X Platform Suffers Major Global Outage
Elon Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter, experienced a widespread outage affecting thousands of users globally. The service disruption began around 11:20 GMT, with over 3,250 reports logged on Down Detector within just 10 minutes.
Key Takeaways
- X platform down globally starting 11:20 GMT
- Over 3,250 user reports within first 10 minutes
- 58% reported app issues, 23% website problems
- Connected to broader Cloudflare network outage
User Impact and Reactions
The outage affected users across major UK cities including London, Manchester, Cardiff, and Glasgow. Frustrated social media users immediately flocked to rival platforms to voice their concerns.
One user questioned, “Why is my Twitter now X not working?” while another commented, “Never thought I’d be checking Threads to see if Twitter is down.”
On Bluesky, users celebrated the unexpected influx, with one writing, “Twitter is down. Good. Stay that way,” and another noting, “Funny how fast everyone suddenly swarms back to bluesky.”
Cloudflare Connection
The X outage appears connected to a major Cloudflare network disruption that recorded over 10,500 reports simultaneously. Cloudflare provides critical infrastructure for millions of websites including X, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Uber, and League of Legends.
Affected users received “internal server error on Cloudflare’s network” messages. The company confirmed investigating “an issue which potentially impacts multiple customers” but hasn’t provided specific details.
Broader Internet Vulnerability
This incident highlights the internet’s reliance on few infrastructure providers. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon collectively host 60-70% of global cloud processing, creating potential single points of failure.
Experts warn that concentrated infrastructure control creates ripple effects during outages, potentially affecting services beyond direct customers. Simultaneous multi-provider outages could theoretically cause global internet blackouts.
X has not released an official statement regarding the outage resolution timeline.
