Google Broke 4.6 BILLION URLs

I...can't believe they're doing this tbh. Goo(.)gl short links were never the coolest thing, but I'm petrified to think of how much of the web will be lost with this change. Google killing things isn't always bad, but in this case...pretty bad.

SOURCES

S/O Ph4se0n3 for the awesome edit 🙏

[willcoder]

I think the takeaway message is that it's risky to depend on third party services, especially free ones. The more you can DIY and self-host, the less risk you can incur.

[putnam]

Old Google >>>> current Google

[box]

I will never understand why these large companies buy/spend millions in making stuff or buying other companies than shut it down mouths to a few years later.

[ouwyukha]

Reminder to myself: Put actual permalink when referring on comment even how nasty long they are

[Untie]

7:23 article says 3.6 billion but the title is 4.6 billion

[CantEscape.M]

I'm actually surprised you made this video 13 whole months before the shutdown and I got recommended this TODAY on August 25th and I never noticed

[HerrBlauzahn]

Come on, it's been known for years that this service will stop working and you couldn't even create new links for a long, long time. This is the most graceful sunsetting that Google has ever done.

Still sucks, though.

[TheFoxMaster]

4:33 there are multiple ways to tell where a shorten link leads to on most URL shorteners you can add something to the URL and it will send you to a page telling you where the URL goes before sending you to said URL there's also websites that will tell you where it leads if the URL shortener doesn't tell u

[Sammysapphira]

This is why i always always always always beg anyone hosting long-term style content like a guide or a resource list to NEVER use a url shortener. Yes its so much prettier and nicer looking... but encouraging people to turn their long term links into time bombs is scary. Url shorteners should be reserved for short term usage like instant messaging or completely trivial links

[howiieb]

In my opinion, these links were a *massive* vector for malware and phishing on a scale I'm not even sure you necessarily comprehended when you addressed the possibility - Google links were inherently trusted by millions and this shortener was almost exclusively hijacked by malicious actors for years (which is why the short links to their own apps will still work - it's not a cost issue, it's a safety issue). There are cases, as you've explained, that mean the wholesale killing of all of the domains is going to do harm too, possibly more harm than leaving them up would do at this point as you've discussed - but I think launching this product at all was a massive mistake and Google have been aware of it for quite some time.

[peterlehmann]

I never understood the use of URL shorteners anyway. And as I cannot see where they lead me they are a security risk as well

[WorktimeFreetime]

The worst part is that these links are in places no one expects and there is no way to find them all in ancient forums and sites

[pencilcheck]

someone just got free ad from Theo. and they are chuckling

[RandomGeometryDashStuff]

01:16 rss is still supported by local clients like akregator
youtube also supports rss as server

[andrewzuo]

Google didn't kill RSS. I got to this video by RSS.

[NimTheHuman]

The title could have been less clickbait-y. "Google Broke 4.6 BILLION URLs" was a little misleading. 😅 I was anticipating another Crowdstrike-like incident.

[Luzgar]

Always feels like the mind-boggling amount of money they already have is not enough for them.

[ilamparithi.]

Google should release the database of the shortlinks publicly

[Kane]

“We really need to stop doing this” - I don’t believe they see it this way…

[codewizard]

The internet is EPHEMERAL ! Always has been.