A massive Microsoft outage on Wednesday caused widespread disruption across the internet. Platforms including Heathrow Airport, NatWest, and Minecraft went offline for several hours before engineers restored access later that evening. Millions of users faced interruptions to banking, work, and entertainment services.
Thousands of users report website and service failures
Outage tracker Downdetector recorded thousands of complaints from people unable to access websites, send emails, or log into accounts. Many experienced frozen pages, stalled transactions, and unresponsive applications.
Microsoft confirmed that users of Microsoft 365 faced significant delays, particularly with Outlook. By 21:00 GMT, most affected websites were back online after engineers rolled back a faulty software update.
Azure cloud disruption triggers global ripple effect
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, which powers much of the internet, reported “service degradation” around 16:00 GMT. The company said “DNS issues” caused the disruption—the same technical fault behind last week’s Amazon Web Services outage.
Amazon confirmed that its systems remained fully operational.
In the UK, Asda, M&S, and O2 websites were affected. In the US, Starbucks and Kroger customers also experienced temporary outages.
Businesses scramble to maintain operations
Microsoft said corporate clients using Microsoft 365 were among the hardest hit. Some of its own pages displayed an error message reading, “Uh oh! Something went wrong with the previous request.”
With its service status page offline, Microsoft posted live updates on X to keep users informed.
NatWest reported brief website downtime but confirmed mobile banking, chat, and phone services remained operational.
Consumer watchdog urges compensation and transparency
Consumer group Which? called on companies to provide clear communication and support for affected customers. “Customers should keep evidence of failed or delayed payments in case they need to make a claim,” said legal expert Lisa Webb. She advised anyone impacted to contact providers and request waivers for late fees.
Scottish Parliament suspends proceedings amid outage
In Scotland, parliamentary business was paused after the online voting system failed. Lawmakers postponed debate on a land reform bill designed to allow government intervention in private land sales and the breakup of large estates.
A senior parliamentary source said the disruption appeared linked to Microsoft’s global outage.
Experts warn of risks from dependence on few cloud giants
The full scale of the outage is unclear, though Microsoft Azure accounts for roughly 20% of the global cloud market. Microsoft said the incident resulted from “an inadvertent configuration change,” an internal adjustment with unintended consequences.
Dr Saqib Kakvi from Royal Holloway University said reliance on Microsoft, Amazon, and Google increases the internet’s vulnerability. “When one provider fails, hundreds or thousands of services collapse,” he said. “We have concentrated global digital infrastructure into just a few companies.”
Digital infrastructure proves fragile
Professor Gregory Falco of Cornell University said the outage highlighted the fragility of modern cloud systems. “Azure and AWS may appear unified, but they consist of thousands of interconnected components,” he explained.
Falco noted that some systems are managed directly by providers while others rely on third parties such as CrowdStrike, whose update last year disrupted millions of Microsoft devices.
He warned that even a single technical error can trigger global outages, showing how dependent the modern internet has become on a small number of cloud networks.
