The Internet Just Took a Nap — and AWS Pulled the Plug
It wasn’t your Wi-Fi. The internet really broke for a few hours.
On Monday, a major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) — the world’s largest cloud platform — took down a massive chunk of the internet. Apps crashed, websites went dark, and even some airlines and banks struggled to stay online.
If it felt like half your apps stopped working, that’s because they kinda did.
The Root Cause: A Tiny Glitch With Massive Consequences
The chaos started around 7:11 GMT when AWS engineers pushed a routine update to one of their biggest data centres in Virginia, USA.
The update went sideways.
The problem? A faulty change in the DynamoDB API, one of Amazon’s core database systems. This glitch messed with the Domain Name System (DNS) — basically the internet’s address book that helps your phone or laptop find websites.
Once the DNS started failing, apps couldn’t find their servers.
Result: 113 AWS services went down — all at once.
Read More :- Internet Bursts Into Laughter With Memes After AWS Outage Breaks Half the Web
Who Got Hit? Pretty Much Everyone
The ripple effect was brutal. Major apps like Snapchat, Pinterest, WhatsApp, Signal, Zoom, Slack, Roblox, Fortnite, Starbucks, Etsy, and even Amazon’s own website stumbled.
Users found their Alexa devices silent, Ring doorbells offline, and Kindle downloads stuck.
Even media outlets like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Associated Press faced temporary blackouts.
And it didn’t stop there — airlines like Delta and United reported system disruptions, while Coinbase, Perplexity AI, and Apple Music also went down for hours.
When one cloud hiccups, the whole internet sneezes.
AWS Engineers Raced to Fix It
By 10:11 GMT, Amazon said most systems were back online. But there was still a “backlog” of delayed requests to clear — meaning users kept facing random glitches even after things looked normal.
AWS later confirmed it was a “technical error during a routine update”, and said engineers were “working across multiple paths to accelerate recovery.”
A detailed post-event report is expected soon.
Why It Matters: The Internet’s Single Point of Failure
This wasn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a warning shot.
AWS powers millions of websites and apps globally. From small startups to major corporations, everyone leans on Amazon’s cloud to keep things running.
So when AWS breaks, the world feels it.
Experts say it highlights a growing concern — too much digital dependence on too few tech giants.
When one data centre blinks, global systems ripple within seconds.
Read More :- Snapchat Down Worldwide: Users Face Login Failures and App Crashes After Major AWS Outage
The Bigger Picture
Outages like these are rare, but they’re becoming more visible because the stakes are so high. From streaming to banking, shopping to flying — the internet runs on the cloud. And AWS is the biggest cloud there is.
While the systems are back now, the incident has sparked a serious conversation in tech circles:
Should the world start diversifying cloud providers before the next big crash?
Because as Monday proved, when AWS sneezes — the internet catches a cold.
