YouTube experiences partial service disruption in South Korea

YouTube experienced a partial service disruption in South Korea on Wednesday, February 18, the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday. Industry watchers reported an error preventing video playback on the mobile app. Desktop users faced similar issues.

On February 18, as of 10:49 a.m., an error on YouTube's mobile app in South Korea resulted in a black screen that prevented users from watching content. Industry watchers noted this partial service disruption occurred on Wednesday, the final day of the Lunar New Year holiday. Desktop computer users reported similar difficulties in playing videos. According to reports from The Korea Times and Yonhap News Agency, the issue affected users across platforms, though no specific cause was mentioned. YouTube has not yet issued an official statement on the matter. The outage caused temporary interruptions for online activities among South Korean users.

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Frustrated global users facing YouTube outage on phones and laptops, overlaid with world map of disruptions and error screens.
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YouTube faces global outage affecting thousands of users

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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.

Google-owned YouTube service reported widespread technical disruptions on Wednesday morning, February 18, 2026, coinciding with the second day of Chinese New Year. Users worldwide reported empty homepages and error messages, with no official statement from Google yet.

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Major expressways across South Korea were congested on Wednesday, February 18, the final day of the Lunar New Year holiday, as people returned home. Sections of the Gyeongbu Expressway linking Seoul to Busan saw vehicles at a near standstill. The Korea Expressway Corp. expected inbound traffic to peak around 3 to 4 p.m.

YouTube has introduced a feature in its iOS and Android apps allowing users to disable Shorts completely or set viewing time limits. The Shorts Timer lets parents and users cap sessions at 15, 30, or 45 minutes, or one to two hours, with an option to set it to zero minutes. The tool is rolling out first to supervised accounts before reaching all users.

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TikTok's newly formed US entity has been plagued by technical glitches following a data center power outage, leading to a sharp increase in app uninstalls. Frustrated users are turning to an independent competitor, UpScrolled, which has seen a surge in downloads. The issues coincide with the app's ownership transition to majority-US investors.

South Korea is poised to surpass Japan as the top destination for Chinese travelers during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, marking the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Booking estimates indicate 230,000 to 250,000 mainland Chinese visitors to South Korea, a potential increase of up to 52% from last year. This shift highlights Seoul's visa relaxations amid tensions with Tokyo.

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Bluesky faced intermittent service disruptions on Monday, which the company attributed to an upstream service provider. Many users quickly blamed the issues on developers' use of AI-assisted 'vibe coding' tools. The outage sparked widespread memes and criticism on the platform.

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