Updated @ 18:20 UAE
Services affected by the major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage are gradually coming back online after widespread disruptions hit platforms like Snapchat, Reddit, Fortnite, Wordle, Starbucks, and several government websites.
AWS reported early Monday that it had “fully mitigated” the underlying DNS issue responsible for the outage, with most systems now operating normally. However, the company acknowledged that some services are still experiencing “elevated errors” as recovery continues.
Data from DownDetector shows that while many apps and sites have stabilized, a few remain inconsistent — briefly coming back online before going down again.
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A major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage has disrupted large parts of the internet, taking down major platforms including Fortnite, Snapchat, Alexa, and several other high-traffic services across the globe. The issue appears to stem from operational failures in AWS’s US-EAST-1 region — a critical data hub that supports a huge portion of the world’s online infrastructure — though effects have spread far beyond North America.
Amazon’s AWS status dashboard confirmed that “multiple services are impacted” due to “increased error rates and latencies.” The company said it is “actively engaged and working to both mitigate the issue and understand root cause,” with updates expected as the investigation continues.
The outage began around 3:11AM ET and quickly cascaded across platforms that rely on AWS for cloud computing, storage, and networking. According to user reports and monitoring site Down Detector, affected services include Amazon.com itself, Alexa smart devices, Fortnite, Snapchat, Airtable, Canva, McDonald’s app, and AI startup Perplexity.
On Reddit, Alexa users complained that the assistant was unable to respond to voice commands or execute basic tasks such as controlling smart devices or running preset routines. In some cases, scheduled alarms and automation features also failed to trigger.
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas confirmed the company’s dependence on AWS in a post on X, writing, “Perplexity is down right now. The root cause is an AWS issue. We’re working on resolving it.”
This isn’t the first time AWS’s US-EAST-1 region has caused widespread disruption. Similar outages in 2020, 2021, and 2023 affected numerous global services, highlighting how much of the internet depends on Amazon’s cloud infrastructure. US-EAST-1, based in Northern Virginia, is AWS’s oldest and most trafficked region, hosting a large share of enterprise and consumer-facing applications.
While AWS has yet to specify the nature of the failure, early signs point to issues affecting multiple underlying services simultaneously — possibly related to network connectivity or internal load balancing. The company said it is working on mitigation measures but has not provided an estimated timeline for restoration.
Outages like this underscore the fragility of centralized cloud ecosystems, where a single point of failure can ripple across industries. As of Monday afternoon local time, many affected platforms remain slow or inaccessible, with users reporting intermittent recoveries.
