Ankara: In a major ‘technical blunder’, Turkey has accidentally shut down YouTube and other Google services such as Gmail in its country for a brief period. It happened when the government tried to block Google Cache, through which netizens can access censored content. Google Cache takes a snapshot of each web page ever created and examines and caches (stores) that version as a back-up.
The cached version is what Google uses to judge if a page is a good match for your search query. It also allows people to view content that might have been removed – including material previously banned in Turkey.
Social media users began to unravel what caused the Internet to ‘break’ and pointed the finger at Turkey’s Internet Watchdog.
The Turkish government attempted to block Google Cache but in doing so stopped access to many popular sites.
However, Turkey’s Ministry of Communication has denied that Google Cache was ever censored. In a statement released on Twitter, it claimed the break down in Google services was due to a technical fault with fiber-optic cables.