Last Friday and Saturday, MSN Messenger users found themselves unable to send YouTube links to each other. Microsoft acknowledged and fixed the problem, pointing the finger at “a 3rd party that is a Microsoft partner” responsible for managing potentially harmful URLs that are sent through the Messenger program.
A company blog post says:
“Microsoft did not request to block any of the URLs that were accidentally blocked. The blocks were made by our partner as a result of their process to block harmful URLs. We are still investigating the specific reason our partner made these incorrect blocks and we will work with them to improve their process for detecting harmful URLs while not blocking safe ones.”
So to reiterate, it wasn’t Microsoft’s fault — just the company Microsoft hired to oversee “this entire process for Messenger”. Not Microsoft, though.
via CNET