Global Internet Outage Disrupts Major Services Following AWS Issues

Widespread Disruption Hits Global Online Services

A significant global internet outage has affected a vast array of online services and applications on Monday, October 20, 2025. The disruption is largely attributed to issues within Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing arm of Amazon, which provides critical infrastructure for a substantial portion of the internet. Millions of users across multiple continents, including Europe, experienced difficulties accessing popular platforms throughout the day.

AWS US-EAST-1 Region Identified as Origin

The root of the widespread connectivity problems was traced to AWS's US-EAST-1 Region in Northern Virginia. AWS confirmed 'increased error rates and latencies' for multiple services in this region, which serves as a vital hub for global internet traffic. The specific cause was identified as an 'underlying DNS issue' related to DynamoDB, a key database service. This technical glitch led to a cascading effect, impacting services that rely on AWS infrastructure.

Major Platforms Affected Globally

The outage caused extensive disruption, with Downdetector, a website tracking online issues, receiving over 6.5 million reports globally. Affected services spanned social media, gaming, streaming, banking, and more, highlighting the interconnected nature of modern digital infrastructure.

• Social Media & Communication: Snapchat, Signal, Reddit, WhatsApp, Zoom
• Gaming: Fortnite, Roblox, Xbox, PlayStation Network, Epic Games, Pokémon Go, Clash Royale, Clash of Clans
• Streaming & Entertainment: Prime Video, Apple TV, HBO Max, YouTube
• Financial Services: Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Venmo, Coinbase, Robinhood, Chime
• Other Services: Duolingo, Ring doorbells, Pinterest, Wordle, Peloton, Canva, Perplexity, Lyft, Amazon's retail site, Alexa, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

Reports of problems were particularly high in the United States and the United Kingdom, with hundreds of thousands of reports from each country.

Recovery Efforts Underway

AWS engineers were immediately engaged to mitigate the issue. By midday, AWS announced that the 'underlying DNS issue has been fully mitigated, and most AWS Service operations are succeeding normally now.' However, the company noted that 'some requests may be throttled while we work toward full resolution' and that a backlog of events was still being processed. Experts indicated that the outage appeared to be an IT issue rather than a cyber-attack.

Implications for Digital Infrastructure

The incident underscores the significant reliance of global online services on a limited number of cloud providers like AWS. When such a foundational service experiences an issue, the ripple effect can be felt across the internet, impacting millions of users and businesses worldwide. While recovery efforts are ongoing, the event serves as a stark reminder of the fragility of interconnected digital infrastructure.