YouTube experiences brief outage across the globe
Disruption comes as more people turn to streaming services during the pandemic.
YouTube users in North America and Europe report being unable to access content on the site.
YouTube users around the world on Thursday reported outages that briefly prevented them from accessing content on the popular video-sharing site. Users turned to Twitter to voice their frustration and try to get answers.
"Hey @YouTube@ytcreators my channel is gone for some reason," one person tweeted. "No videos are showing up on page and creator studio has gone haywire saying there's no data. What's going on?"
Hey @YouTube @ytcreators my channel is gone for some reason. No videos are showing up on page and creator studio has gone haywire saying there’s no data. What’s going on?
— Tesla Joy (@TeslaJoy) May 14, 2020
The brief outage, which appears to have begun around 4 p.m. PT and was apparently resolved about 30 minutes later, affected both coasts of the US, Western Europe and parts of Australia.
YouTube, the most popular video platform in the world, has only become more popular during the coronavirus pandemic. As people around the world shelter in place, the Google-owned site has attracted parents on the hunt for children's content as well as people looking for news or just trying to find a distraction during stressful times.
YouTube outages stretch around the world.
YouTube said at 5 p.m. that the outage was resolved after about 20 minutes.
"If you were experiencing error messages on YouTube, the issue is now fixed," YouTube said in a tweet. "It lasted for approx ~20 minutes across home, subscriptions, search and more. Thanks for your patience, and for all of your reports!"
If you were experiencing error messages on YouTube, the issue is now fixed. It lasted for approx ~20 minutes across home, subscriptions, search and more. Thanks for your patience, and for all of your reports!
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) May 15, 2020