PSA: YouTube not loading or content not available

Browser Support Web Compatibility
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Quick Explanation:

Some of you are reporting videos not loading or getting errors that content isn’t available. For those asking, some of the YouTube issues lately is not related to Brave and it isn’t just you. There are reports around the internet. I’ve seen multiple theories but for now it just is seeming to be an ongoing YouTube issue.

Some think it’s new UI they are introducing to people. Others think it’s related to things like their major outages that recently got fixed, not only YouTube’s outage but also the AWS outage

This situation doesn’t seem to be limited to adblockers or to any particular browser. I know it’s being investigated but no real solution at this time.

Don’t believe me about it happening on other browsers or platforms?

Some examples of posts from across the internet are below, primarily from Reddit:

What’s annoying about this is:

It might work in one browser but not another when you test. Or you might see it load while logged out or only when logged into a particular account. This makes us think it might be associated with it. But it’s likely because of how internet connections work. Connections to YouTube travel through different servers and data centers, and those paths can vary each time content is requested. If one route or regional server is having trouble, you might see problems that others do not.

That said, I know people at Brave and elsewhere are looking into things. For now, just know there is an issue with YouTube itself. Hopefully it gets completely fixed soon. Until then, you may see intermittent issues with YouTube that might require you to refresh multiple times or just not be able to reach certain content due to data center outages/issues.

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I should also make it clear, there could be specific issues like those related to adblock detection. That is addressed at my older topic at PSA: Fix YouTube Ad Block Detection

Sadly there are many little things that can cause problems. Sometimes it’s not “one solution fits all.” I just wanted to be very clear about at least one of the things happening with YouTube lately.

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Follow-up as per some of the things people have asked about looking at or testing. There are a few potential things going on, such as indicated in my original post here.

I guess from the user side, you could try looking at everything below. Though it would also be vital to know:

  • Is it random or the content is able to load when/if you refresh. Or is it not loading regardless what you do?
  • Is it happening on all videos or only some?

Check 1: (Browser/cookies/shields/components)

  1. Is Brave up-to-date? If not, make sure to update it.

  2. If you go to brave://components can you update everything or are there any errors?

  3. Does it work with Shields off?

    • Have you added any custom filters at brave://settings/shields/filters?

  4. Does it work in a private window?

    • On this, test both logged out state and logged into the YouTube account, to see if any difference

  5. If you add a second browser profile (hamburger menu → more tools → add new profile) does it happen there as well? IMPORTANT: In this step don’t add any extensions and don’t change settings, just use the new profile “as-is”

  6. Does the issue go away if you use Brave Beta or Brave Nightly instead?

  7. Does the issue also happen in Chrome at all?

Check 2: (DNS, Firewall, VPN, etc)

  1. Are you using a VPN or proxy? If so, does disabling it or changing its location have any impact?

  2. If you go to brave://settings/security (settings → privacy and security → security), do you have Use Secure DNS on?

    • If on, which DNS provider are you using? (And if you change the provider, does the issue go away?)
    • If it’s off, try with it on.

  3. If using a firewall or internet security thing, does temporarily disabling it change anything?

  4. If you flush your DNS, any difference? If you don’t know how to do this, this site seems to give good instructions.

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And yes, more and more reports coming in from different people and places:

And some are in strange ways, like only certain channels. But like in one below it suddenly started working again, so they assumed regional issue like I kind of hinted at in original topic here.

Note/Reminder

There are likely multiple issues that are happening around the same time. It’s possible that some of you are impacted by YouTube A/B testing and it’s limited to accounts. Absolutely in no way is there a one answer for everyone. I’m just updating to show that this is kind of popping up in different ways for different people.

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