AWS Outage Today: Millions of Users Disrupted
On Monday, 20 October 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a widespread outage, impacting millions of users and thousands of businesses worldwide. Popular platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook, Fortnite, Robinhood, Coinbase, and AI startup Perplexity faced connectivity issues.
Even airlines like Delta and United reported flight delays, while banks, e-commerce platforms, and enterprise operations struggled to maintain normal services.
The outage highlighted how dependent global businesses and consumers are on AWS, the world’s largest cloud computing platform.
Economic Impact: Billions in Losses
Mehdi Daoudi, CEO of Catchpoint, estimates that the economic fallout from the outage could reach billions of dollars.
“The financial impact will easily reach hundreds of billions due to halted business operations, delayed productivity, and disrupted services — from airlines to factories,” said Daoudi.
The outage demonstrates how critical AWS is to the global digital infrastructure, supporting businesses, governments, and millions of consumers every day.
Cause of the Outage: DNS Issue and EC2 Network Failure
AWS traced the problem to its US-EAST-1 data center in northern Virginia, the company’s oldest and largest site. A Domain Name System (DNS) issue prevented applications from accessing DynamoDB, a key cloud database.
The failure originated from the EC2 internal network, Amazon’s high-speed network connecting multiple cloud services within its data centers.
Services Affected
The outage disrupted a wide range of services, including:
- E-commerce & Streaming: Amazon, Prime Video, Crunchyroll
- Gaming: Roblox, Fortnite, Clash Royale, Clash of Clans
- Social Media & Messaging: Snapchat, Reddit, Signal
- Finance & Payments: Robinhood, Venmo, Coinbase
- Transportation: Lyft
- Education & AI Tools: Duolingo, Perplexity
Downdetector reported over 9,300 complaints in the early afternoon, reflecting the scale of the disruption. Some platforms like Reddit and Roblox stabilized quickly, while Snapchat, Venmo, and Duolingo faced intermittent issues.
AWS Reach and Market Dominance
AWS’s outage underscores its extensive global reach. Key figures include:
- 37% of the global cloud market share (2024, Gartner)
- $107.6 billion revenue in 2024
- Over 6 million km of fiber optic cabling
- 38 geographic regions worldwide
- Customers include Disney, US Army, Capital One, United Airlines, and NFL
These numbers show how much modern business operations rely on a single cloud provider, making outages extremely costly.
Recovery Efforts
AWS initiated gradual recovery after more than nine hours of disruption. While connectivity improved, some applications still experience slower response times and elevated error rates.
Amazon continues to monitor network health in the East Coast region to prevent future incidents.
Why It Matters
AWS outages reveal the fragility of global digital infrastructure. Businesses across sectors — including finance, e-commerce, gaming, education, AI, and entertainment — rely heavily on AWS.
This incident serves as a wake-up call for companies to invest in resilient cloud strategies and backup systems to mitigate operational risks.
Key Takeaways
- Millions of users and thousands of businesses disrupted by AWS outage.
- Estimated economic losses could reach billions of dollars.
- Outage caused by DNS failure and EC2 internal network issues.
- Major platforms affected: Snapchat, Reddit, Robinhood, Coinbase, Fortnite, and Duolingo.
- AWS continues recovery; services gradually stabilizing.
- Highlights the importance of cloud infrastructure resilience.
