Microsoft 365 Services Experience Widespread Outage
Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook and Teams, faced significant disruptions on January 22, 2026, affecting users primarily in North America. The company identified infrastructure issues and initiated recovery efforts.
On January 22, 2026, Microsoft 365 services, including Outlook and Teams, experienced significant disruptions, primarily affecting users in North America. Reports of outages began surfacing around 11:00 a.m. ET, with Downdetector noting a peak of over 15,000 user reports by 3:08 p.m. ET.
Microsoft acknowledged the issue, stating that a portion of its service infrastructure in North America was not processing traffic as expected. The company indicated that users might encounter degraded service functionality or be unable to access multiple Microsoft 365 services.
By 2:20 p.m. ET, Microsoft reported that restoration efforts were underway, involving traffic redirection across affected infrastructure to rebalance the system and restore functionality. The company emphasized its commitment to resolving the issue promptly and identifying any additional actions needed for recovery.
The outage impacted various services, including Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive, and Teams. Users reported issues such as receiving temporary server error messages when attempting to send or receive emails through Outlook.
As of the latest updates, Microsoft continues to monitor the situation and implement necessary measures to fully restore services. Users are advised to check the Microsoft 365 status page for ongoing updates.
Source
The Seattle TimesFact-checking
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