Amazon Fire TV devices no longer have access to YouTube app

In an interesting turn of events, YouTube app access is now blocked on Amazon Fire TV devices. As of now, we are not sure whether Google or Amazon pulled the plug.

When users are trying to access YouTube app, they are being redirected to browse YouTube via browser apps of Firefox and Silk. If you recall, Google had announced earlier this month that it would remove YouTube from Amazon Fire TV devices starting January 1, 2018. The publication FastCompany has even obtained screenshots that show message asking Fire TV users to browse YouTube through the Silk or Mozilla browsers.

It is worth mentioning that Amazon wanted to reach a middle ground with Google by restarting sales of the Google Chromecast, along side the Apple TV, on the e-commerce giant's US website. Apparently, this move didn't make any impact on Google's decision of block access to the YouTube app.

Google had said in earlier statements that a lack of reciprocity pushed the company to take such a step. As mentioned before, Fire TV users can access to YouTube's website via the Silk and Firefox browsers. However, it is very likely that Google wants to block access to the web version of YouTube on Fire TV devices as well.

Google has already cut off the access to both the YouTube app and browser from the Amazon Echo Show. Quite naturally, Amazon was not too happy with the search giant's decision. The company had issued a statement that read "Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website. We hope to resolve this with Google as soon as possible."

We are yet to see how Amazon will react now. Google should also make a statement on this matter. Hopefully, the companies will enter a truce and sort out their problems.