Google Blocks YouTube on Amazon’s Echo Show and Fire TV

From ExtremeTech: The cold war between Google and Amazon appears to be heating up today. After a series of disagreements over how Amazon is accessing YouTube content, Google has pulled the plug on YouTube access for Amazon’s Echo Show and Fire TV devices. Google says YouTube won’t come back until Amazon is willing to work together and ensure consumers have access to both companies’ products.

This isn’t the first disagreement Google and Amazon have had regarding YouTube. The service was initially blocked earlier this year on the Echo Show (Amazon’s Alexa-enabled screen) which shipped with a custom YouTube app developed without Google involvement. Amazon was able to bring back YouTube support several weeks ago with a workaround that just loaded the web versions of videos, but now Google is done playing around. Not only has Google blocked the Echo Show from YouTube again, it has expanded the block to include Fire TV devices.

Google specifically calls Amazon out in its statement on the block for not selling devices like the Chromecast and Google Home. It also notes that Amazon refuses to make Prime Video work on Chromecast devices. The “lack of reciprocity” led Google to kill YouTube on Amazon’s products.

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