It has been proven that the spread of the dreaded Coronavirus epidemic can be checked is through social isolation. China practised it effectively and European countries are now adopting social isolation in addition to good hygiene in their bid to curb the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic which has now killed more persons in Italy than it did in China. Thus, in order to avoid internet disruption, European Union officials recently enjoined streaming platforms to reduce the quality of their videos so as to reduce the strain on Europe’s infrastructure. There were reports of a spike in data traffic by many carriers across the continent as well as in North America.
In line with this directive, popular streaming platforms Netflix and YouTube have both announced plans to lower the quality of their videos across the board. Netflix first announced that it would only stream videos in standard quality as it plays part in ensuring families grounded at home can still keep up with their favourites movies without any service disruption.
YouTube has equally announced a similar move to stream videos in standard quality. The move is restricted to Europe as the continent battles the COVID-19 outbreak. In a statement released by the tech company, it disclosed that it is “making a commitment to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to standard definition by default.” Thus, if you are in Europe and notice a drop in video quality without the option of increasing the quality, this is the reason why.
The move is a temporary measure which we believe will be in place until the social isolation efforts yield the desired result. That is, the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths drop significantly.
UP NEXT: OnePlus 8 TPU Case goes on sale on GizTop; confirms design
(via)
