GOOGLE EXPERIENCES TEMPORARY MELTDOWN - AND $5 BILLION ANTI-TRUST FINE

No doubt they'll be able to get it fixed this time, but right now Google is suffering from a major outage that is causing major websites and services, such as Spotify, Snapchat, Discord, and Pokemon Go, to time out.

The problem began around 12:20 p.m. Pacific Time on Tuesday, when Google App Engine began experiencing problems. Google App Engine is used as a web framework and cloud computing platform to host web applications.

In addition to Google App Engine, Google Stackdriver, and Google Cloud Global Loadbalancers were also affected. According to internet chat, the problem started with Google Cloud's Global Loadbalancers. 

Outage maps indicated that the problem was most intense in Central Europe, especially in Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Southern Poland. 

The reason for this is not yet known, but it may be significant that the company operates large data centres through subsidiary corporations in Budapest, Hungary, and  Wrocław, Poland. 

Update (19th July, 2018):

It is also noticeable that the area affected is centred in the EU, which just hit Google with an enormous $5 billion fine for the company's monopolistic practices.