Chicago, IL – YouTube users across the United States are experiencing widespread service problems this afternoon, with thousands of outage reports flooding Downdetector.
According to Downdetector by Ookla, reports began spiking shortly after 2:45 p.m. (CT) on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, showing more than 300,000 users encountering issues in just minutes. The platform’s live outage map indicates a surge in complaints from major metro areas including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas.
Most users are reporting trouble with video streaming (56%), followed by app access (32%) and website connectivity (12%), based on Downdetector’s breakdown of problem types.
YouTube, owned by Google, has not yet issued a statement on the cause of the disruption. Users on social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Threads are reporting that videos fail to load or abruptly stop playing.
As of early evening, service issues appear to be ongoing, though some users report intermittent access returning. Those affected are encouraged to monitor Downdetector.com or YouTube’s official status page for live updates.
