PayPal, Venmo, and YouTube Experience Widespread Outages
Major online platforms PayPal, Venmo, and YouTube all suffered service disruptions within the past 24 hours, impacting millions of users.
The payment services, PayPal and Venmo, began experiencing outages around 11 a.m. today, with reports escalating rapidly to tens of thousands by noon, according to Downdetector.com. By 3 p.m., the issue appeared to be resolved. PayPal acquired Venmo in 2013, and these kinds of disruptions can erode consumer trust in digital payment systems. A PayPal spokesperson confirmed a “brief service disruption” in a statement, adding, “PayPal and Venmo experienced a brief service disruption that has since been resolved.”
Hours prior to the payment platform issues, YouTube users reported being unable to play videos Wednesday night. Downdetector recorded over 800,000 user reports within a single hour. YouTube’s support team later announced via X that the problem was fixed, stating, “This issue has been fixed – you should now be able to play videos on YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV!” The cause of the YouTube outage remains unknown. For more information on online security, visit the Federal Trade Commission.
The cause of the PayPal and Venmo outage is currently unclear. This comes after the Treasury Department began accepting donations via PayPal and Venmo to help address the nation’s growing debt. Recent controversy surrounding PayPal’s proposed user agreement changes may also be contributing to increased scrutiny of the platform.
Officials have not yet provided a detailed explanation for any of the outages, and investigations are ongoing.
Fox News contributor Michele Tafoya weighed in on PayPal walking back its user agreement fining up to $2,500 for ‘misinformation.’
Major mobile payment services, PayPal and Venmo, along with video-sharing platform YouTube, experienced widespread outages within a 24-hour period.
PayPal and Venmo outages started at about 11 a.m. Thursday, with tens of thousands of reports about worldwide outages on both sites by noon, according to Downdetector.com, an online user reporting system.
As of 3 p.m., the issue seemed to have been resolved.
PayPal acquired mobile payment company Venmo in 2013. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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In a statement to FOX Business, a PayPal spokesperson described the outage as a “brief service disruption.”
“PayPal and Venmo experienced a brief service disruption that has since been resolved,” the spokesperson wrote.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PYPL | PAYPAL HOLDINGS INC. | 66.05 | -1.93 | -2.84% |
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 251.46 | +0.43 | +0.17% |
Venmo, a mobile payments company, was acquired by PayPal in 2013.
It is unclear what led to the outage.
It is unclear what led to the PayPal and Venmo outage, though it is now resolved. (Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Hours earlier, YouTube confirmed users were unable to play videos Wednesday night, noting they were “on it.”
Downdetector reported more than 800,000 users reported issues on the platform within an hour.
YouTube later posted to social media saying the issue was resolved.
YouTube experienced an outage hours earlier, reportedly affecting more than 800,000 users. (Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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“This issue has been fixed – you should now be able to play videos on YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV!” YouTube’s support team wrote in an X post.
No explanation was provided for the outage.
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YouTube did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.
