The website DownDetector and YouTube users encountered problems accessing the service normally, with a 'Something Went Wrong' message displayed, believed to affect users worldwide.
YouTube, the world's largest video platform, experienced a global outage on 18 February 2026 around 8:00 AM, causing users around the world to be unable to use YouTube services as usual.
An examination of the DownDetector website revealed over 240,000 reports of issues worldwide within just 20 minutes, indicating the problem was widespread across the globe.
YouTube users consistently reported that upon opening the app or website, they saw the message 'Something Went Wrong' with a blank screen, preventing them from watching videos normally. However, if they clicked on channels they subscribe to, they could still watch videos as usual.
Up to now, YouTube and its parent company Google have not issued an official statement regarding the cause of this outage, nor have they specified when the system will return to normal operation.
Later, at approximately 10:12 AM, YouTube service was restored and functioning normally again.