted this video on X:
When did Google start auto playing videos in search results? Flattering but isn’t this wasted resource? @rustybrick pic.twitter.com/QJGvT57U43
— Mike Hardaker (@mountainweekly) July 8, 2024
Also, I was able to trigger this after trying for days to replicate this – I made of a GIF showing how my house cursor was not on top of the video thumbnail:
Maybe this is a bug or maybe there was user error on my part?
Forum discussion at X.