YouTube outage hits users as error messages block video playback

Thousands in New Zealand and across the world reported that YouTube was down this afternoon.

YouTube was not working for more than an hour this afternoon, showing users an error message when they clicked on a video. It appears to be back working now.

Downdetector New Zealand had more than 1600 reports of issues with the site since 12.15pm, with the number continuing to grow.

Popular Virtual Private Network company NordVPN said on its website that YouTube was down, with more than 4000 issues reported since midday.

The problem appeared to be global, with users in the United States, Turkey and Japan also reporting issues.

Videos now appear to be working again on the desktop site and the app.