Google pulls down YouTube from Amazon Echo Show

In a rather unexpected turn of events, Google has suddenly pulled down YouTube from Amazon Echo Show. Apparently, Echo Show owners weren’t given any advance warning previous to the removal. According to The Verge that first reported on the news, if you ask the smart speaker to show you a YouTube video, it fails and Alexa just says this: “Currently, Google is not supporting Youtube on Echo Show.”

In a statement, Amazon said, "As of this afternoon, Google has chosen to no longer make YouTube available on Echo Show, without explanation and without notification to customers. There is no technical reason for that decision, which is disappointing and hurts both of our customers."

Contradicting Amazon's claim that the removal came as a surprise, Google said, "We've been in negotiations with Amazon for a long time, working towards an agreement that provides great experiences for customers on both platforms. Amazon's implementation of YouTube on the Echo Show violates our terms of service, creating a broken user experience. We hope to be able to reach an agreement and resolve these issues soon."

This isn't the first time we've seen Google regulate access to YouTube. It has had similar issues with Microsoft and Roku in the past. Whatever be the case, the Echo Show certainly has a lot at stake as losing YouTube would be a pretty massive blow to the company’s only smart speaker with a screen.