YouTube’s homepage is currently failing to load for many users amid a widespread global outage affecting the platform.
Thousands of users worldwide are encountering a “Something Went Wrong” error when attempting to access the homepage on both the app and desktop site.
According to outage-tracking website Downdetector, reports of issues began around 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. By 8:50 p.m., the site had logged around 320,000 outage reports in the United States alone.
Neither Google nor YouTube has issued an official statement regarding the disruption so far.
Users report issues on social media
Many users turned to social media to share the problems they were experiencing.
One person wrote on X, “I thought YouTube was down at first but then saw it needed to be updated, so I updated it went back into the app and YouTube is still down.”
Another added, “Everyone is saying YouTube is down but it just seems to be the main screen coming up blank, at least for me. I can still look up and watch videos. Maybe’s it’s just a person to person issue?”
A third user reported, “I noticed YouTube is having problems Tuesday night EST, but I’m clicking on my subscriptions and they load and run properly. You just can’t reach the main page.”
Also Read: DHS seeks identities of online anti-ICE critics; Google, Meta, Reddit, Discord face subpoenas: Report
How to fix ‘something went wrong’ error?
The issue appears to be server-side, meaning it is likely originating from YouTube’s systems rather than individual devices or internet connections.
However, if the problem is specific to your device or network, you can try the following steps:
Refresh the page (Ctrl + F5 on desktop for a hard refresh).
Switch networks (Wi-Fi to mobile data or vice versa).
Restart your device and reopen the app or browser.
Clear your browser cache and cookies (in Chrome: Settings → Privacy → Clear browsing data) or clear the app cache (Android: Settings → Apps → YouTube → Storage → Clear cache).
Update the YouTube app via your app store.
Log out and log back into your account.
Temporarily disable VPNs, ad blockers, or browser extensions.
Try using incognito or private browsing mode.
If the outage is platform-wide, users may need to wait until YouTube resolves the issue on its end.