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(BRUSSELS) – Netflix and YouTube have agreed to a European request to reduce pressure on the Internet caused by increased demand from social distancing measures in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
The move followed conversations Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton had with both Netflix and YouTube streaming services.
In a call with CEO Reed Hastings, Netflix announced to reduce bit rates across all streams in Europe for 30 days, thus reducing Netflix traffic on European networks by 25 per cent.
In a call with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, YouTube also committed to temporarily switch all traffic in the EU to Standard Definition by default.
“As millions of Europeans are adapting to social distancing measures thanks to digital platforms, helping them to telework, e-learn and entertain themselves,” M Breton warmly welcomed the initiatives by Google and Netflix “to preserve the smooth functioning of the Internet during the COVID19 crisis.”
The announcements followed on statements made by Commissioner Breton yesterday, calling on the responsibility of streaming services, operators and users to prevent congestion and ensure the open Internet.
He advised streaming platforms to offer standard rather than high definition and to cooperate with telecom operators. The latter should take preventive and mitigating measures.
Commissioner Breton also encouraged users to apply settings that reduce data consumption, including the use of Wi-Fi or lower resolution for content.
Although the increased demand for Internet connectivity is not causing a general situation of network congestion thus far, as a precautionary measure, yesterday, the Commission and the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) set up a special reporting mechanism to monitor the internet traffic situation in each Member State to be able to respond to capacity issues.
In a joint statement, the Commission and BEREC “committed to participate to the collective effort to support individuals and businesses to continue their activities and contacts in the best possible way through the Internet during these unprecedented times”.
