YouTube encountered a global outage on February 18, 2026, impacting users in India, the US, and other countries with issues in video streaming and app access. According to Downdetector, India saw 19,097 complaints at 7:11 am. The company has acknowledged the disruption but provided no details on the cause or restoration timeline.
YouTube experienced a widespread global outage on February 18, 2026, causing disruptions for millions of users worldwide. In India, Downdetector recorded 19,097 complaints at 7:11 am, highlighting sharp increases in reports of video streaming failures, app access issues, and website loading problems. Users reported that videos would not play or the platform failed to load entirely.
The outage extended beyond India. In the United States, over 320,000 users reported issues, with Downdetector showing 321,958 incident reports as of 8:18 pm ET. Related services were also hit: YouTube TV saw 8,923 issue reports, and Google services logged 2,694 complaints. The tracker aggregates outage data from user-submitted reports and other signals, serving as an early indicator of service disruptions.
Social media platforms saw simultaneous user reports, indicating a broad impact. The cause of the outage remains unclear, and Google has not yet issued a statement. According to India Today, the company acknowledged the disruption but did not disclose the cause or a timeline for full restoration. Hindustan Times referred to the event on Tuesday, while other sources mentioned Wednesday, though the date aligns as February 18.
Downdetector figures represent reported incidents and may not capture the full extent of the outage, but they are widely used to gauge service issues.
