YouTube was down for thousands of users in the US

Source: Engadget

Outage overview

YouTube experienced an outage across the United States, with users in Canada, India, the Philippines, Australia, and Russia also reporting problems accessing the site. The issue began around 8 PM ET and quickly generated hundreds of thousands of reports on Downdetector. Users reported difficulty accessing both the web homepage and the mobile app, with many noting that the homepage loaded but recommended videos were missing.

Timeline

• ~8 PM ET – Outage starts; Downdetector receives ~338,000 reports.
• 9:22 PM ET – Reddit users continue to report being unable to access YouTube.
• 9:33 PM ET – Some users still cannot access the service, while others see the homepage back up but without recommendations.
• 9:53 PM ET – Engadget Managing Editor Cherlynn Low reports that both YouTube and Google Home Assistant remain inaccessible for her.
• 10:12 PM ET – Team YouTube posts on X (formerly Twitter) that the issue has been completely fixed. The update notes that the recommendation system was experiencing problems even after the homepage returned.

Updates (February 17 2026)

• 10:27 PM ET – YouTube confirms the issue is fully resolved.
• 10:08 PM ET – Reports added that certain Google services were also down for some users.
• 9:34 PM ET – Additional user reports incorporated.
• 9:26 PM ET – Corrected outage time, added new affected countries, and noted continued inaccessibility for some users.