In 2013, YouTube claimed it would shut down for 10 years as an April Fools' joke.
YouTube presented the gag as the end of a supposed video-upload contest. The company claimed that its judges would select one winning video, after which the site would close and return in 2023 with only that winner available.
The prank was produced with The Onion and featured several recognizable YouTube personalities, including Antoine Dodson. YouTube also staged a 12-hour livestream announcing the supposed nominees, making the hoax feel like a real platform-wide event.
The joke was not an actual shutdown announcement. It was part of YouTube's run of annual April Fools' stunts, which included rickrolling users in 2008, turning the site upside down in 2009, and presenting videos in ASCII-style text in 2010.