is youtube down? Outage traced to recommendations system — what we know
Thousands of users worldwide encountered problems with the video platform late Tuesday, with disruptions beginning around 8: 00 p. m. ET and service returning to normal a little after 10: 15 p. m. ET. The company responsible for the site said the root cause was a failure in its recommendations system that prevented videos from appearing across multiple surfaces.
What happened and when
The outage began roughly at 8: 00 p. m. ET on Tuesday, when many users found homepages, feeds and in-app recommendations empty or failing to load. Some people also experienced trouble logging into the television-focused version of the service, an issue the company tied to the broader problem. A sequence of public updates over the evening confirmed that engineers were actively working on both content presentation and sign-in flows.
By about 10: 15 p. m. ET the company issued a final update stating the recommendations problem had been fixed and that all of the platform’s services were back to normal. An earlier message noted the homepage was restored while work continued on a full fix.
Cause and technical details
Engineers traced the outage to the recommendations system, the algorithmic engine that suggests videos based on viewing history and engagement patterns. That subsystem feeds the homepage, related-video lists and many in-app surfaces; when it failed, videos stopped appearing in those places. The sign-in issues affecting the TV-focused product were connected to the same underlying disruption.
Clearing the problem required restoring the recommendation pipelines and ensuring dependent services could read and display content normally. The team rolled out fixes incrementally and monitored user reports to confirm recovery across web, mobile and TV clients.
Scope, impact and what users experienced
A crowdsourced outage tracker logged a massive spike in error reports during the disruption, registering more than 1. 6 million user complaints over a 24-hour window, with roughly half coming from U. S. -based users. People in multiple countries described blank home pages, empty feeds, and apps that would not surface suggested videos. In at least one market, attempts to access the site produced a blank screen showing only the search bar and navigation sidebar.
For most people the outage was temporary and resolved within a few hours. Content creators and viewers relying on recommendations for discovery saw immediate drops in traffic while the system was offline. Users of the television-focused experience faced intermittent sign-in problems until the fix was completed.
Broader context and guidance for users
This event follows a series of high-profile outages that affected other online services in recent months, underscoring how much modern internet use depends on a handful of large systems and automated workflows. While engineers restored service relatively quickly this time, the incident highlights the fragility of recommendation and personalization pipelines that many platforms rely on for content delivery.
If you encounter a similar disruption, troubleshoot by restarting the app, clearing local caches, and, if relevant, attempting a different device. For creators worried about short-term analytics dips, performance typically rebounds once recommendation systems return to normal, though it can take time for discovery signals to fully recover.
We will continue to monitor follow-up notices and technical summaries released by the company about corrective actions and long-term safeguards. In the meantime, millions of viewers around the globe resumed normal use after the company confirmed recovery late Tuesday night ET.
