YouTube Outage Affects Millions Globally, Criticized for Ads Display Despite Service Disruption
October 16, 2025
YouTube experienced a major outage affecting its platform, YouTube, along with YouTube TV and YouTube Music, leading to over 350,000 user reports of problems worldwide.
Google confirmed the issue through a post on X, with engineers investigating the disruption, which caused widespread video playback failures and server errors.
The outage lasted from approximately 8:17 a.m. to 9:10 a.m. local time, with reports indicating the problem was recent and affecting both desktop and mobile users.
Early technical assessments suggest the cause was likely a server-side glitch or internal routing issue disrupting the content delivery network.
Major cities across North America, Europe, and Asia, including prominent U.S. cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, experienced significant service disruptions, with many users unable to load videos or access playlists.
Despite the platform's downtime, advertisements continued to be displayed, which drew attention and criticism from users.
YouTube acknowledged the outage via social media, confirming that video playback issues had been resolved, but did not specify the root cause.
The incident underscores the critical importance of reliable infrastructure in the competitive streaming industry and highlights the vulnerabilities of global digital services.
YouTube later confirmed the issue was resolved and advised users, especially on iOS, to reinstall the app if they experienced ongoing problems.
The outage impacted content creators, advertisers, and users, causing disruptions in content uploads, streaming, and revenue generation, and prompting many to seek alternatives.
In related developments, YouTube TV reached a short-term agreement with Fox, ensuring continued access to Fox channels for the time being.
The company continues to monitor the situation, with ongoing updates expected as engineers work to prevent future disruptions.
Summary based on 32 sources
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Sources

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