IN A surprising turn of events, the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) official YouTube channel vanished from public view.
The incident, reportedly due to hacking, coincided with the Macau Open semi-finals.
Could it be true that the BWF's channel was compromised, leaving fans unable to watch live matches?
Verdict:
TRUE
The Badminton World Federation's official YouTube channel mysteriously disappeared after being hacked by an unknown individual.
This incident took place during the Macau Open semi-finals on Saturday (Aug) 2), just as matches on Court Two were scheduled to be livestreamed.
The channel's disappearance affected the broadcasting of two matches: the women's doubles featuring Indonesia’s Meilysa Puspitasari-Rachel Rose against Taiwan’s Hsieh Pei-shan-Hung En-tzu, and the all-Malaysian men’s doubles between Wan Arif Wan Junaidi-Yap Roy King and Choong Hon Jian-Muhammad Haikal Nazri.
Despite the disruption, Pei-shan-En-tzu and Arif-Roy King secured their spots in the finals, although many fans were left frustrated, unable to watch the action live.
In a statement on social media, the BWF acknowledged the issue, stating, "The official BWF YouTube channel is currently experiencing technical difficulties and is temporarily hidden for security reasons.
"We are working with Google to restore all access and functionality as soon as possible."
The BWF YouTube channel, boasting 3.42 million subscribers and over 21,000 videos, is a crucial platform for fans worldwide to access live tournament action, interviews, and match highlights.
