YouTube experienced a major outage on Wednesday evening, affecting thousands of users worldwide, according to Downdetector.
The platform, which tracks service disruptions based on user reports, recorded nearly 322,000 reports of issues as of 7:47 p.m. ET, AFP reported.
The outage hit primarily in the United States, with major cities including Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, New York, Washington, and Detroit reporting the most disruptions. Users in Australia, Canada, and the UK also experienced issues. While the Downdetector figures are based on user reports and may not capture every affected person, they indicate a widespread disruption.
YouTube has not provided a specific reason for the outage. However, TeamYouTube acknowledged the issue on X (formerly Twitter), stating:
“If you’re not able to play videos on YouTube right now — we’re on it! Thanks for your patience.”
Support staff were also actively responding to users reporting issues on the platform.
Internet Reacts
As the news spread, social media quickly turned the outage into a source of humor. Memes and jokes flooded X and other platforms, with users poking fun at the sudden inability to access videos. One popular post showed a GIF of people crammed into a speeding elevator, captioned:
“YouTube users going to Twitter to check if their YT isn’t working too.”
Issue Resolved
YouTube later confirmed that the outage had been fixed. TeamYouTube posted an update:
“This issue has been fixed – you should now be able to play videos on YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV!”
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