Google Cloud outage hits YouTube, Gmail and more
A widespread Google Cloud outage hit Sunday, rendering popular sites and apps like YouTube and Gmail unusable for many users for a few hours, CNET reports. Google's Cloud Computing Engine and Cloud Networking services began experiencing issues as of 4 p.m. ET, according to the status page on company's website.
According to Down Detector, which logs outages and service interruptions, the outages appeared to have been primarily clustered along the East Coast of the United States as well as in parts of South America and Europe.
In addition to popular social media sites, Google Cloud is relied upon by a variety of large-scale companies, including Weight Watchers, PayPal and Target. Even Apple admitted it uses Google Cloud for its iCloud storage services, The Verge reports.
Social media users have been quick to voice their frustrations. The hashtag #YouTubeDOWN is now among Twitter's trending topics in the U.S.
In a statement to CNET, Google acknowledged the outage and blamed the issue on network congestion. "We believe we have identified the root cause of the congestion and expect to return to normal service shortly," the company said.
YouTube issued a tweet saying a majority of its services were working for users as of 7:34 p.m. ET.
Google provided an update at 7:56 p.m. ET, saying the network congestion issues had "been resolved for all affected users."
"We will conduct an internal investigation of this issue and make appropriate improvements to our systems to help prevent or minimize future recurrence," the company said.
