If there’s one thing that can be said about the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, it’s that the world was honestly not prepared for anything like this. We’ve seen economies come crashing down, hospitals and healthcare workers unable to treat people due to lack of supplies and space, and even some members of the population just not intelligent enough to heed the warnings of scientists and folks who actually know what to expect (some of those idiots even hold a lot of power in government). And yet, we’re also seeing how technology might fail us, as well, such as in the case of European internet regulation.
READ MORE: ‘Onward’ Coming To VOD Today & Disney+ In April
According to CNN, EU officials have called on both Netflix and YouTube to reduce their streaming quality to help alleviate the bandwidth requirements that the streaming services will accumulate as most people stay indoors. Officials are concerned that if more people stream, and stream at a high quality, the bandwidth-hogging could lead to internet interruptions for some Europeans. Now, it’s up to Netflix and YouTube to take measures to ensure that the internet doesn’t crash due to the streaming of films and videos.
“We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25% while also ensuring a good quality service for our members,” a Netflix spokesperson said.
READ MORE: Simon Pegg & Nick Frost Parody ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ For A Fun Coronavirus PSA
A very similar statement was released by a Google (YouTube parent company) spokesperson, who said, “We will continue working with member state governments and network operators to minimize stress on the system, while also delivering a good user experience.”
How this all plays out and what effect it might have on users’ viewing experience isn’t fully known at this time. For some, it’ll be unnoticed, while a Netflix spokesperson said that some users “see a reduction in perceptible video quality.”
READ MORE: Evangeline Lilly Isn’t Self-Isolating & Suggests COVID-19 Is An Election Year Stunt
Ultimately, this is a small price to pay to make sure that bandwidth for the general public is still available. If that means European users (and perhaps other worldwide users) have to watch things in quality that might be a bit less than 4k or 1080p, then that’s fine. Most people are probably viewing on laptops, tablets, and phones, which means those ultra-HD and HD resolutions are nearly meaningless either way.
While there’s still no word on how long the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to wreak havoc on Europe and the rest of the world, spokespeople for both YouTube and Netflix agree that the regulations that are put into place now are only scheduled to last 30 days.
