The Entire Internet Freaked Out When YouTube Temporarily Went Down

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This may surprise you, but the Internet is not perfect. It’s an amalgam of servers and wires connected all over the world owned by millions of different entities. Things go wrong. Stuff breaks. Shadowy figures lurk around the deepest portions of the web, invisible hands impacting everything you see.

That might be a bit maudlin, but the point is that nothing lasts forever on there. Outages are bound to happen, especially on user-heavy sites that attract millions of people. Twitter and Facebook outages are not all that uncommon, though they are rarer these days. But when YouTube goes down, well, that’s a very different thing entirely. The Google-owned video platform has rarely suffered major outages, but it had one on Tuesday night.

— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) October 17, 2018

YouTube, YouTube Music and YouTube TV all experienced outages, which meant anyone trying to keep up with their favorite vlogger, or watch TV or listen to streaming music had to find another outlet for all of those things. To say people freaked the hell out would be an understatement.

https://twitter.com/BlackSquidward/status/1052388680290246657

— Spotticus (@_Spotteh_) October 17, 2018

They are trying to figure out where each cable should go.#YouTubeDOWN pic.twitter.com/kyCxsv2cAz

— Dheeraj Mittal (@dheerajmittal99) October 17, 2018

For some, not absentmindedly typing in “youtube dot com” during the outage was a tough habit to break.

— Alex Creed (@AlexCreed_) October 17, 2018

Hopefully no one actually called the police, but you never know.

— Philadelphia Police (@PhillyPolice) October 17, 2018

A few people claimed to have the answer, though I wouldn’t trust them.

1. DM me your credit card number

2. the expiration date

3. the 3 numbers on the back

and that should do it!! just wanted to help anyone in need ❤️

— aigs (@_chuu_) October 17, 2018

Some creators on YouTube had a tougher time than others.

— Hank Green – (@hankgreen) October 17, 2018

*whimpering* https://t.co/pg5T0rDYWF

— Hank Green – (@hankgreen) October 17, 2018

By Tuesday night, however, the site was working for most people, which was quite a relief.

— WASSUP (@UltraInstinct89) October 17, 2018

me going back on youtube after it’s fixed #youtubedown pic.twitter.com/YKQ7uDuRNK

— jon (@buterasraindrop) October 17, 2018

When YouTube finally gets back up and running#YouTubeDOWN pic.twitter.com/tyRjxcSX53

— Ginger cole | Knistern (@_knistern) October 17, 2018

Hopefully Netflix enjoyed that spike in viewership while people couldn’t check on their vlogs, though.