AWS Outage Disrupts Major Online Services Worldwide

On October 20, 2025, Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a major outage, leading to widespread disruptions across numerous online platforms. The incident began around 3:11 a.m. ET, primarily affecting the US-EAST-1 region, and was attributed to issues within AWS's Domain Name System (DNS).

The outage impacted a diverse array of services, including social media platforms like Snapchat and Signal, gaming applications such as Fortnite and Roblox, financial services including Coinbase and Robinhood, and even Amazon's own services like Alexa and Prime Video. In the United Kingdom, institutions like Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, and the government's HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) website also faced disruptions.

AWS reported increased error rates and latencies affecting multiple services and stated that efforts were underway to restore functionality. By approximately 6:30 a.m. ET, AWS announced that the underlying DNS issue had been fully mitigated, with most service operations returning to normal. However, some requests continued to be throttled as systems worked through backlogs.

This incident underscores the global reliance on major cloud service providers like AWS. Patrick Burgess, a member of the U.K.-based BCS, noted that while such outages are significant, they are typically resolved within hours and there was no indication of a cyberattack in this case.