YouTube service normalised after temporary disruption

YouTube service was normalised after experiencing a temporary disruption in South Korea on Thursday, which had affected playback on both mobile and desktop devices, according to industry watchers.

YouTube down for thousand users globally

Earlier in the day, an error prevented some users from playing videos when accessing the platform via the YouTube mobile app, reports a news agency. Some desktop computer users had also experienced similar issues. The service appeared to have been largely restored as of around 9.30 am. The temporary disruption affected some users of YouTube Music as well and was believed to be part of a broader global outage.

Google later issued a statement confirming that the disruption has been resolved across all YouTube services and thanked users for their patience.

YouTube, operated by Google, is the most widely used video platform in South Korea. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT earlier in the day said that Google Korea reported the YouTube outage to the government at around 9.01 am.

According to rules, major broadcasting and telecom operators must report any service disruption within 10 minutes of it happening. However, Google Korea reported the issue after that time limit.

After the Kakao data centre fire in 2022, the government designated seven large platform companies, including Google, as major broadcasting and telecom operators. This means they are now part of the government’s disaster management system.

The YouTube error affected users across the world — including South Korea, the US and Europe. In Korea, videos on YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV would not play on most devices, including smartphones.

Some users said that ads played but then the screen turned black, while others could not play videos at all. The global outage is estimated to have lasted from around 8.17 am to 9.10 am.

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