What you need to know
- YouTube is fully back online after a major outage left hundreds of thousands staring at blank homepages and error messages.
- The culprit was YouTube’s recommendations system — the engine that powers your homepage, suggested videos, and discovery feed.
- Downdetector logged 300,000 to 350,000 reports in the U.S. alone, with additional complaints from other regions.
YouTube is working again after a widespread outage that left hundreds of thousands of users with blank homepages and error messages. The company has fixed the problem, and access is restored across its main app and related services after one of its biggest disruptions in recent months.
The main issue was with YouTube’s recommendations system, which builds your homepage feed, suggested videos, and discovery features. Videos, channels, and content didn’t appear, even though the video files were still there.
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: https://t.co/7iTU5S9AgTFebruary 18, 2026
The outage affected more than just the main site. It hit YouTube.com, the mobile app, YouTube Music, YouTube Kids, and even YouTube TV logins, causing problems across the whole service. Downdetector recorded over 300,000 to 350,000 outage reports in the U.S., along with many reports from other regions.
For users, this issue was not just a random server or connection problem. The recommendation system is a key part of how YouTube works, so when it fails, it affects your homepage, suggested lists, and discovery tools.
The algorithm was the culprit
YouTube’s team quickly acknowledged the problem on social media, telling users they were aware of the access issues and would provide updates. As the outage continued, the company confirmed the cause was the recommendations system and promised a fix was in progress.
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/cnlULBUJe7February 18, 2026
By late night in the U.S., YouTube said the homepage was working again and later confirmed that full service was restored on YouTube.com, mobile apps, and other related services.
This disruption did not delete any videos or accounts; it only stopped YouTube from showing them for a short time. Now that service is back, engineers will likely investigate what caused the recommendations system to fail to help prevent it from happening again.
