A massive Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage on Monday 20th November 2025 caused widespread internet disruptions worldwide, affecting top platforms like Snapchat, Amazon, Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, Canva, and Ring, during a period of broader federal uncertainty, including the ongoing US government shutdown 2025 affecting federal agencies

According to Downdetector, thousands of users reported issues with Amazon, Prime Video, Alexa, and Venmo, while Snapchat users experienced login errors, including the “C14A error.”

Amazon later confirmed on its AWS Status Dashboard that the issue originated in its US-EAST-1 region (Virginia), one of its largest data centers. The company said several systems faced “increased error rates and latencies,” impacting core services like DynamoDB and EC2.

“We continue to observe recovery across most affected AWS services. Global systems relying on the US-EAST-1 region have recovered,” Amazon stated.

Global Impact of the AWS Outage

The global AWS disruption underscored how dependent the modern internet is on a few major cloud providers. Thousands of companies, from fintech to entertainment, rely on AWS for their backend infrastructure.

Major websites and apps such as Amazon.com, Prime Video, Ring, Canvas, and Robinhood faced downtime. Students reported that Canvas, a popular e-learning platform, was “not loading,” while businesses using Amazon Seller Central saw backend errors.

Reports also confirmed login delays on Coinbase and Venmo, while Reddit users saw “rate-limited” errors. On social media, hashtags like #AWSdown, #InternetOutage, and #AmazonDown trended globally.

AWS Incident Timeline

• Early Morning (ET): Reports of AWS services down across major platforms.
• Midday: Amazon identified a DNS communication issue in the US-EAST-1 region, disrupting connectivity.
• Afternoon: Platforms like Snapchat, Venmo, and Coinbase acknowledged the issue.
• Evening: Amazon reported “massive signs of recovery” and downgraded the outage severity.

According to cybersecurity firm NymVPN, there was no sign of a cyber attack or hacking attempt. Rob Jardin, the company’s chief digital officer, explained:

“It looks like a technical fault affecting one of Amazon’s main data centers. These issues can occur when systems overload or a key part of the network goes down.”

What Caused the AWS Outage?

Experts pointed to problems with DNS (Domain Name System) — the system that converts website names like amazon.com into IP addresses. When this system fails, apps lose access to databases stored on the AWS cloud, leading to cascading failures.

Mike Chapple, IT professor at the University of Notre Dame, described it simply:

“Amazon had the data safely stored, but nobody else could find it for several hours, leaving apps temporarily separated from their data. It’s as if the internet had temporary amnesia.”

Amazon later confirmed that DNS latency issues affected DynamoDB, one of its main database services, causing global AWS outages.

Comparisons with Past Outages

This Amazon Web Services outage was the largest since 2021, when a similar issue disrupted access to Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon’s own platforms. The internet’s fragility has become more evident, especially as millions of companies depend on AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

In 2024, a separate CrowdStrike software glitch caused the largest-ever IT outage, grounding airlines, halting banks, and crashing hospital systems. That event cost over $5 billion in business losses, highlighting how interlinked today’s online infrastructure is.

User Reactions and Outage Reports

Social media platforms were flooded with complaints and memes. “Why is everything down?” trended globally as users across Snapchat, Venmo, Reddit, and Ring faced login failures.

In India, reports of Amazon app not working, Prime Video down, and Canvas not loading spiked throughout the afternoon. Some users even believed the outage was part of a global cyberattack, though experts confirmed it was a technical fault.

Users tracking the issue on Down Detector observed spikes in reports from countries including the United States, India, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

AWS Recovery Update

By late evening, Amazon Web Services confirmed that most systems were restored and that global AWS outage updates would continue on its status page.

“We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have recovered,” Amazon stated.

Apps like Snapchat, Venmo, and Canvas began functioning again, while users were advised to clear their cache or restart apps for smoother performance.

Lessons from the AWS Outage

Experts say that the incident highlights how centralized cloud systems can cause large-scale internet disruptions. Companies depending solely on one cloud region risk downtime if that system fails.

Amazon has promised a detailed postmortem report to identify the exact cause of the AWS outage today and prevent similar disruptions.

As services return to normal, the AWS incident serves as a reminder of how interconnected and vulnerable our online infrastructure remains. With much of the internet running on Amazon’s cloud, even a single region’s downtime can bring the world to a temporary digital halt.