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A Big Glitch Hits the Internet
Many people around the world had trouble using the internet early Monday. This was because of a problem with Amazon’s cloud service, which many websites and apps rely on. Some of the services that were affected include Snapchat, the video games Roblox and Fortnite, and the chat app Signal.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), the part of Amazon that had the problem, said they started fixing it after about three hours.
AWS is important because it helps many groups, like government offices, schools, and businesses, run their online services.
A website called DownDetector, where people report internet problems, showed that users had issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, the Robinhood stock trading app, the McDonald’s app, and many other services. DownDetector said these problems were likely linked to the issues at Amazon Web Services.
Coinbase and Signal both said that they were having problems because of the AWS outage.
Even Amazon’s own services were affected. People using Ring doorbells and Alexa speakers said they weren’t working. Others said they couldn’t get to the Amazon website or download books on their Kindles.
Amazon said the problem was related to their system for turning web addresses into the codes computers use to find websites.
The problems started around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time. Amazon Web Services said they were looking into errors and delays for many AWS services.
Later, the company said there were “significant error rates” and that engineers were working to fix the problem.
Around 6 a.m. Eastern Time, Amazon said that most services were getting back to normal.
This isn’t the first time problems with Amazon’s services have caused trouble. In the past, some have warned about the reliance on a few big tech companies for important services. When something goes wrong with one of these companies, it can affect many people.
Experts say that these kinds of problems are usually fixed quickly and that this one didn’t seem to be caused by a cyberattack. They believe it was just a technical issue that Amazon fixed.
Amazon Web Services said around 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time that most of their services were working normally again.
