📺 YouTube users say comment sections and video descriptions sometimes fail to load. Coverage has raised the possibility that the behavior could be tied to YouTube’s ongoing push to deter ad blockers—but it’s still unclear whether this is an intentional enforcement tactic or just a bug 32.
Either way, the immediate hit is to the social and informational parts of watching YouTube—discussion in comments and context in descriptions—rather than video playback itself 23.
Sources
- YouTube adds new hurdles for ad blockers, and there's currently no way around it - Android Authority [google.com] (2026-02-16)
- YouTube Bug Makes Comments Disappear, But Is It Really a Bug or Another Ad Blocker Attack? [androidheadlines.com] (2026-02-16)
- YouTube ad blocker war continues as comments and video descriptions go missing [9to5google.com] (2026-02-16)
- YouTube adds new hurdles for ad blockers, and there's currently no way around it | It's another attempt to make users pay for YouTube Premium. [reddit.com] (2026-02-17)
Highlights
- User reports: Coverage points to Reddit users saying comments and descriptions are disappearing, suggesting the issue is happening in the wild even if it’s not consistently reproducible 24.
- Workarounds noted: Some viewers say a simple refresh brings comments and descriptions back, which hints at a session- or load-related problem for at least some users 2.
- Not browser-specific: Android Headlines says reports span multiple browsers—including Chrome, Brave, and Edge—so it doesn’t appear limited to a single browser 2.
- Not universal: Android Headlines notes Android Police couldn’t replicate the issue, suggesting it may be limited to certain accounts, setups, or rollouts 2.
Perspectives
Android Headlines: It presents the missing comments and descriptions as either a “weird YouTube bug” or a possible new step in YouTube’s anti-adblock campaign, while stressing that it’s unclear how widespread the problem is and that multiple browsers seem affected 2.
9to5Google: It describes the missing comments and descriptions as likely tied to the continuing “war” on ad blockers, framing it as fallout from YouTube’s enforcement efforts 3.
Android Authority (via Google News): It says YouTube has added new hurdles for ad blockers and that there is currently “no way around it,” pointing to an escalation in enforcement 1.
Reddit users: Commenters discussing the reports see the change as another nudge toward YouTube Premium instead of ad blockers 4.
Action Items
- Check whether an extension is involved: Try temporarily turning off ad-blocking extensions or using a clean browser profile to see whether comments and descriptions return reliably, since reports link the behavior to anti-adblock measures and say it can show up across browsers 32.
- Try a quick reload: If comments or descriptions are missing, refresh the page—some users say that brings them back 2.