YouTube was unavailable for users for multiple hours on February 17th, 2026, after an outage hit Google’s video streaming service, affecting both the website and the app.
The U.S. West Coast reported the most issues with YouTube during the outage, which impacted more than 30,000 YouTube users at its peak. Initial reports of problems with YouTube started to spike around 5:30 PM PST. There are still reports of issues, and we're reporting live on the latest updates.
YouTube February 17, 2026 outage
- Greater than 30,000 U.S.-based Youtube users experienced issues with the platform, with complaints peaking around 5:45 PM PST
- The U.S. West Coast was most impacted, according to Down Detector
- The YouTube Help page issued a statement stating the outage issue had been fixed around 7:30 pm PST
- By 7:45 PM PST, U.S. users reporting issues with YouTube to Down Detector dropped below 5,000
- At 8:04 PM PST, U.S. Google confirmed that the issue was to do with the "recommendations system" and it had been resolved.
Met with a blank screen
If you head over to YouTube on your computer right now, the site will load but you won't see any videos. Instead, after doing so, I was met with a blank screen without any videos whatsoever.
Back up on DownDetector
Although YouTube wasn't showing up on Downdetector at first, it now is, with just over 30,000 users reporting problems on the site. Meanwhile, more than 8,000 YouTube TV users have reported experiencing issues with the service, while Google itself has close to 2,500 issues reported so far.
We'll be tracking all three sites closely, but it seems that for now, YouTube is where the majority of problems are occurring.
Things are improving...
Since we last checked in, the number of reported cases of issues with YouTube in the U.S. dropped from just over 30K to closer to 22K.
No official response yet
Normally, during a major outage like this one, companies head to X (Twitter) to provide updates. However, if you go to YouTube's official account, the last post was made 4 hours ago and is about cooking creators, not the outage. Hopefully, we learn more from YouTube and Google soon.
West Coast hit the hardest
Based on Downdetector's map of reported problems, it appears that YouTube users in San Francisco have been hit the hardest, with Los Angeles not that far behind. Then, on the East Coast, New York is showing the most reported problems, though other cities across the U.S. are also experiencing issues when trying to watch videos on YouTube
All's good in Seattle, Washington and Santa Cruz, California
Dan Bracaglia here, checking in from Seattle, Washington, with no issues to report with YouTube. I've also received reports from friends in Santa Cruz, California, and Reading, Pennsylvania that the platform is working without issue as of 6:15 pm PST. Hopefully, this means the outage will be short-lived!
YouTube acknowledges the outage
As the number of reported issues with YouTube continues to decline, the official YouTube account has acknowledged that you are not, in fact, imagining problems with the platform.
YouTube homepage still won't load
Our colleagues in Australia have confirmed that they, too, are having issues with YouTube, primarily loading the home screen. A quick test trying to load YouTube.com from Seattle, Washington, results in similar issues. However, if I punch in a video's direct URL, things seem to be loading with no issue.
Reported YouTube issues drop from 30k+ to 16K
Things are looking up, my fellow YouTube lovers. Those reporting issues with the video platform on Down Detector have dropped to around 16,000 from 30,000+ just an hour ago.
While the homepage may still be slow to load, as it is for me on the U.S. West Coast, YouTube seems to be recovering nicely/quickly.
Further clarification from Google
As the number of reported issues continues to drop just below 10,000 on Down Detector, I wanted to share this message posted to the official YouTube Google support account. TLDR: The homepage seems to be back up, but folks are still reporting issues logging in to YouTube and YouTube TV.
Good news, everyone!
Good news, everyone (in Professor Farnsworth’s voice)! Your favorite rags-to-riches video platform, YouTube, is almost back to normal, according to Down Detector, which is showing roughly 7,000 reported issues in the U.S., a massive decrease from 30,000+ earlier this evening.
Are you still having issues loading YouTube as of 7:15 pm PST or beyond? Let me know in the comments below.
Is the YouTube outage over or are people just going to bed?
According to Down Detector, as of 7:30 pm PST, the number of folks reporting issues with YouTube in the U.S. has dropped below 7,000, which is a good sign. The question is, are we seeing a decline in reported issues because folks are simply giving up and going to bed? 7:30 pm may be dinner time on the U.S. West Coast, but for my friends and family on the East Coast, where it's 10:30 pm, it's likely bedtime.
YouTube gives the all-clear
As the reported number of issues from U.S. YouTube users drops below 5K, it seems safe to call this outage largely resolved. The YouTube support blog similarly gives the all-clear (screenshot above).
That said, I will continue to keep an eye on Down Detector from the U.S. West Coast and drop an update if things take a sudden turn for the worse. Here's hoping that's not the case!
YouTube outage = resolved
With Down Detector now showing fewer than 5,000 U.S. users reporting issues with YouTube, it's safe to call this outage resolved.
How did the great February 17, 2026, YouTube outage impact you? Let me know in the comments below.
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What happened last night?
YouTube has shed some light on what happened last night — specifically an "issue with our recommendations system" stopped videos from appearing across "surfaces on YouTube." This included the homepage, app, YouTube Music and YouTube Kids.
No specifics have been shared on what specifically brought it down, but this is now indeed resolved.
A small uptick in outage reports?
This could be nothing — maybe a bit of a hangover of outage reports. And in the grand scheme of the huge outage earlier on, it's tiny.
But at 756 reports, reports have increased a little bit... We're keeping an eye on the situation.
OK, there *may* be something going on here
So I'm investigating this further, and there have been a few reports globally (these times are in GMT) of connectivity issues and the app not loading. We're trying to replicate these issues, but nothing yet.
If you're still seeing some issues, you may be caught in the 'aftershocks' of the outage
So here's what I've found from taking a look around and investigating the issues. YouTube is officially up and running, but there are some scattered reports of residual glitches in the app on TVs and the browser.
These can be caused by your system "remembering" YouTube in its broken phase, which is easy to fix.
- If you're on a computer: Hard refresh the browser by hitting either Control + F5 on Windows or Command + Shift + R on a Mac.
- If you're on the app: Close the app fully by swiping it away from your recent apps and reopen it.
If you're still seeing any problems, pop them in the comments and I can investigate further!
Reports continue to rise
As of 7 a.m. / 12 p.m. GMT, Downdetector shows over 1,000 reports, showing that users are still experiencing issues. Of course, compared to the over 300,000 reports earlier, many appear to be able to load the app without any connectivity issues, but YouTube still appears to be having some problems for many. We'll keep you posted!
Still seeing issues? Try refreshing cache
While reports are still high, if you're still not able to get YouTube working, then it's worth clearing your cache just in case it's getting in the way, since YouTube is back up and running.
If you're on Chrome, do the following:
- On Windows or Mac: Click the ellipses (three vertical dots) in the top-right corner of your browser. Select "Delete browsing data" to open a new window. Tick "Cached images and files" (and anything else you prefer to give it a complete refresh, like browsing history, cookies, etc.) and click "Delete data."
- On iOS or Android: Click the ellipses (three horizontal dots) along the bottom bar. Tap "History," then "Delete browsing data" at the bottom. Select "Cached images and files" (and anything else), then "Delete data."
If this works, fantastic! Otherwise, we'll keep checking to see if other major issues arise from YouTube.
Users still experiencing problems
Over on StatusGator, we're still seeing very recent outage reports from across the globe, with users in the U.S., New Zealand, France, Malaysia and more reporting "Sign in problem," "App not loading" and "Error message."
Currently, it's working all fine on my end (Darragh here), but there are still outage reports coming in. Hopefully, YouTube is working out problems from the "aftershock" of the widespread outage.
As its final update, YouTube has stated, "The issue with our recommendations system has been resolved and all of our platforms (YouTube.com, the YouTube app, YouTube Music, Kids, and TV) are back to normal!"
The outage reports continue
As the U.S. wakes up, many may be experiencing the aftereffects of the outage. This could be why we're still seeing a small rise in outage reports of over 1,100 on Downdetector, which has been above 1,000 over the past hour.
Head over to Downdetector.co.uk, and you'll see that there are currently only 225 reports. Since it's officially been stated that YouTube is now fixed (that includes YouTube.com, the YouTube app, YouTube Music, Kids and TV), we'll hopefully see fewer people experiencing any problems trying to watch videos. Stay tuned!
'No known issues' for now
While I'm still seeing reports of "Error message" and "App not loading" on StatusGator, there's currently "No know issues" according to the site, even though there is a small uptick in issues reported.
For now, many of the latest status reports are from the U.S., so we may see problems for some with the site and app be less wide spread around the globe.
Just about 1,000
After a long outage, we're finally seeing the Downdetector reports dropping to around 1,000. As of this post, it's at 1,024 reports, likely just stragglers from users experiencing unrelated issues.
With YouTube having said everything is back in order and reports being a far cry from what they once were (around 330,000), it seems we're coming to the end of this massive YouTube outage (I should, I have YouTube on in the background right now, and it's working flawlessly).
What are you watching?
Now that YouTube is mostly back, what are you watching on it? For me, I'm watching this golf video with Garrett Clark (gm_golf) of Good Good.
If you can't think of something to watch, maybe the Tom's Guide video embedded above will tickle your fancy (who doesn't like a nice battery showdown?).
Oh, and we're officially below 1,000 reports now (986 as of this post)!
Where's it up to now?
One hour later, we're still above 900 reports. Not nearly as bad as the spike we saw, but not great. Hopefully things continue to drop off now...
Down to 800 reports...
Although the spike is going down and we're moving in the right direction, users are still experiencing problems as of 10 minutes ago. Currently it's working okay for me (Kaycee, hello!), but for some they're still getting that dreaded "Error try again" message.
YouTube back but still acting up? Here's how to fix it
With YouTube back for many, the worst of the outage is firmly in the rear view — but for some of you, things might still look a little off. If that's you, don't panic. It's likely just your device clinging onto a broken version of the site from during the outage. Here's how to shake it loose.
First, try the quick fix.
Before anything else, give your browser or app a hard reset. On a computer, that means a hard refresh — Control + F5 on Windows, or Command + Shift + R on a Mac. On the app, swipe it away from your recent apps completely and reopen it fresh. Nine times out of ten, this is all you'll need.
Still not working? Clear your cache.
If the quick fix didn't do it, your cache might be the culprit. Essentially your device saved a "snapshot" of YouTube mid-outage and is still showing you that. On Windows or Mac, hit the three vertical dots in the top-right corner, select "Delete browsing data," check "Cached images and files," and hit delete.
If you're on iOS or Android, the process is the same from History onward — just tap the three horizontal dots along the bottom bar to get there instead.
Still having issues after all of this? Drop them in the comments.
Still some reports
Not much has changed in the last couple hours. We're still seeing around 600 reports on Downdetector for YouTube, though it's unclear where those reports are coming from, as all accounts we can find say it's working perfectly.
Are you still experiencing issues with YouTube?
In the most recent update at 2:00 p.m. ET, Downdetector was showing 638 outage reports for YouTube — which is slightly up from the previous update. These could be isolated events, especially when there's not much activity on social media from users about the service not working properly.
Another update
As of 3:59 p.m. ET, Downdetector was showing 591 outage reports for YouTube. If you're keeping track, that's down from the last update, which is certainly a good thing. Hopefully, this trend continues so you won't miss the latest upload from your favorite content creator.
