(NY Tomorrow): YouTube, the video streaming service of Google parent company Alphabet, was largely restored on Friday after a brief outage that left thousands of users around the world unable to access the site, according to website Down Detector.
According to Down Detector data, there were more than 7,600 reports of YouTube-related issues as of 8:27 a.m. Eastern Time. The number of complaints in Canada had surpassed 1,300 by 8:29 a.m., while more than 3,000 users in the United Kingdom had reported service disruptions by 8:30 a.m.
YouTube management did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters regarding the outage.
Down Detector says that the reports listed there are submitted by users, so the actual number of affected users may differ.
More Important Aspects
Worldwide Effect Over Platforms:
Dispirited users mentioned that the same problem was seen in different platforms like YouTube’s mobile app, desktop version, and even in the video players on third-party websites, which all pointed to some major issue at the backend or servers.
Most Common were Login and Playback Problems:
A lot of users reported that they could open the YouTube homepage but had errors in logging in, loading videos, or watching, with buffering and “Something went wrong” messages being often reported.
Complaints Increased Instantaneously:
The data from Down Detector indicated that a sudden rise in outage reports occurred within a very short period, which means that the disruption started suddenly rather than slowly.
High Impact but Short Period:
The outage was not too long, yet the impact on content makers, live streamers, advertisers, and companies which depend on YouTube for real-time contact and revenue was huge.
Users’ Response on Social Media:
Almost at the same time, users went on platforms like X (previously Twitter) and Reddit confirming the outage, sharing pictures of the errors, and looking for updates which made “YouTube down” a trending hashtag in many areas.
Currently no signs of Cyberattack:
At this moment, no sign of a cyberattack or security breach that could have caused the outage is found. Experts think that it was more likely to be technical or infrastructure problem rather than a cyberattack.
Complete Service Was Gradually Restored:
The gradual decline in outage reports came along with the gradual restoration of services, which means that YouTube engineers must have log in thru system stabilization or server fixes.
YouTube Has Not Given an Official Explanation Yet:
Even though the situation has mostly normalized, YouTube still hasn’t published any comprehensive reason for the outage along with the steps to prevent such occurrences in the future.
