YouTube Down

On February 17, 2026, YouTube experienced a major outage that left tens of thousands of users unable to access videos for several hours. The disruption affected both the website and the mobile app, sparking widespread complaints across social media and outage-tracking platforms.

The issue began in the early evening and peaked with more than 30,000 reports in the United States alone. Here’s a detailed breakdown of what happened, who was affected, and how the situation unfolded.

When Did the YouTube Outage Start?

Initial reports of problems with YouTube began to spike around 5:30 PM PST. According to outage-tracking service Down Detector, user complaints surged rapidly within minutes.

By 5:45 PM PST, reports had peaked at more than 30,000 U.S.-based users experiencing issues.

Users reported:

• Videos not loading

• Error messages on homepage

• App crashes

• Blank screens in the recommendations feed

Both desktop and mobile users were affected, indicating a backend issue rather than a device-specific malfunction.

Regions Most Affected

The U.S. West Coast saw the highest concentration of complaints during the outage. Major urban centers including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle recorded the most reports.

While most reports originated from the United States, some users internationally also reported intermittent disruptions.

What Caused the Outage?

At 8:04 PM PST, Google confirmed that the disruption was linked to YouTube’s “recommendations system.”

The recommendations engine powers:

• Homepage video suggestions

• “Up Next” autoplay queue

• Trending content feed

A malfunction in this system reportedly caused cascading errors that prevented videos from loading properly.

Google stated that the issue had been resolved and services were fully restored.

Timeline of Events

• 5:30 PM PST: Reports of YouTube issues begin to spike

• 5:45 PM PST: Complaints peak at over 30,000 users

• 7:30 PM PST: YouTube Help page announces issue fixed

• 7:45 PM PST: Reports drop below 5,000 users

• 8:04 PM PST: Google confirms recommendations system was the cause

By late evening, most users reported full restoration of services.

How Long Was YouTube Down?

For many users, the disruption lasted approximately two hours, from around 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM PST. Some users experienced lingering issues slightly beyond that window.

User Reaction

Social media platforms were flooded with complaints, memes, and frustration as users struggled to access videos during peak evening hours — a prime time for streaming content.

Many creators also raised concerns about potential impacts on view counts and revenue during the outage window.

Was User Data Affected?

There have been no reports of data breaches or account compromises linked to this outage. The issue was technical and related to the recommendations system infrastructure.

What This Means for YouTube

As one of the world’s largest video streaming platforms, YouTube serves billions of users monthly. Even short outages can disrupt advertising revenue, creator income, and user engagement.

The February 17 outage highlights how critical backend systems — particularly recommendation algorithms — are to platform functionality.

Google Discover–Optimized Short Version

YouTube went down for thousands of users on February 17, 2026.
More than 30,000 U.S. users reported issues during peak evening hours, with the U.S. West Coast hit hardest. Google later confirmed the outage was caused by a glitch in YouTube’s recommendations system. Services were restored after roughly two hours.

Breaking News Format

BREAKING: YouTube Down for Thousands of Users Across U.S.

• Outage began around 5:30 PM PST

• Over 30,000 users affected at peak

• U.S. West Coast most impacted

• Google confirms recommendations system issue

• Services restored around 7:30 PM PST

Stay tuned for further updates.

FAQ

Why was YouTube not working on February 17, 2026?

YouTube experienced a technical outage caused by an issue within its recommendations system.

How many users were affected?

More than 30,000 U.S.-based users reported problems at the peak of the outage.

When was the issue fixed?

The YouTube Help page confirmed the issue was resolved around 7:30 PM PST.

Was user data compromised?

No, there were no reports of data breaches or security concerns.

Which regions were most affected?

The U.S. West Coast reported the highest number of disruptions.