YouTube Outage Hits Over 32,000 Users And Tests GOOGL's AI-Fueled Momentum

As of 10:10 p.m. ET, YouTube said the glitch had been resolved and service restored.
A YouTube error message displayed on a smartphone screen, with the YouTube logo in the background. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A YouTube error message displayed on a smartphone screen, with the YouTube logo in the background. (Photo Illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
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Yuvraj Malik·Stocktwits
Published Feb 17, 2026   |   11:18 PM EST
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  • Alphabet is on a strong run, driven by its benchmark-setting AI, which is winning praise and boosting its business.
  • At its peak, Downdetector recorded more than 32,000 YouTube outage reports.
  • Stocktwits sentiment for GOOGL shifts lower to ‘neutral.’

Alphabet’s YouTube faced an outage Tuesday night that affected thousands of users. 

“An issue with our recommendations system prevented videos from appearing across surfaces on YouTube (including the homepage, the YouTube app, YouTube Music and YouTube Kids),” the platform said in a status update.

At its peak, Downdetector recorded more than 32,000 outage reports at around 8:10 pm. Downdetector crowdsources outage reports from users.

At around 10:10 pm ET on Tuesday, YouTube reported the issue had been resolved and that all YouTube apps were working normally. The last time the platform suffered a glitch was on Dec. 19. 

The YouTube glitch came as a hiccup amidst strong momentum Alphabet had built over recent months. The November rollout of the Gemini 3 AI model – which drew broad industry praise, helped secure a key Apple AI partnership, and lifted earnings last quarter – has propelled Alphabet to the forefront of Big Tech.

GOOGL shares gained 65% last year, the highest among the Magnificent Seven peers, although a broad tech selloff has chipped those gains recently. The stock is down about 13% from its record high on Feb. 2.

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GOOGL sentiment and message volume as of February 17 | Source: Stocktwits

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment shifted to ‘bearish’ as of late Tuesday, from ‘neutral’ the previous day, with several users posting about the YouTube outage. Some even said it might weigh on the trading in GOOGL shares on Wednesday.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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