A widespread outage hit Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Monday, disrupting several major websites and digital platforms around the world for hours. The interruption affected a wide range of popular services, including Amazon Prime, Fortnite, Alexa, Snapchat, Duolingo and the AI search engine Perplexity, according to the company.
The incident, which began early in the day, was traced to AWS’s critical infrastructure zone in the US-East-1 region, located in northern Virginia. Engineers detected “increased error rates” across multiple systems, prompting an immediate investigation and repair efforts.
According to the AWS status page, the outage lasted roughly three hours before most services were restored. By 10:35 GMT, the company reported that the issue had been largely resolved and that “most AWS service operations are succeeding normally now.” However, some systems continued to experience residual disruptions throughout the day.
The outage had a ripple effect across the internet, impacting numerous websites and online platforms dependent on Amazon’s cloud infrastructure. Monitoring site Downdetector reported interruptions for Reddit, Hulu, Disney+, and messaging app Signal, as well as Delta Air Lines’ digital services.
In Europe, users reported difficulties accessing WhatsApp, Tinder, and online banking platforms, while several major telecom operators in the UK also faced temporary service issues.
The outage underscored the global dependency on cloud computing providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google’s parent company Alphabet. Analysts said the incident highlighted the risks of concentration in the cloud services market, where a small number of companies host much of the world’s digital infrastructure.
“This episode demonstrates how reliant we all are on the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet for many of the online services we more or less take for granted,” said Michael Hewson, a financial analyst. “On an economic level, it’s almost akin to putting all your eggs in one basket.”
Amazon has not yet disclosed the exact cause of the technical failure but confirmed that investigations are ongoing to prevent future disruptions. AWS, one of the world’s largest cloud computing providers, hosts websites and services for millions of businesses, governments, and users globally — meaning even short-lived outages can have far-reaching consequences across sectors from entertainment to finance.
The company said it continues to monitor system performance closely to ensure stability in the wake of the incident.
