YouTube said on Tuesday it had resolved a technical issue that briefly disrupted access to its video-sharing platform worldwide, after outage-tracking website Downdetector reported widespread user complaints.
The company said a problem with its recommendation system prevented videos from appearing across various YouTube surfaces.“The issue with our recommendations system has been resolved, and all of our platforms (YouTube.com, the YouTube app, YouTube Music, Kids, and TV) are back to normal,” YouTube said in a statement. At the height of the disruption, more than 320,000 users in the United States reported issues, according to Downdetector.
The platform’s data is based on user-submitted reports, meaning the actual number of affected users may vary. Users in several other countries, including India, Britain, Australia and Mexico, also reported outages.
YouTube had more than 2.5 billion global viewers by early 2025, while its music and premium subscription services surpassed 100 million subscribers, according to market tracker Statista. Parent company Google has previously said that viewers watch over a billion hours of YouTube content daily on television screens alone.
More than 500 hours of video are uploaded to the platform every minute. Industry analysts describe Google’s 2006 acquisition of YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock as a landmark deal that combined the tech giant’s search and advertising strength with a rapidly growing video-sharing platform and its loyal user base.
