A significant global internet disruption occurred this morning, stemming from a widespread outage at Cloudflare, a pivotal internet infrastructure and security provider. This event temporarily knocked out or severely impacted several high-profile online services, notably the AI platform ChatGPT and the social media giant X (formerly Twitter).
Early Tuesday morning, Cloudflare acknowledged the issue on its official status page, confirming that a problem was “impacting multiple customers” and that an immediate fix was being deployed.
The company provided updates on its recovery efforts: “We have made changes that have allowed Cloudflare Access and WARP to recover. Error levels for Access and WARP users have returned to pre-incident rates. We have re-enabled WARP access in London,” the company stated. Cloudflare emphasized its commitment, adding, “We are continuing to work towards restoring other services.”
Cloudflare subsequently confirmed that the necessary fix had been fully implemented and that the network issue was believed to be resolved. The firm committed to an ongoing monitoring process to ensure all previously disrupted internet services return to normal operational status.
In a statement provided to Reuters via email, the San Francisco-based company revealed that its systems registered a sudden surge in “unusual traffic” immediately preceding the widespread errors across its extensive network. “We are all hands on deck to make sure all traffic is served without errors,” Cloudflare stated, highlighting the urgency of the situation.
Beyond ChatGPT and X, other major platforms affected by the widespread network errors included the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, credit rating agency Moody’s, and public transit system NJ Transit.
Reports regarding the Cloudflare disruption reached a peak of nearly 5,000 user complaints. However, data from Downdetector, a popular outage-tracking tool, showed a rapid decline, with reports easing significantly to approximately 600 by 8 a.m. ET.
As a crucial provider of internet infrastructure, Cloudflare’s core function is to shield websites from online threats and ensure optimal performance. This incident marks the latest in a series of mass disruptions to hit essential internet services in recent months.
