Liputan6.com, Jakarta - The video-sharing service YouTube reportedly experienced a significant global outage on Wednesday morning, February 18, 2026.
This YouTube outage affected millions of users worldwide, including the United States, and several regions in Europe and Asia.
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The outage began to be felt by users in the United States, reports of the problem had been circulating since 7:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday evening, February 17, 2026.
Many users were unable to access the YouTube homepage, whether through the mobile app, the website on their PC, or the app on their Smart TVs.
Error messages such as "An Error Occurred, Try Again" or "Something Went Wrong" frequently appeared.
The Scale of YouTube's Global Outage
The real-time service outage monitoring site, DownDetector, recorded a drastic spike in problem reports related to the YouTube outage.
In the United States alone, more than 320,000 users reported their complaints, indicating a significant impact.
“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,” read a post from the TeamYouTube X account, which linked to the website’s support page.
Several reports on DownDetector indicate that the most common issues were related to server connections, accounting for approximately 52% of the total complaints.
Meanwhile, app outages accounted for approximately 36%, and website issues accounted for approximately 12%.
Affected Features and Limited Functionality
The impact of the YouTube outage was felt across the platform's core features.
Users complained of being unable to access the YouTube homepage, whether through the mobile app, the website on PCs, or the app on Smart TVs.
The homepage appeared blank and did not display the usual list of recommended videos, causing frustration among users.
The "Shorts" menu also displayed no content or was blank, adding to the list of malfunctioning features.
Some users even saw error messages such as "An Error Occurred, Try Again" or "Something Went Wrong" when trying to access the platform.
The YouTube TV service was reportedly experiencing a complete outage, while YouTube Music was still able to play songs to a limited extent.
However, some YouTube functionality remained limited.
Video content stored in History and Playlists was still playable for some users.
Furthermore, some users were still able to play videos if accessed via a direct link or from Google search results, rather than from a channel page or the YouTube homepage.
The global YouTube site was still accessible on computers or laptops, but with limited functionality.
Cause and Official Response to the Outage
Google has confirmed that an issue with its recommendation system was the primary cause of YouTube's outage.
This issue prevented videos from appearing in various sections of YouTube, including the homepage and the YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube Kids apps.
According to reports on DownDetector, the most common issues were related to server connections (around 52%), the app (around 36%), and the website (around 12%).
As of this writing, neither Google nor YouTube has issued an official statement regarding this global outage.
For users who may still experience issues after the restoration, the following steps can be tried to ensure normal service access:
- Ensure your internet connection is stable. Users can try opening another website or performing an internet speed test.
- Turn off your modem or router for about 30 seconds, then turn it back on.
- Switch between Wi-Fi and cellular data, or vice versa, to see if the problem is with a specific connection.