The website DownDetector and YouTube users faced issues with normal access, seeing the message 'Something Went Wrong,' affecting users globally.
YouTube, the world's largest video platform, experienced a global outage on 18 Feb 2026 at approximately 8:00 AM, preventing users worldwide from using its services normally.
According to DownDetector, reports of usage problems worldwide surged to over 240,000 within just 20 minutes, indicating a widespread global issue.
YouTube users consistently reported that when opening the app or website, they encountered the message 'Something Went Wrong' with a blank screen, preventing normal video viewing. However, if users navigated to channels they follow or their Subscriptions, videos could still be watched normally.
As of now, YouTube and its parent company Google have not issued an official statement explaining the cause of this outage, nor have they provided an estimated time for when the system will return to normal operation.