On 17–18 February 2026, the video platform YouTube went down for users around the world, leaving many unable to watch videos or use the app properly. The outage affected countries including the US, India, the UK, Australia, and Mexico.
In the United States alone, over 3 lakh users reported problems on tracking site Downdetector. Users faced issues like blank homepages, error messages, videos not loading, and problems accessing related services such as YouTube Music, YouTube Kids, and YouTube TV.
Many users took to social media, including X (formerly Twitter) and Reddit, to share their frustration. While some videos could still be accessed through direct links, the home page and recommended videos were often missing or not working.
YouTube confirmed the outage and said its engineering teams were working to fix the problem. The company explained that a glitch in its recommendation system, the feature that suggests videos and populates users’ home pages, was the main cause.
By Wednesday morning, YouTube announced that services across all platforms had been fully restored. Users could again access videos, playlists, recommendations, and related services without issues. The company thanked users for their patience during the disruption.
Also Read: NPCI rolls out UPI wallet for Global AI Summit visitors