Major Cloudflare Outage Disrupts X, ChatGPT, and Thousands of Websites

A widespread internet outage struck on Tuesday. It was caused by a major failure at Cloudflare. The incident rendered popular websites like X and ChatGPT inaccessible. Users around the globe reported widespread errors and service disruptions.

Cloudflare is a critical web infrastructure provider. Its services protect and accelerate millions of websites. The outage highlights the internet’s reliance on a few key companies.

Understanding the Cloudflare Outage

The outage began in the early hours of the morning. Cloudflare acknowledged the issue on its status page. The company reported widespread “500 errors” affecting its network.

Its own dashboard and API were also failing. This made it difficult for customers to manage their services. According to Reuters, the problem was linked to an internal system error.

Engineers worked urgently to mitigate the problem. The outage impacted a vast range of online platforms. Services from social media to financial betting sites were affected.

Recovery Efforts and User Impact

Cloudflare later provided an update. The company stated it was seeing signs of service recovery. However, customers were warned to expect higher-than-normal error rates.

Remediation efforts continued for some time. The incident caused significant frustration among internet users. Many took to other platforms, like Reddit, to confirm the outage’s scope.

One user noted they never realized how much relies on Cloudflare. This sentiment was echoed by many. The event mirrors a similar Amazon Web Services outage from last month.

That previous disruption affected sites like Reddit and Snapchat. It raised questions about centralization on the internet. Relying on a few providers creates single points of failure.

The recent Cloudflare outage serves as a stark reminder of the internet’s fragile backbone. As services recovered, the event underscored how vital such underlying infrastructure is to daily digital life.

Thought you’d like to know

What is Cloudflare and what does it do?

Cloudflare is a web infrastructure and security company. It provides services that help protect and speed up websites. Many major online platforms rely on its network.

Which major websites were down because of the outage?

The outage impacted X (formerly Twitter) and ChatGPT. Other affected sites included Facebook, Letterboxd, and bet365. Even the outage tracking site Downdetector was unavailable.

How long did the Cloudflare outage last?

The full duration varied for different services. Cloudflare began seeing recovery some hours after the initial failure. The company continued mitigation efforts for a period after that.

Has this happened with other service providers before?

Yes. A similar incident occurred with Amazon Web Services just one month prior. That outage also caused major disruptions across popular websites and online games.

What is a “500 error” that was reported?

A 500 error is a generic HTTP status code. It means the server encountered an unexpected condition. Users see this when a website’s backend infrastructure fails.