Games time out before beginning

I get a game match and the white player needs to make the first move. Whether it's me or my opponent with the white pieces, the player cannot make the first move. No piece is able to be selected, you just see a full board and are unable to select a piece to move. After about 30 seconds, the board "snaps to life" and you can select a piece to move as white, or you see that your opponent has moved their first piece as black, when the game suddenly times out!
Today, I logged out and logged back in and Lichess sent me to time out for allowing too many games to time out! That's insult to injury! Fix it!

Don't be rude. This is a free service. If you don't like it, go play somewhere else. With a constant flow of browser updates as well as older browsers/versions being used, there will always be bugs in software.

In the meantime, there are plenty of other services where rude players exist. Find one.

Could be your internet.

To have any idea where to even begin fixing it when it clearly isn't a problem that affects everybody, they need to know which browser or app you used (and the version), and on which device.

Update your browser / use a different browser / use a browser if you used the app / your connection sucks

Yea sounds like its on ur end not Lichess.