YouTube experienced a significant global outage on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, disrupting access for millions of users across the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia, South Korea, and several other regions.
The outage has affected YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV, with users reporting video playback errors and black screens while attempting to stream content.
As per reports, the disruption began around 7:15 PM ET (5:45 AM IST, October 16) and peaked within 45 minutes, with more than 358,000 outage reports recorded on Downdetector by 7:59 PM ET.
YouTube’s support team has acknowledged the issue on X, stating, “We’re aware that some users are unable to play videos on YouTube at the moment – we’re on it!” Google has later confirmed that multiple services under the YouTube umbrella have been affected, suggesting a broader infrastructure issue.
By later that day, YouTube has restored functionality across all its platforms. Google spokesperson Dwight Harvey has said in a follow-up message, “This is resolved across all YouTube services. Thanks again for your patience.” While the exact cause has not been disclosed, initial technical assessments have pointed toward a temporary internal routing or server-side glitch.
Users have now regained access to normal streaming, though those still facing issues have been advised to clear their cache, restart their devices, or update the app. The large-scale disruption has underscored YouTube’s pivotal role in global digital ecosystems, with its 2.7 billion monthly users depending on the service for entertainment, education, and communication.
