Cloudflare Outage Explained: Why Services Like Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Canva Went Down
Key Takeaways
- A Cloudflare database change created an oversized file that broke their traffic system
- Services including Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Canva were affected globally
- The outage revealed how dependent the internet is on Cloudflare’s infrastructure
- Normal service was restored after engineers identified and fixed the issue
Millions of users worldwide experienced widespread internet disruptions on Tuesday when a Cloudflare outage knocked major online services offline simultaneously. The technical failure affected social media platforms, banking services, shopping portals, and AI tools including Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Canva.
What Caused the Global Internet Disruption?
The outage originated from a faulty database change at Cloudflare, a company that provides critical infrastructure for much of the global internet. The technical problem triggered a chain reaction that disabled numerous popular websites and applications.
Cloudflare explained in an official statement that the incident began when a permissions change to one of their database systems caused it to generate excessive entries in a “feature file” used by their Bot Management system. This caused the file to nearly double in size.
Understanding Cloudflare’s Critical Role
Cloudflare Inc. is a US-based company that operates behind the scenes to power a significant portion of the world’s internet infrastructure. The company provides content delivery networks (CDNs), cybersecurity solutions, and DDoS attack prevention services.
Most internet users never directly interact with Cloudflare, yet millions of websites depend on its services daily. The company acts as a protective middle layer between websites and their visitors, ensuring security, speed, and reliability.
How Cloudflare Maintains Internet Stability
Cloudflare performs three essential functions for online businesses and services:
- Security Protection: Filters out harmful activity, particularly DDoS attacks that bombard websites with fake traffic
- Performance Acceleration: Caches website copies in global locations, enabling instant content access from nearby centers
- Traffic Management: Routes visitors through optimal pathways to prevent crashes during high traffic periods
The company provides tools that help businesses maintain secure and stable online presences by distributing data efficiently across its network to prevent overload. Given Cloudflare’s massive scale, even minor disruptions can impact large portions of the internet.
The Technical Breakdown Explained
When Cloudflare’s network encountered technical issues on Tuesday, the impact was immediate and widespread. Popular services including Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity and Canva either failed to load or displayed repeated error messages.
The company confirmed that the software reading the oversized feature file had a size limit it couldn’t handle, causing it to fail and disrupting normal traffic flow. Once Cloudflare engineers identified the root cause, they quickly deployed a fix and began restoring services globally.
Most affected websites returned to normal operation shortly after the fix was implemented. The incident highlighted Cloudflare’s crucial role in maintaining the stability of thousands of online platforms, from small websites to major global services.
The outage served as a stark reminder of how dependent the modern internet has become on a few critical infrastructure providers operating behind the scenes.
