Amazon Web Services (AWS) is back to full functionality after a massive outage on October 20, 2025, that disrupted major websites and applications across the globe, including Snapchat, Alexa, Fortnite, Coinbase, and Venmo.
The outage, which lasted several hours, caused widespread login failures, transaction delays, and downtime for millions of users and businesses dependent on AWS for cloud hosting, data processing, and content delivery.
“We have resolved the issues affecting multiple AWS services and everything is now operating normally,” Amazon said in an official statement. “We apologize for the impact this had on our customers and are conducting a full post-incident analysis.”
The company traced the root cause to a DNS resolution failure in its US-EAST-1 region, a critical data hub powering global digital services. The disruption prevented servers from communicating effectively, leading to cascading failures across dependent systems and applications.
Technology analysts said the outage underscores the vulnerability of the internet’s infrastructure due to overreliance on a small number of major cloud providers. “When AWS goes down, the internet feels it everywhere,” said tech analyst Daniel Norris. “This incident shows how concentrated the world’s digital backbone has become.”
Businesses across industries — from finance to e-commerce and gaming — reported operational disruptions and temporary revenue losses during the downtime. Some firms activated backup systems, while others were forced to halt critical services until AWS restored normal operations.
In response, U.S. lawmakers renewed calls for increased oversight of large-scale cloud infrastructure providers, suggesting they should be regulated similarly to critical utilities. The Senate’s Technology Oversight Committee has requested a briefing from Amazon regarding the outage’s causes, impacts, and preventive measures.
Amazon confirmed that a detailed post-incident report outlining the root cause, timeline, and corrective steps will be released soon. The company also pledged to strengthen its redundancy systems and network safeguards to minimize future disruptions.
With AWS controlling nearly one-third of the global cloud market, the outage has reignited debate around cloud diversification and the need for multi-cloud resilience. While most systems are now fully restored, some users continue to experience minor slowdowns and delayed data synchronization as AWS infrastructure stabilizes.
The event serves as another reminder of the world’s growing dependence on centralized cloud networks — and the far-reaching consequences when they falter.
