YouTube Shutdown April Fool's Prank [VIDEO]: 'YouTube’s Ready to Select a Winner,' Infamous Video-Sharing Site to 'Shut Down,' Relaunch in 2023, Prank Goes Viral

On Easter Sunday evening (March 31), YouTube released a blog video entitled "YouTube's ready to Select a Winner." Apparently, the mega-popular video-sharing website is preparing to shut down its operations in order to select the best YouTube video... ever. The nominees would be announced Monday morning (April 1), and a winner would be chosen by 2023... the same year YouTube would re-launch its operations. Wait... TEN YEARS?! Several fans fell into a panic, until everyone realized what day it is. APRIL FOOLS! That's right everyone, the "shut down" video was just a viral prank.

Check out the infamous April Fool's prank "Message from YouTube" below. Several YouTube employees and popular YouTubers (including Antoine Dodson) appear in the video, claiming that the site's preparing to go offline until 2023. During that time, over 30,000 technicians will go through the YouTube submissions and a panel of "famous" judges will ultimately vote on the best video. According to alleged "Competition Director" Tim Liston, "We're so close to the end. Tonight at midnight, YouTube.com will no longer be accepting entries. After eight amazing years, it is finally time to review everything that has been uploaded to our site and begin the process of selecting a winner."

Dodson continues: "We are all story tellers, that's what pulled me into this contest... I encourage everybody to watch as many videos as possible before YouTube deletes everything tonight."

The YouTube video description reads:

Thanks for all your great entries. YouTube finally has enough videos to begin selecting a winner. What do you think is the #bestvideo on YouTube? We've been thrilled with all of the diverse, creative entries we've seen so far, and we can't wait to begin the process of selecting the best video. We'll be announcing the winner in 10 years.

But no worries, YouTubers, the site IS NOT offline. It was just another April Fool's Day prank brought to you by the wise-guys over at Google.

Even so, the video has already garnered over a whopping 1 million views! If the "competition" were real, which video do fans think should win the title of best video EVER?