YouTube Major Outage February 17, 2026: What Happened, Why It Broke, and How It Was Fixed

 

YouTube Suffers Major Outage on February 17, 2026

A typical "Something went wrong" error screen users encountered during the YouTube outage on February 17, 2026.

Many users saw completely blank homepages and feeds.

What Caused the YouTube Downtime?

The issues began escalating around 7:45 p.m. ET on February 17, 2026, with widespread reports of blank screens, videos failing to load, and problems with the homepage, subscription feeds, and recommendations across YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube Kids.

YouTube's official account (@TeamYouTube) confirmed the problem was due to an issue with their recommendations system, which prevented videos from appearing on the homepage and other surfaces. While the heaviest impact was in the US, reports came in globally.

Peak reports on Downdetector exceeded 300,000–400,000. The platform began recovering around 9 p.m. ET, with most services restored within about 2 hours.

Downdetector chart showing the sharp spike in outage reports on February 17, 2026.

User Reactions and Social Media Buzz

Users quickly turned to X (formerly Twitter) to check if others were affected and share workarounds.

A detailed thread from combat veteran and analyst Gunnys Adventures (@DerrickSalas9) urged calm and noted no evidence of cyberattacks or other speculation.

Another helpful post from Life Alchemy by Michael (@LCWyldwolf) explained that direct video links often still worked and provided tips while the fix was in progress.

The outage was brief, fully resolved by late evening ET, and highlighted once again how central YouTube has become to daily life worldwide.

All information verified from official sources, Downdetector, and real-time reports as of February 18, 2026.