Google yesterday announced the end of YouTube, claiming the video-sharing site had been a competition since its inception and was now due for judging; as an April Fool’s Day prank.
A video was posted on YouTube – entitled “YouTube’s ready to select a winner” -, explaining that the website has been an eight year competition by Google to find “the best video in the world”.
The prank claimed that the whole of YouTube would go dead at the end of April 1, in order for a team of 30,000 YouTube technicians to begin reviewing every single video ever posted on the website.
A judging panel of film critics, YouTube celebrities, and the website’s most prolific commenters would then pick the winner from among shortlisted entries.
The winner would be revealed when the website was relaunched in 2023 – after a 10 year judging period -; with the website displaying only the one winning video, all others having been deleted.
“I encourage everyone to watch as many videos as possible before YouTube deletes everything tonight,” says Antoine Dodson, a so-called YouTube judge.
