YouTube

=== April Fools gags ===
{{See also|List of Google April Fools' Day jokes}}
YouTube featured an [[April Fools' Day|April Fools]] prank on the site on April 1 of every year from 2008 to 2016. In 2008, all links to videos on the main page were redirected to [[Rick Astley]]'s music video "[[Never Gonna Give You Up]]", a prank known as "[[rickrolling]]".<ref>{{cite web |last=Arrington |first=Michael |date=March 31, 2008 |title=YouTube RickRolls Users |url=https://techcrunch.com/2008/03/31/youtube-rickrolls-users/ |access-date=March 26, 2017 |website=[[TechCrunch]] |publisher=[[AOL]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |last=Wortham |first=Jenna |date=April 1, 2008 |title=YouTube 'Rickrolls' Everyone |url=https://www.wired.com/2008/04/youtube-rickrol/ |magazine=Wired |access-date=March 26, 2017}}</ref> The next year, when clicking on a video on the main page, the whole page turned upside down, which YouTube claimed was a "new layout".<ref>{{cite web |author=Bas van den Beld |date=April 1, 2009 |title=April fools: YouTube turns the world up-side-down |url=https://www.searchcowboys.com/news/453 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403054721/https://www.searchcowboys.com/news/453 |archive-date=April 3, 2009 |access-date=April 2, 2010 |publisher=searchcowboys.com}}</ref> In 2010, YouTube temporarily released a "TEXTp" mode which rendered video imagery into [[ASCII art]] letters "in order to reduce bandwidth costs by $1 per second."<ref>{{cite web |last=Pichette |first=Patrick |date=March 31, 2010 |title=TEXTp saves YouTube bandwidth, money |url=https://youtube.googleblog.com/2010/03/textp-saves-youtube-bandwidth-money.html |access-date=March 25, 2017 |website=Official YouTube Blog}}</ref>

The next year, the site celebrated its "100th anniversary" with a range of sepia-toned silent, early 1900s-style films, including a parody of [[Keyboard Cat]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Richmond |first=Shane |date=April 1, 2011 |title=YouTube goes back to 1911 for April Fools' Day |website=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8421394/YouTube-goes-back-to-1911-for-April-Fools-Day.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8421394/YouTube-goes-back-to-1911-for-April-Fools-Day.html |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=March 26, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In 2012, clicking on the image of a DVD next to the site logo led to a video about a purported option to order every YouTube video for home delivery on DVD.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Carbone |first=Nick |date=April 1, 2012 |title=April Fools' Day 2012: The Best Pranks from Around the Web |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/01/april-fools-day-2012-the-best-pranks-from-around-the-web/ |magazine=Time |access-date=March 26, 2017}}</ref>

In 2013, YouTube teamed up with satirical newspaper company ''[[The Onion]]'' to claim in an uploaded video that the video-sharing website was launched as a contest which had finally come to an end, and would shut down for ten years before being re-launched in 2023, featuring only the winning video. The video starred several [[Internet celebrity|YouTube celebrities]], including [[Antoine Dodson]]. A video of two presenters announcing the nominated videos streamed live for 12 hours.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Quan |first=Kristene |date=April 1, 2013 |title=WATCH: YouTube Announces It Will Shut Down |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/04/01/watch-youtube-announces-it-will-shut-down/ |magazine=Time |access-date=March 26, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Murphy |first=Samantha |date=March 31, 2013 |title=YouTube Says It's Shutting Down in April Fools' Day Prank |url=https://mashable.com/2013/03/31/youtube-april-fools-day/?europe=true |access-date=November 8, 2019 |publisher=[[Mashable]]}}</ref>

In 2014, YouTube announced that it was responsible for the creation of all viral video trends, and revealed previews of upcoming trends, such as "Clocking", "Kissing Dad", and "Glub Glub Water Dance".<ref>{{cite news |last=Kleinman |first=Alexis |date=April 1, 2014 |title=YouTube Reveals Its Viral Secrets in April Fools' Day Video |newspaper=HuffPost |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/youtube-april-fools_n_5068694.html |access-date=April 1, 2014}}</ref> The next year, YouTube added a music button to the video bar that played samples from "[[Sandstorm (instrumental)|Sandstorm]]" by [[Darude]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Alba |first=Alejandro |date=April 1, 2015 |title=17 April Fools' pranks from tech brands, tech giants today |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/17-april-fool-pranks-tech-brands-tech-giants-today-article-1.2169557 |access-date=June 12, 2016 |website=Daily News|location=New York}}</ref> In 2016, YouTube introduced an option to watch every video on the platform in 360-degree mode with [[Snoop Dogg]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Sini |first=Rozina |date=April 1, 2016 |title=Snoopavision and other April Fools jokes going viral |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35941866 |access-date=April 1, 2016}}</ref>