A glitch in YouTube’s partner agreement system has blocked a number of popular channels, leaving millions of people in the dark.
MIT’s OpenCourseWare, an initiative by the university to post courses online that has 1.6 million subscribers, and Blender, a popular open source 3D animation creation set of tools with just under 200,000 subscribers, have both seen all of their videos blocked since at least Saturday morning. Also offline are India’s Press Information Bureau and England Rugby, among others.
YouTube, a Google holding, tells TorrentFreak the company is working on a solution, but did not supply a timeline.
“Videos on a limited number of sites have been blocked as we updated our partner agreements. We are working with MITOpenCourseWare and Blender Foundation to get their videos back online,” the company said.
(YouTube did not immediately reply to Fortune‘s inquiries about the issue.)
Many of the affected channels have placed banners on their page to let viewers know they’re aware of the problem and addressed the issue on social media. Some are taking a lighthearted approach to the issue. “The elves are working around the clock to fix the issue. … Hang in there folks!,” wrote MIT OpenCourseWare.
You may have noticed that we are having some trouble with our videos! Please stand by. The elves are working around the clock to fix the issue. There is still a ton of content you can use @MITOCW that doesn't have video. https://t.co/EhmEV6ywNQ. Hang in there folks! pic.twitter.com/ylvW50Nclw
— MIT OpenCourseWare (@MITOCW) June 16, 2018
Others are more visibly frustrated.
Note: the two videos on the frontpage that work are from our other accounts. Everything in the Foundation channel is entirely blocked, worldwide.
— Ton Roosendaal🔸 (@tonroosendaal) June 17, 2018
The tech problems come soon after the launch of YouTube Music, a rebrand of the company’s YouTube Red program.
