Massive Outage Knocks Gmail, YouTube, Other Google Services Offline
NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — People in Texas and across the U.S. with Google accounts were briefly unable to access Gmail, watch YouTube videos or get to their online documents during a December 14 outage.
Tens of thousands of complaints popped up around 6 a.m. Central along the East Coast. The vast majority of those people, about 90%, could not log in, according to the site Downdetector.
The inability to sign in prevented users accessing other platforms through Google, including mobile video games.
The disruption was an early jolt on the East Coast for parents who were waking children up for school Monday. Millions of students are relying on Google for online instruction during the pandemic, including platforms like Google Docs.
The problem appeared to cleared up just before 7 a.m. CST.
"The problem with Gmail should be resolved for the vast majority of affected users," said Google's parent company, Alphabet, at 7:52 a.m.. "We will continue to work towards restoring service for the remaining affected users."
Downdetector, which tracks website outages, reported the problem affected users across the world, but appeared especially widespread in the northeastern U.S., Britain and other parts of Europe. Japan, Malaysia and India also looked to be more affected.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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