The coronavirus has yet another unforeseen impact. The European Union recently urged Netflix and other streaming platforms to only allow video streaming in standard definition — rather than high definition — to relieve some of the bandwidth strain during times of unprecedented usage as people are increasingly quarantined due to the spread of COVID-19.
European Commissioner Thierry Breton reportedly spoke to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings directly about the request and afterwards gave a public statement to CNN which said, given the unprecedented situation, "all [streaming platforms, telecom operators and users] have a joint responsibility to take steps to ensure the smooth functioning of the internet during the battle against the virus
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