Twitter Faces Downtime as Cloudflare Outage Disrupts Service
A recent study from Yale University reveals that Tesla has suffered a significant decline in car sales, losing over one million units in the U.S. This downturn is attributed to CEO Elon Musk’s political activities following his acquisition of Twitter, now known as X, in 2022.
Severe Downtime for Twitter Users
On January 16, users of the X platform reported widespread outages, with over 77,000 incidents documented at 10:15 a.m. EST. Many individuals encountered a blank screen when attempting to access the app, leading to frustration among users relying on the platform for social interaction and news dissemination.
Details of the Outage
- Outage reported on January 16, 2023
- Highest number of incidents: 77,000 at 10:15 a.m. EST
- Number of incidents decreased to 63,000 by 10:45 a.m. EST
- First outage of the week occurred on January 13, affecting approximately 24,000 users
This service disruption is notable as it marks the second incident within the same week. Users faced difficulties when loading the X timeline on both mobile and desktop versions of the app.
Cloudflare’s Role in the Downtime
Many users identified Cloudflare, the internet infrastructure provider, as a contributing factor to theX outages. Reports indicated that many Cloudflare customers faced “widespread 500 errors,” suggesting server malfunctions. These errors often display when a website’s server has issues processing requests.
Recent Verizon Outage
In a related context, Verizon experienced significant wireless service outages just days before the X problems. This incident, which occurred on January 14, disrupted services for more than 1.5 million customers, many of whom saw their devices switch to “SOS” mode.
- Number of service issues reported: 170,000 at 12:45 p.m. EST
- Outage duration: approximately 7 hours
Verizon later confirmed that the disruption was not the result of a cyberattack but a software issue. The company responded by offering $20 credits to affected customers through the myVerizon app. In their communication, Verizon acknowledged the inconvenience caused to their customers.
Conclusion
The recent events surrounding X and Verizon underline the critical nature of reliable online and communication services. As companies navigate technological challenges, the implications for users and associated businesses remain significant.
