One of the web’s pioneers will be wiped from the internet in May
Yahoo Answers, a question-and-answer platform that launched more than 15 years ago and became one of the largest troves of information — and misinformation — on the internet, is shutting down on May 4.
The Verizon-owned website announced the platform’s cancellation Monday with a terse statement on Yahoo Answers’ homepage. The portal will go into “read only” mode on April 20 and avid users will have until June 30 to download content, Yahoo explained on its help page.
“While Yahoo Answers was once a key part of Yahoo’s products and services, it has become less popular over the years as the needs of our members have changed,” Yahoo said in an email to Answers’ users obtained by the Verge.
“To that end, we have decided to shift our resources away from Yahoo Answers to focus on products that better serve our members and deliver on Yahoo’s promise of providing premium trusted content,” the email continued.
Like many corners of the internet, Yahoo Answers has become a cesspool of conspiracy theories and outlandish questions that dragged down Yahoo’s brand as it tries to move upscale. For example, one of the top questions on the website Tuesday morning asks “Is Yahoo Answers being shut down because conservatives have exposed the Socialist takeover of America?”
Verizon bought Yahoo in 2017 for $4.4 billion and it now sits under the Verizon Media Group umbrella, which also includes Aol. Verizon recently announced plans to double down on the Yahoo name and create new subscription-based services using the name. Yahoo claims to have 20 million unique daily visitors.
