The Daily Bruin website went down Wednesday afternoon, causing people to turn to social media with concerns about potential censorship.
After rumors that the university had shut down the site began to spread, staff members at the Daily Bruin took to social media to say that the site is not down to university intervention because it’s being “independently managed.”
“Due to heavy traffic, the site may be slow to load or become intermittently inaccessible,” the statement posted to both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram, said. “The May 1 issue is available on newsstands across the UCLA campus as we work to resolve these issues.”
The Daily Bruin website is independently managed. Due to heavy traffic, the site may be slow to load or become intermittently inaccessible. The May 1 issue is available on newsstands across the UCLA campus as we work to resolve these issues.
— Daily Bruin (@dailybruin) May 1, 2024
Jeremey Chen, a fourth-year student studying cognitive science and the photo editor of the Daily Bruin, confirmed that the reason the website went down was due to the Daily Bruin, “increasing [its website’s] bandwidth.”
Prior to the outlet’s statement, many on social media hypothesized that the website being down was a form of censorship by the university following an editorial published at 3:06 a.m. that argued that the university was “complicit” in violence inflicted upon protesters and failed to protect its students.
The piece was an indictment of the university that called out how the “administration stood by and watched as the violence escalated.”
“Daily Bruin reporters on the scene were slapped and indirectly sprayed with irritants,” the editorial read. “Despite also being students, they were offered no protection.”
At about 3:30 p.m., the website was functioning once again with lead stories about the overnight violence and the cancellation of classes.
Read more from the Daily Bruin for more local UCLA news and updates regarding the encampment and protests on campus.
