Meta Platforms, Inc.
Managing prefetching of content from third party websites by client devices based on prediction of user interactions

Abstract:

An online system provides content items including URLs of third party websites to client devices. The client devices prefetch data from the third party website via the URL. The online system controls the prefetch rate for the client devices based on information received from the client devices. The online system may reduce the prefetch rate if an aggregate number of prefetches from the third party website during a time interval exceeds a prefetch quota. The online system may reduce the prefetch rate if the client devices indicate poor performance of the third party. The online system may determine whether to prefetch data from a URL included in a content item based on a likelihood of the user ignoring the content item if here is a delay in loading of the content item in the client device.