YouTube down: Blank screen and ‘something went wrong’ errors hit users

Error messages are appearing on YouTube's mobile app and website.

YouTube users across New Zealand were being met with a blank screen this afternoon, with thousands of reported outages for the website and app.

Downdetector saw more than 5000 reports of YouTube problems, starting about 1.54pm.

The website and app weren’t loading. Users saw only a blank screen on the website homepage, while the app appeared with a message that read “Something went wrong.”

Error messages were appearing on the mobile app.

YouTube Shorts also appeared to be unavailable on the app, but users could still watch videos by searching for them.

YouTube is showing blank screens for users.

A spokesperson for Google said an issue with the recommendations system prevented videos from appearing across surfaces on YouTube, including the homepage, the YouTube app, YouTube Music and YouTube Kids.

“The homepage is back, but we’re still working on a full fix – more updates coming soon!"

Downdetector has reported a large spike in problems across New Zealand. Photo / Downdetector