YouTube announced it will stop taking submissions as of midnight on April 1 and bunker down for the next 10 years to view all the videos and pick the best one.
Tim Liston, named as the competition director in the video announcement, says YouTube was launched as a contest in 2005 and YouTube will return to that original vision, announcing the winner of this giant contest in 2023 with a relaunch of the website.
The winner will get the prize promised in 2005, says Liston—an MP3 player that clips onto one’s sleeve and a $500 stipend to fund the winner’s next endeavor.
Antoine Dodson, named as a YouTube judge on the video, says “I encourage everybody to watch as many videos as possible before YouTube deletes everything tonight.”
April Fools or not, that sentence probably struck fear into the hearts of some avid viewers.
On Yahoo Answers, questions such as “Is YouTube really shutting down?” were common. Many respondents said they did not fall for the prank, though some seemed unsure and wanted confirmation.
“I hope not! I won’t be able to become a famous YouTuber!” wrote one respondent.
In response to the question “Did anyone fall for the YouTube shutdown prank?,” one person wrote: “Nope. They always play an April Fools prank so its like ‘ok yeah sure oh I’m so scared whatever—pshh.’”
