 "In India, around 63 per cent of users said they couldn’t play videos, often encountering “Playback error” or “An error occurred” messages. About 30 per cent faced issues specifically with the mobile app. File image")
On Wednesday, thousands of users across the world suddenly found YouTube crashing — videos refused to play, apps froze mid-scroll, and screens filled with error messages.
According to Downdetector, over 800,000 users reported problems not only with YouTube but also with related streaming apps such as YouTube Music and YouTube TV, suggesting the disruption was widespread.
YouTube, Google’s biggest video platform, broke its silence soon after the chaos began. In a brief update on its status page, the company admitted it was aware of the playback issues affecting users worldwide and assured it was already working on the case.
So, what exactly went wrong?
First, where was the outage reported?
The outage began quietly on Wednesday evening but quickly snowballed into global chaos. Around 7 pm ET (4:30 am IST Thursday), users across the world started seeing a frustrating message on their screens: “An error occurred. Please try again later.”
On mobile, the YouTube app flashed “Something went wrong.” The issue wasn’t limited to videos either. Streaming on YouTube Music came to a halt, although users could still play offline downloads.
According to Downdetector, the outage hit users in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, and the UK, spreading faster than most trending videos on the site.
Data showed a massive spike in complaints — over 800,000 for YouTube, with YouTube Music and YouTube TV logging thousands more.
In the US alone, more than 366,000 users reported issues by 7:55 pm ET (5:25 am IST Thursday). In India, around 63 per cent of users said they couldn’t play videos, often encountering “Playback error” or “An error occurred” messages. About 30 per cent faced issues specifically with the mobile app.
And, of course, social media did what it does best: turn to humour in times of frustration. Within minutes, X was flooded with memes about the sudden YouTube blackout.
Was a cyberattack behind the YouTube outage?
While the exact cause of the outage remains unclear, speculation spread almost as quickly as the glitch itself. An X account named “Dark Storm Team,” allegedly linked to a hacker group, claimed responsibility for a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack on YouTube.
“Team YouTube, is there an issue with YouTube? Are you under a DDoS attack? The videos aren’t playing properly—most play for 1-2 seconds then stop with a video unavailable message,” one user wrote on X.
Another user commented, “It’s happening worldwide, I think it might be a DDoS attack. There was a big one a while ago on Steam and other gaming sites.”
However, YouTube and its parent company Google, have not confirmed any such cyberattack. The company acknowledged the disruption and said its teams were looking into the issue.
In a post on X, YouTube said, “We’re aware that some of you are experiencing issues watching videos on YouTube, YouTube Music, or YouTube TV. We’re investigating the issue and will update this thread with the latest info.”
By 5:30 pm PT (6:00 am IST Thursday), YouTube confirmed that the issue had been resolved.
A Google spokesperson, Dwight Harvey, later stated, “Confirming this is resolved across all YouTube services. Thanks again for your patience! Our technical teams were actively working to restore access across YouTube, YouTube Music, and YouTube TV.”
While the company has not revealed the root cause yet, users around the world were simply relieved that their screens, and playlists, were finally back to normal.
With input from agencies