Google responds to YouTube outage across the world
The issue that disrupted access to YouTube for users, was acknowledged by Google through a public statement posted by TeamYouTube.
New Delhi: After YouTube on Tuesday experienced a global outage, that disrupted access for about hundreds of thousands of users across multiple countries, including India and the US, Google acknowledged the issue through a public statement from TeamYouTube.
What was the Google response?
The issue that disrupted access to YouTube for users, was acknowledged by Google in a public statement posted by TeamYouTube
"We're aware some of you are having issues accessing YouTube right now. Our teams are aware, and we’ll provide updates as soon as we have them," the statement read.
The company later confirmed that the homepage had been restored, but added that engineers were still working toward a complete fix.
Did TeamYouTube react?
In a post on X, TeamYouTube wrote, “If you’re having trouble accessing YouTube right now, you’re not alone — our teams are looking into this and will follow up here with updates.”
Update: An issue with our recommendations system prevented videos from appearing across surfaces on YouTube (including the homepage, the YouTube app, YouTube Music and YouTube Kids). The homepage is back, but we're still working on a full fix – more coming soon!
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) February 18, 2026
Later, TeamYouTube also shared that, "Aaaand we're back!! This issue has been fixed across YouTube. Thanks for all the reports and for bearing with us while we sorted it out."
Aaaand we're back!! This issue has been fixed across YouTube. Thanks for all the reports and for bearing with us while we sorted it out ❤️ https://t.co/cnlULBUJe7
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) February 18, 2026
What was the reason of the disruption?
About hundreds of thousands of users on Tuesday reported problems regarding loading videos and using related services on YouTube.
According to the outage tracking website Downdetector, there was a sharp surge in complaints worldwide.
As per the website, in the United States alone, more than 320,000 users flagged issues with the Google-owned video streaming platform.
In India, over 19,000 complaints logged within minutes during the morning hours, indicating the outage was global in scope rather than region-specific.
Many users reported errors while opening the YouTube app and website, videos failing to play, and repeated “something went wrong” messages.
YouTube TV and some Google services also saw elevated complaint levels during the same period, suggesting a broader platform-side issue.
According to the data from DownDetetcor, around 56 per cent users are facing issues with the app and 17 per cent are not able to access the website. And whereas around 15 per cent users are unable to login in YouTube.
How are users reacting?
Many users posted about the YouTube outage on X, describing the issue to be serious.
"YouTube was down for 1-2 hours due to an issue with their recommendations system. This prevented videos from appearing across their platform," a user wrote on X.
Another user wrote, "so not just youtube but even google is down for many users and only X is working."
