# What Happened To Y2Mate?

#### **🔆**
As a self-taught developer, one of the many resources I listed in my  [learning journey post](https://blog.octachart.com/my-journey-as-a-self-taught-programmer)  was  [Traversy Media's](https://www.youtube.com/user/TechGuyWeb)  Youtube channel as I happen to be a very good visual learner. This channel helped me so much when I was learning web development and I still refer to it for a few things. Traversy Media is not the only channel I visit or download video content from, I often visit different channels like MKBHD, Ali Abdal, Free Code Camp, Wired, Coder Coder, Lofi Girl, CS Dojo to mention but a few.

![youtube-down.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1629876609380/4WlkqOgov.jpeg)

Sometimes when I like the content, I would love to watch it over and over. Most times when I need it on my laptop in offline mode, It leads me to look for a versatile Youtube Downloader and over the years I came across Y2Mate which has been a darling to me and gives me different options and of all youtube downloaders that I have used. It seems fast and better ✔. 

*When you visit y2mate official page;*

![y2matee.PNG](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1629877051451/6eX9R8OPu.png)

Last week as of writing, when I reached the website as usual with my clipboard having a lot of links for download,  I was left in dismay and unbelief by that unwelcoming message on the official website of Y2mate. I tried again but all in vain...

#### So what happened🤷?

![Untitled Design (9).png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1629877608845/YJe0MJXon.png)
It appears the site has been shut down in most parts of the US, UK & Australia according to [Digital Music News](https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2021/08/02/y2mate-com-shuts-down/). The shutdown appears to be the result of a long-running battle with the  [RIAA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recording_Industry_Association_of_America), which represents major recording labels Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, and Sony Music Entertainment.

#### **Uptime 〽**
So I tried  [Uptime](https://uptime.com/y2mate.com), which basically tells me if the website is up or it's just me. These were the results;

![uptimey.PNG](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1629877203622/t2xFgfekQ.png)

It appears the website is up and down and the last streak it was running uninterrupted is one day and six hours by the time of writing. 

![problems.PNG](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1629877278700/nHVzvcMal.png)
As you can also see in the graph above, the number of problems reported have been increasing over the days especially since when the notice came about.

#### **A few Hacks 🔱**
I tried a few hacks by changing the sub-domain to "US", "UK", "UG" but all refused. It's unclear if Y2mate is getting shut down in specific countries or faces a complete global shutdown. Y2mate site itself appears to be functional but is getting geo-blocked based on the country which in turn calls for a VPN to change geolocation maybe.

##### Alternatives to downloading youtube videos online

- Save From Net
- Python's Pytube
- 4K downloader
- VideoProcc
- Y2mate.Is

Browse the internet for more resources.

By Ronnie Atuhaire

Follow me on  [Twitter](https://twitter.com/AfroBoyUg)  ❤