Officials Worried over Internet Capacities – Netflix and YouTube to Reduce Streaming Quality

At the behest of the European Union, Netflix and YouTube will reduce streaming quality in Europe for at least the next month to prevent the internet collapsing under the strain of unprecedented usage due to the coronavirus pandemic, CNN Business reports.

– Switch to standard definition when HD is not necessary – said European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who is responsible for the EU internal market.

Australian Communications Minister Paul Fletcher has also asked streaming and online video game companies to consider reducing the amount of data, so that national internet provider networks could adapt to the situation in which most of the populace works and studies at home.

EU officials said they would work with the regulator that oversees electronic communications in the bloc to set up a special reporting mechanism to monitor internet traffic and respond to capacity issues, CNN Business adds.

Certain experts advise users to use the network capacities more rationally, for example, recording a lecture rather than livestreaming it.

Facebook on Wednesday acknowledged that the effects of the pandemic are stretching it to the limit. Voice and video calls on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, in particular, are more than double usual levels, CNN Business writes.

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Thierry Breton

Paul Fletcher

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