AWS Outage Sends Internet Into Chaos
If your favorite apps suddenly stopped working today — you’re not alone. A massive outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Northern Virginia has disrupted major platforms like Snapchat, Canva, Signal, Duolingo, OpenAI, and even Google services, leaving millions of users worldwide frustrated.
AWS confirmed the issue on its Service Health Dashboard, saying it’s investigating “increased error rates” and “delays affecting multiple AWS services.” In simpler terms, that means the backbone of much of the internet went down — and everything built on top of it came crashing down too.
What Went Down — Literally
Reports started pouring in around 8 AM UK time (midnight Pacific) as users across the world struggled to access their favorite apps.
Platforms like Snapchat, Canva, Perplexity AI, and Duolingo were among the first to show signs of trouble, followed by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which briefly stopped responding altogether.
AWS later confirmed that the outage was linked to issues at its Northern Virginia data centers, particularly affecting Amazon DynamoDB and Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) — the backbone technologies many companies rely on for data storage and running apps.
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It Didn’t Stop There — Google, Spotify, and Coinbase Also Hit
The ripple effect of the outage was massive. Several major global platforms including Amazon, Prime Video, Spotify, Zoom, Claude (Anthropic’s AI), Reddit, and Coinbase also went offline or experienced slowdowns.
Coinbase posted on X (formerly Twitter):
“We’re aware many users are currently unable to access Coinbase due to an AWS outage.”
Even Google — which typically runs on its own cloud infrastructure — wasn’t spared. Users reported issues with Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Gemini, Drive, and Meet.
According to early reports from The Independent, Google services were “hit the hardest,” suggesting a possible cross-network impact between AWS-dependent systems and Google Cloud routing.
Why This Happens So Often
For those wondering how one company’s problem can cause chaos across the internet — here’s the deal: AWS isn’t just Amazon’s cloud service. It’s the world’s digital foundation.
From small startups to tech giants, millions of websites, apps, and AI systems use AWS to store data, run apps, and deliver services in real time. So, when AWS goes down, it’s like a city losing electricity — everything built on top goes dark.
This isn’t the first time either. AWS faced a similar widespread outage in 2021, which took down Netflix, Disney+, and even Alexa smart speakers.
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The Bigger Picture: Cloud Dependency Is Real
Today’s incident is yet another reminder of just how dependent the modern internet is on cloud infrastructure.
While AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure compete for dominance, each outage exposes how fragile the system can be when one piece breaks.
Experts say more companies are now exploring multi-cloud redundancy — using more than one cloud provider to prevent full shutdowns during crises like this.
For now, AWS says services are “gradually recovering,” but users should expect intermittent issues as systems stabilize over the next few hours.
In Short
- AWS outage hit Northern Virginia data centers.
- Affected major apps: Snapchat, Canva, Signal, Duolingo, OpenAI.
- Other impacted platforms: Amazon, Prime Video, Spotify, Coinbase, Reddit, and Google services.
- Google users faced problems with Search, Gmail, YouTube, and Gemini.
- AWS confirms ongoing restoration efforts.
