Thousands of websites went offline for as much as an hour on Tuesday morning, including several of the world’s largest news sites, streaming services, online retailers and even the UK government, disrupting millions of internet users.
Connectivity problems appeared to affect news sites including the BBC, New York Times, CNN and FT.com, streaming services Spotify, Twitch, Hulu and HBO Max, payments service Stripe and message board Reddit. Together, the online services reach hundreds of millions of people every day.
Disruption to the UK government’s network of websites, gov.uk, may have caused problems for people booking Covid-19 vaccinations or reporting test results.