YouTube confirmed it has fully restored services across all its platforms following a massive global outage that left millions of users unable to access videos.
The disruption was traced to a technical failure in YouTube’s recommendation system, the complex algorithm that suggests videos to users based on their viewing history.
This glitch prevented content from appearing on the homepage, mobile app, and specialized services like YouTube Music, YouTube Kids, and YouTube TV.
At its peak, the outage-tracking website Downdetector recorded over 3.2 lakh reports of service failure in the United States and nearly 20,000 complaints from users across India.
The incident triggered widespread frustration on social media as the hashtag #YouTubeDOWN trended globally on X. Many users reported seeing a blank screen or a “Something Went Wrong” error message when trying to load the app.
While some creators noted that videos in their specific playlists still functioned, the majority of the site’s core features were effectively paralyzed for several hours.
Google, the parent company of YouTube, issued a statement during the crisis acknowledging that the recommendation system failure had blocked video visibility across all surfaces.
The company worked through the morning to deploy a fix, eventually announcing that the homepage and search functions were back to normal.
A final update from the official TeamYouTube account confirmed that the issue was fully resolved and all platforms had returned to standard operation.
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
This outage highlights the extreme global dependency on the platform, which currently boasts more than 2.7 billion monthly active users. India remains the largest market for the service with an estimated 500 million users, followed by the United States with 254 million.
Industry analysts note that such technical blips are rare for a platform that handles over 20 million video uploads every day. YouTube has paid out more than $70 billion to creators and media companies in recent years, cementing its role as the backbone of the modern creator economy.
Today’s disruption served as a stark reminder of how deeply integrated the video-sharing giant has become in the daily lives of internet users worldwide.
