October 20, 2025 – Worldwide: A significant global outage on Monday morning disrupted major online services, affecting millions of users across the globe. Popular apps such as Canva, Snapchat, and Duolingo experienced service interruptions due to an issue with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
The outage impacted industries ranging from banking and government services to social media and e-commerce, highlighting the extensive dependence on AWS infrastructure.
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What Happened: AWS Outage Affects Services Globally
The outage began early on October 20, 2025, affecting a wide range of services dependent on AWS. According to Downdetector, a website tracking online service issues, major UK banks including Barclays, Lloyds, and Bank of Scotland reported disruptions.
As of 9:00 a.m. UK time, there were over 2,681 reports of AWS issues, with more than 500 reports affecting HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) services. Other affected platforms included messaging apps like Loose, smart device companies like Ring, and telecom providers such as Vodafone and EE, all reporting spikes in service outages.
Background on Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a leading cloud computing provider that powers the infrastructure of countless websites and online platforms. It hosts critical web applications for social media, e-commerce, financial services, and government systems. When AWS experiences technical issues, the effects are felt globally and across multiple industries simultaneously.
Amazon’s Response to the Outage
Amazon quickly acknowledged the problem, issuing an update at 9:26 a.m., noting “significant error rates” affecting services. The company confirmed that customers might be unable to create or update support cases during the outage, and engineers were deployed immediately to investigate and resolve the issue.
By 10:01 a.m., Amazon stated that a “potential root cause” had been identified and advised customers to continue retrying any failed requests. Later, at 11:35 a.m., the company confirmed that most operations were generally successful, while work continued toward a full resolution.
Public and Social Media Reactions
The outage caused widespread frustration among users and companies relying on AWS services. Social media platforms, particularly Twitter, saw users venting about the disruptions with comments like:
- “Can’t even access Canva for work anymore!”
- “Snapchat is down, great!”
The incident also raised questions about relying heavily on a single cloud provider for critical services. Industry experts noted that this outage highlights the vulnerabilities of centralized infrastructure and may encourage businesses to diversify cloud providers in the future.
What Happens Next: Investigation and Updates
Amazon continues to work on fully resolving the outage and has promised to provide ongoing updates. Affected users, especially those in business and finance sectors, are advised to monitor Amazon’s official updates and consider alternative services temporarily.
Cloud service providers and users worldwide will be closely monitoring the situation, evaluating the risks of over-reliance on a single provider, and considering strategies to prevent similar disruptions in the future.
Conclusion: Lessons from the AWS Outage
This global outage serves as a reminder of the critical role cloud infrastructure plays in our daily digital lives. It also highlights the importance of backup plans and redundancy for businesses and individuals relying on cloud-based platforms.
As Amazon continues its investigation and resolves the issue, the incident may drive changes in cloud service strategies to reduce the impact of future disruptions.