Discord’s April Fool’s Day Prank Garners 1.4 Billion Views on YouTube
Today’s April Fool’s Day is a day for light-hearted humor and pranks, but Discord took it to a whole new level. The popular chat platform’s short YouTube video, which showcased a fake “loot box” feature, received a staggering 1.4 billion views in just 24 hours. This number far surpasses the views of last year’s highly anticipated “Grand Theft Auto VI” launch promotional video.
The 17-second video, meant as an April Fool’s Day joke, caused a frenzy among netizens and overseas media alike. Many were left wondering how a simple prank video could attract such a massive audience. However, experts soon uncovered the reason behind the astronomical view count.
According to Discord data miner Marvin Witt, the video was accidentally added to Discord’s “Toast” notification function. This feature, which directly embeds YouTube videos into notifications, caused the video to pop up for each player using the app, thus counting as a view.
While some have questioned this method as “viewbotting,” Discord’s official response suggested that even their senior engineer was perplexed by the sudden surge in views. The feature was originally intended for future ad placement but backfired in a spectacular way.
As the dust settles on this April Fool’s Day stunt, the question remains whether YouTube will recognize and reclaim this record-breaking view count. In the meantime, Discord’s humorous response to the situation only adds to the ongoing discussion surrounding this unexpected outcome.
Overall, Discord’s April Fool’s Day prank may have been a bit too successful, but it certainly left a lasting impression on both users and observers alike.