Woke up this morning, hit refresh, and still stuck watching that loading wheel spin like it owes you money? Yeah, you weren’t the only one. The internet decided to clock out early today (20 October), taking down some of the biggest players in the game; Amazon, Zoom, Slack, Snapchat, and a whole lot more, leaving millions in digital darkness.
What’s behind this sudden digital blackout? The culprit seems to be none other than Amazon Web Services (AWS) aka the invisible backbone of the internet.
If you’ve never heard of AWS, think of it as the cloud kingpin. It powers everything from your office’s Slack channel to your favorite online store’s checkout button. But when AWS stumbles? The whole web gets wobbly. This morning, that’s exactly what happened.
“We are investigating increased error rates…”
According to AWS’ own service status page, the tech behemoth reported “increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region” as early as 8 a.m. UK time. Translation: if you were trying to send a meme, jump on a Zoom call, or even check your taxes on HMRC’s site… no dice.
“We are actively engaged and working to both mitigate the issue and understand root cause,” the company said. “We will provide an update in 45 minutes, or sooner if we have additional information to share.”
And yes, that update did come but not with much comfort.
From Zoom to Zilch
AWS has since dropped another bulletin confirming the scope of the crash had widened:
“We can confirm significant error rates for requests made to the DynamoDB endpoint in the US-EAST-1 Region. This issue also affects other AWS Services in the US-EAST-1 Region as well.”
“During this time, customers may be unable to create or update Support Cases. Engineers were immediately engaged and are actively working on both mitigating the issue, and fully understanding the root cause.”
Translation again: DynamoDB one of AWS’s key databases was glitching hard. And when it struggles, a lot of the internet’s machinery locks up.
Who Got Hit?
This outage had range. Some of the major names confirmed to be caught in the AWS snare include:
— Amazon (yes, even the big boss couldn’t deliver)
— Slack
— Zoom
— Snapchat
– Canva
– HMRC (UK government’s tax service)
Plus thousands of other sites that rely on AWS’ vast infrastructure
According to Downdetector, a watchdog site that tracks service disruptions, this wasn’t just a little hiccup. It was a full-on choke.
A Digital World Held Hostage
It’s worth noting that 6.3% of websites globally run on AWS. While that might not sound like much, that slice includes some very essential platforms particularly for remote workers, creatives, and anyone who shops online.
The outage’s ripple effect left businesses scrambling, social media silent, and group chats eerily quiet.
And while AWS insists its engineers are “actively working” on the issue, many are wondering: how can so much of our world depend on just one tech provider?
In an always-online era, today’s crash was a harsh reminder: the internet isn’t invincible and neither is the cloud that carries it.
For now, all eyes are on AWS to see when they’ll fully bounce back and give the world its digital rhythm again.