Four Hours of Chaos: A Stark Warning About the Fragility of the Internet
Millions of people were unable to access their favourite apps after a major outage on Monday night — a troubling reminder of how fragile our digital world can be.
Many popular internet services, from streaming platforms to banking systems, went offline for several hours due to a global disruption in Amazon Web Services (AWS), the backbone of much of the modern internet.
A chain reaction of disruption
Streaming platforms such as Prime Video and Disney+, gaming services like Fortnite, and social platforms including Airbnb, Snapchat, and Duolingo all went dark. Even mobile messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal experienced interruptions across Europe.
Some banks were also affected, highlighting how deeply embedded AWS has become in daily digital operations. AWS manages nearly one-third of the world’s cloud infrastructure, hosting millions of apps and services that billions of people depend on.
What caused the outage
According to AWS, engineers identified a DNS-related issue that caused “increased error rates” across multiple services. It took over four hours before operations began returning to normal.
While most systems have since recovered, the incident sparked conversations about over-reliance on a handful of global tech giants.
A wake-up call for digital dependence
“This shows how reliant we all are on the likes of Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet for so many online services we take for granted,” said financial analyst Michael Hewson.
He compared the situation to “putting all of your economic eggs in one basket,” warning that large-scale dependence on a few corporations poses systemic risks to both the economy and communication infrastructure.
The outage serves as a stark reminder that even the most advanced systems can falter — and that the internet’s strength may also be its greatest vulnerability.
