Global video sharing website YouTube crashed briefly today, with ticked-off users rushing to Twitter in dismay. 

[attach id=515164 size="medium"]Users browsing to www.youtube.com were met with an unfamiliar sight.[/attach]

Visitors browsing to YouTube's desktop site were met with a 500 Internal server error page. The page assured users that "a team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with the situation." 

Within minutes, Twitter users were spreading news of the crash using the hashtag #Youtubedown. YouTube's official Twitter account remained resolutely silent throughout the incident. 

YouTube's mobile site was not affected by the crash and continued to function as usual.

Whatever monkeys they use at the site's San Bruno, California headquarters must be extremely tech-savvy, because the site was back up and running within minutes. 

According to web analytics site Alexa, YouTube is the world's second-most visited website, after Google's homepage. YouTube is owned by Google, with the search giant having bought it for $1.65 billion back in 2006.

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