AWS outage hits much of the internet, impacting a long list of websites and apps, from Reddit to McDonald’s

The week is not off to a great start for much of the internet.

In the early hours of the morning Pacific time, internet users around the world began experiencing issues with accessing various apps, websites, and platforms. Shortly after, a culprit emerged: Amazon Web Services (AWS)—or, more specifically, an outage at Amazon’s cloud computing platform.

Here’s what you need to know about the AWS outage and what websites are affected.

What’s happened?

At around midnight Pacific time, internet users around the globe began experiencing issues accessing high-trafficked parts of the internet.

Websites like Reddit, services like Lyft, and even apps from restaurant chains like McDonald’s seemed to be down or working intermittently.

The source of the problem was shortly found: AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing platform that hundreds of thousands of websites and services rely on, including Reddit, Netflix, Pinterest, Spotify, and more. 

At 12:11 a.m. PDT, the AWS Health Dashboard posted its first notification about the problem, stating that the platform was “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.”

By 12:51 a.m. PDT, AWS confirmed “increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS Services in the US-EAST-1 Region,” and by 1:26 a.m. PDT, AWS said it could “confirm significant error rates for requests made to the DynamoDB endpoint in the US-EAST-1 Region.”

But though the problem seemed to be affecting only the endpoint located in one region of the United States, any website, app, or service that ran data through that endpoint could be affected by its outage—no matter where in the world the end-user was located.

And that was bad news for users around the globe who were attempting to access some of the globe’s most highly trafficked sites and apps.

What websites went down?

Users around the world have reported troubles accessing dozens of websites, apps, and services, according to data compiled by DownDetector.

As of this writing, the DownDetector home page is showing that multiple websites and services that rely on AWS are being reported as down, including:

• Amazon
• Amazon Alexa
• Amazon Prime Video
• Apple Music
• AT&T
• Chime
• Delta Air Lines
• Epic Games Store
• Fortnite
• Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
• Lyft
• Max
• McDonalds app
• Reddit
• Ring
• Robinhood
• Roblox
• Roku
• Playstation Network
• Signal
• Snapchat
• Spectrum
• Starbucks
• Steam
• Ubisoft Connect
• Venmo
• Xbox Network
• Xfinity by Comcast
• Zoom

This list above is not exhaustive. Users of many other websites, apps, and services have also reported additional outages, including on Coinbase and United Airlines. It’s also worth noting that some report being able to access select sites and services, while others report no luck while attempting access.

What caused the AWS outage?

Amazon has not yet mentioned whether a specific cause has been identified. A spokesperson for AWS referred Fast Company to its status page, which is still being updated with new developments.

How long will the outage last?

It’s unknown how long the AWS outage will last or for how long your favorite site or service will be down.

The last update on the AWS Health Dashboard, posted at 3:35 a.m. PDT and stated that “the underlying DNS issue has been fully mitigated,” adding “most AWS Service operations are succeeding normally now.”

However, the same notice warned that “Some requests may be throttled while we work toward full resolution.”

In other words, if you still can’t access your favorite site or platform, it’s best to try again in a little bit.

This story is developing…

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