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YouTube Outage Disrupts Prime-Time Viewing for Thousands

2/18/2026

Summary

YouTube Service Disruption

On February 17, 2026, YouTube experienced an outage caused by a malfunction in its recommendations system, beginning around 5 p.m. Pacific Time and affecting prime-time viewing.
The outage generated more than 300,000 reports from users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Brazil.
Service was restored by 10 p.m. Eastern Time, though some users still faced login issues.
Updates about the outage were posted on the YouTube Community thread.

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YouTube Service Disruption

On February 17, 2026, YouTube experienced an outage caused by a malfunction in its recommendations system, beginning around 5 p.m. Pacific Time and affecting prime-time viewing.
The outage generated more than 300,000 reports from users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Brazil.
Service was restored by 10 p.m. Eastern Time, though some users still faced login issues.
Updates about the outage were posted on the YouTube Community thread.