Video streaming platform YouTube faced widespread disruption earlier today affecting users across countries. The error message “Something went wrong” appeared on screens when people tried to watch videos or access the app. The issue was not isolated to one country. Outage tracking platforms have shown a sharp rise in complaints over a short period of time.
In the US alone, more than 320,000 users have reported issues with Downdetector. A large portion of complaints cited difficulties in accessing the app and streaming videos. The outage appears to have occurred during the morning peak hours in some areas. Users across India, the UK and other countries shared similar experiences.
The incident also affected YouTube TV, the platform’s live TV service. Nearly 10,000 outage reports were recorded for YouTube TV, indicating that the disruption was not limited to just the main platform. Subscribers who wanted to stream live TV channels also faced interruptions.
The outage occurred on Wednesday, February 18 and peaked between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. Nearly 20,000 complaints were registered during that period in India alone. About 74 percent of users reported trouble accessing the app, while 16 percent reported failure to stream video. Many people have encountered recurring error messages while trying to update the platform. The rise gradually decreased as services began to stabilize.
Despite the extent of the disruption, no official explanation has been provided by Google, the parent company of YouTube. According to the status monitoring platforms, the issue was resolved within a few hours. But some users are still facing minor glitches even after resuming basic services.
Several live status trackers showed the status positive, meaning YouTube was up and running again, according to the last update, which was around 8:45 a.m. Ping times were consistently low (between 12 and 16 ms) as indicated by the monitoring tools. The home page loaded correctly, and videos streamed without interruption. Only a small number of new complaints were registered.
Tracking platforms such as Downdetector and IsItDownRightNow confirmed that the service was back to normal. In India, complaint levels fell sharply after a sudden spike in the early morning. Recent reports have focused more on minor technical issues rather than complete service unavailability. Monitoring dashboards showed no new widespread outage indicators.
In India, the effect was mostly observed during the early morning hours. More than 19,000 complaints were registered between 6am and 7:30am. Users in major cities like Mumbai reported difficulties while trying to access content on the platform. The majority of issues have been linked to app functionality and streaming errors.
If you’re not sure if YouTube is experiencing an outage or if the issue is limited to your device, there are several ways to check. Simply visit platforms like Downdetector or IsItDownRightNow to see real-time reports in your area. If you do not notice any significant increase in the number of complaints, the problem may be local. In this case, you can clear your browser cache, update the app, or try incognito mode. Moreover, you can also switch networks or restart your device. For official updates, you can follow the YouTube blog or social media channels. But it should be noted that explanations are not always published immediately.
But as of now, real-time observers have indicated that YouTube is still working in all regions, including India. There has been no downtime in the last few hours during ping tests. Even the volume of complaints decreased compared to the previous increase. Although the exact reason for the outage has not been revealed, the site and app are working normally at the moment.
