YouTube's outage left Flat Earthers in a dilemma.
One of the internet's primary platforms for spreading misinformation came to a standstill late Wednesday afternoon, with YouTube videos refusing to play. While the website itself loaded fine, users encountered error messages when attempting to watch videos.
Reports of problems with YouTube started flooding in around 3:44 p.m. PT, according to DownDetector, which is owned by Mashable's parent company, Ziff Davis.
A YouTube spokesperson acknowledged the issue on Twitter, stating, "If you're having trouble watching videos on YouTube right now, you're not alone – our team is aware of the issue and working on a fix. We'll follow up here [on Twitter] with any updates."
If you’re having trouble watching videos on YouTube right now, you’re not alone – our team is aware of the issue and working on a fix. We’ll follow up here with any updates.
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 12, 2020
If you’re having trouble watching videos on YouTube right now, you’re not alone – our team is aware of the issue and working on a fix. We’ll follow up here with any updates.
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 12, 2020
At the time of this writing, the DownDetector outage map shows that YouTube's issues are concentrated in North America, South America, Europe, and Australia – essentially, a widespread problem.
We contacted Google, which owns YouTube, to inquire about the cause of the outage and when service is expected to be restored. However, the company spokesperson referred us back to the tweet above.
Meanwhile, YouTube appreciates your patience during this downtime.
Sorry to hear about this – we've seen similar reports and we're working on a fix. Appreciate your patience in the meantime.
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 12, 2020
Sorry to hear about this – we've seen similar reports and we're working on a fix. Appreciate your patience in the meantime.
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 12, 2020
And while YouTube was down, don't worry, your favorite misinformation sources were probably waiting for you elsewhere.
...And we’re back – we’re so sorry for the interruption. This is fixed across all devices & YouTube services, thanks for being patient with us ❤️ https://t.co/1s0qbxQqc6
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 12, 2020
...And we’re back – we’re so sorry for the interruption. This is fixed across all devices & YouTube services, thanks for being patient with us ❤️ https://t.co/1s0qbxQqc6
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 12, 2020