A widespread internet disruption occurred on Monday as Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world’s largest cloud infrastructure provider, experienced a severe outage. The incident, which began around 3 am Eastern Time at AWS’s oldest and largest data center in Virginia, affected a multitude of services globally, including financial platforms, government websites, airlines, and gaming networks. The outage was attributed to issues with the company’s domain name system, which is essential for browsers and applications to load properly. Major platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Fortnite, Reddit, Lyft, Delta Airlines, McDonald’s, and Robinhood were among those impacted, leaving users unable to access critical services. Even Amazon’s own e-commerce platform struggled to process orders. The outage also affected UK government sites, financial institutions like Lloyd Bank and Bank of Scotland, and telecom giant Vodafone. Delta Airlines reported flight delays, while cryptocurrency platform Coinbase assured users that their funds remained secure despite service interruptions. The incident has reignited concerns about global reliance on a few dominant cloud service providers, particularly in Europe, where critics argue that dependency on U.S.-based tech giants poses both security and economic risks. AWS, which controls 37% of the global cloud market and generates $107 billion in revenue, has faced similar outages in 2021 and 2023. Experts estimate the financial damages from this outage could reach billions of dollars. By mid-afternoon, AWS announced that the issue had been resolved, though many services were still in the process of recovering. The outage underscores the fragility of the internet’s infrastructure and the far-reaching consequences when a major provider experiences downtime.
Outage at Amazon Web Services shuts down internet platforms across globe
