YouTube global outage: 5 things you need to know

YouTube was down for about an hour globally today. The company has had only a few but important service interruptions in the past.

YouTube’s latest outage is said to be among the longest service interruptions in the company’s history. (REUTERS)

YouTube, the world's largest video sharing platform, suffered an outage on Wednesday morning, affecting users globally, including in India. However, YouTube restored the services after an hour without disclosing the reason behind the outage.

YouTube went down around 7:00 am, with multiple users taking to Twitter to report the outage. Not just the main YouTube service, but YouTube Music and YouTube TV were also affected. Also, the problem wasn't specific to platforms as YouTube on web and apps were not working. Users who were affected were met with a blank page on trying to access the video service.

YouTube acknowledges issues
YouTube was quick to acknowledge the outage. In a tweet posted earlier this morning, YouTube said it was working on resolving the issue.

"Thanks for your reports about YouTube, YouTube TV and YouTube Music access issues. We're working on resolving this and will let you know once fixed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will keep you updated," it said.

Global outage
Downdetector, a website that tracks internet and telecom services, reported that the outage affected users around the world. The live map showed hot spots in parts of Europe, North America, South America, Asia Pacific and India.

YouTube restores services
After more than 30 minutes of outage, YouTube said that its services were back online. The company, however, did not reveal why its services went down.

"We're back! Thanks for all of your patience. If you continue to experience issues, please let us know," it said.

 

We're back! Thanks for all of your patience. If you continue to experience issues, please let us know. https://t.co/NVU5GP7Sy6

— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) October 17, 2018

Biggest outage in YouTube's history?
YouTube's latest outage is said to be among the longest service interruptions in the company's history. YouTube TV, which broadcasts live matches, faced two major issues this year. YouTube TV went down during the World Cup match between Croatia and England. Some users complained of the service not working during other matches as well. A similar incident took place during an NBA match in May.

When Pakistan caused YouTube outage
Back in 2008, YouTube went down for several hours after the Pakistan government's attempt to block access to the service in the country. The outage was so bad that it even caused communication problems between the Middle East to India.