A major Cloudflare outage hit globally on Nov 18, causing 500-errors across ChatGPT, X, Canva, League of Legends, and other major platforms.
Cloudflare Outage Disrupts ChatGPT, X and Major Platforms
Millions Affected as Key Online Services Fail
A widespread internet disruption on Tuesday impacted users across Canada and worldwide after Cloudflare, a major internet infrastructure provider, experienced a technical failure. The outage prevented access to platforms including ChatGPT, X (formerly Twitter), Canva, Grindr, and several online gaming services, according to real-time reports.
Company Identifies the Technical Issue
Cloudflare confirmed that the problem began early Tuesday and was under investigation after multiple clients reported “500 errors” and dashboard failures. By 8:09 a.m. ET, the company announced that it had identified the root cause and deployed an initial fix, though some users continued to experience instability during the recovery period.
Global Impact Highlighted Through User Reports
Platforms dependent on Cloudflare’s network saw rapid spikes in outage reports, with Downdetector showing thousands of user submissions at the outage’s peak. By 8 a.m. ET, reports had dropped significantly, but many Canadians still faced intermittent loading issues and failed logins.
Temporary Service Restrictions in the U.K.
As part of its remediation process, Cloudflare temporarily disabled certain services for users in the United Kingdom, citing the need to stabilize traffic. The company continued restoring application services throughout the morning, updating customers frequently on its status page.
Busy Maintenance Schedule Adds Context
The outage coincided with scheduled maintenance at a Cloudflare data centre in Santiago, Chile, although the company did not confirm whether the timing was related. Engineers continued working to fully restore service levels across its global network.
Experts Warn About Heavy Dependence on Few Providers
Cybersecurity specialists have repeatedly cautioned about the risks of centralization, noting that a small number of tech firms power much of the internet’s infrastructure. Cloudflare’s outage highlighted the potential vulnerabilities that arise when a single provider supports such a large share of global web traffic.
