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Google, YouTube outage as services crash worldwide

Multiple Google services including YouTube and Gmail simultaneously crashed across the world overnight, sending the internet into a spin.

Matt YoungMatt Young
@MattYoung
3 min read
December 15, 2020 - 6:47AM
Google services went down overnight
Google services went down overnight

Google and YouTube are returning to normal after multiple services simultaneously crashed across the world overnight, sending the internet into a spin.

An issue with the company’s cloud services left millions of users without access to their data, Forbes reports.

The outages apparently affected the vast majority of Google’s services, apart from search, which was largely unaffected.

Google’s services are now operating normally.

The outage was caused by a failure in the company’s authentication tools, a Google spokesman said.

The tools manage how users log in to services run by both Google and third-party developers.

“Today, at 3.47am PT, Google experienced an authentication system outage for approximately 45 minutes due to an internal storage quota issue,” the spokesman said.

According to the website Down Detector, which tracks reports of major online service outages, almost all of Google’s major services shut down overnight including Google Drive and Hangouts.

YouTube, Gmail, Google Photos and Google Docs also suffered outages and Google’s office tools including Google Maps and its smart home products were also hit. Even Pokemon Go was down, reports indicate.

YouTube users were experiencing the message “something went wrong” while other messages included “there was an error”.

Down Detector reports service in Australia ran smoothly until approximately 10.30pm, with reports of errors spiking at 10.59pm. Other countries affected included the UK, Russia, India, the US, Italy, Germany and New Zealand.

Some users reported that YouTube could be accessed through incognito mode.

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Google at first told users there were “no disruptions with Gmail” but later acknowledged on its workspace status dashboard that it was “aware of the problem” and said a “majority” of its users were experiencing issues with its services.

It did not immediately provide a timeline or a reason for the outage but the BBC’s Zoe Kleinman said “one spokesman said they were unable to access their email during the outage”.

The services hail from American multinational conglomerate Alphabet Inc. and while outages are not exactly unusual, Bloomberg Tech Editor Nate Lanxon noted, the “outage is notable for its pervasiveness across the Alphabet portfolio”.

Teachers overseas complained they couldn’t continue to teach lessons while students were unable to submit final exams. Workers were also affected, unable to access their Google Docs or use Gmail’s chat function as they worked from home.

Google's Workspace Status Dashboard red overnight.
Google's Workspace Status Dashboard red overnight.
Gmail chart that reports a spike in issues.
Gmail chart that reports a spike in issues.

As the service shut users out, #YouTubeDOWN and Google became the top trends online. More than 175,000 tweets were posted about Gmail alone. Google’s main site appeared to be working however some users seem to be affected also.

It comes four days after Facebook, Instagram and Messenger were hit with an outage that saw users unable to direct message one another.

The breakdown apparently did not affect all users as some indicated the services remained operational even during the worst of the outage.

The outage came on the same day that the tech giant faced a new Digital Services Act from the European Union which is designed to ensure tech companies take more responsibility.

The Digital Services Act and its accompanying Digital Markets Act will set strict conditions for companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon to do business in the EU’s 27 countries.

EU vice president Margrethe Vestager and commissioner Thierry Breton will unveil the laws that could see such companies designated “gatekeepers” making them subject to special oversight.

“We’ve come to a point where the power of digital businesses -- especially the biggest gatekeepers -- threaten our freedoms, our opportunities, even our democracy,” said Vestager.

“So for the world’s biggest gatekeepers, things are going to have to change. They are going to have to take more responsibility.”

Originally published as Google, YouTube outage as services crash worldwide

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Original URL: https://www.themercury.com.au/technology/online/google-services-including-gmail-youtube-go-down-in-multiple-countries/news-story/fad4bfbfce88c1b11a6e31ab893661a0