Outlook Business Desk
Cloudflare experienced a major network issue on Tuesday, causing access problems across several prominent platforms. Users struggled to load X, ChatGPT, Spotify, Perplexity and more as early reports of widespread failures began appearing online.
As the outage spread, thousands of users reported that multiple websites and apps either refused to load or showed repeated errors. Services like Canva, Gemini, Letterboxd,and others, including AI chatbots like ChatGPT, faced disruptions, leading to a spike in complaints through the day.
Cloudflare confirmed that its systems were generating widespread 500 errors, which occur when a server encounters an issue but cannot specify the exact problem. The company also noted issues on its dashboard and API, making it difficult for organisations to manage or troubleshoot their services through Cloudflare’s tools.
During the outage, Downdetector also faced loading issues as it uses Cloudflare. Once back online, it recorded a sharp surge in error reports from users on X, Spotify, and several other platforms.
Cloudflare handles essential functions like DNS routing, traffic flow and security for numerous major websites. When its systems face a technical fault, several unrelated platforms can experience sudden outages simultaneously because they rely on Cloudflare’s network backbone.
Users on X saw blank feeds or error screens, while Bet365 showed blocking messages caused by Cloudflare’s malfunction. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other services also reported issues, aligning with the wider disruption seen globally.
Platforms like League of Legends, Letterboxd, and other gaming and entertainment services also faced connection failures. Many apps displayed messages suggesting temporary blocks or internal server problems, all linked to the Cloudflare disruption.
Cloudflare continues to investigate the outage and evaluate its overall impact. Although some platforms are showing signs of recovery, users may still face intermittent errors until the network is fully stabilised.
This outage comes after recent disruptions at Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Since these platforms underpin large parts of the internet, technical faults can trigger widespread downtime across numerous popular services.