Global internet infrastructure hangs by a thread as one-man show proves perilous.
A widespread outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) highlighted the dangers of relying on just a handful of tech giants for operating the global internet, with thousands of websites and services brought to their knees in its wake. The AWS glitch affected over 2,000 companies worldwide, including major players like Snapchat, Roblox, Signal, Duolingo, and even Amazon-owned operations such as its main retail site and Ring doorbell company.
The ripple effect was felt across the globe, with users reporting issues accessing everything from banking services to social media platforms. In the UK alone, reports of problems on individual apps ran into tens of thousands for each platform, including Lloyds bank, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, as well as issues accessing the HM Revenue and Customs website.
As Amazon struggled to overcome the glitch, experts warned that the internet's reliance on a small number of companies is an unacceptable risk. "We urgently need diversification in cloud computing," said Dr Corinne Cath-Speth, head of digital at human rights organisation Article 19. "The infrastructure underpinning democratic discourse, independent journalism and secure communications cannot be dependent on a handful of companies."
Critics argue that the world's reliance on just a few tech giants is a recipe for disaster, with many pointing to last year's "largest outage in history," caused by a botched software upgrade from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The incident affected airports, healthcare services and businesses worldwide.
Amazon has since confirmed significant API errors and connectivity issues across multiple services, but experts are urging caution, saying the risks of such an outage outweigh any perceived benefits of having just a few large players in the market.
A widespread outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS) highlighted the dangers of relying on just a handful of tech giants for operating the global internet, with thousands of websites and services brought to their knees in its wake. The AWS glitch affected over 2,000 companies worldwide, including major players like Snapchat, Roblox, Signal, Duolingo, and even Amazon-owned operations such as its main retail site and Ring doorbell company.
The ripple effect was felt across the globe, with users reporting issues accessing everything from banking services to social media platforms. In the UK alone, reports of problems on individual apps ran into tens of thousands for each platform, including Lloyds bank, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, as well as issues accessing the HM Revenue and Customs website.
As Amazon struggled to overcome the glitch, experts warned that the internet's reliance on a small number of companies is an unacceptable risk. "We urgently need diversification in cloud computing," said Dr Corinne Cath-Speth, head of digital at human rights organisation Article 19. "The infrastructure underpinning democratic discourse, independent journalism and secure communications cannot be dependent on a handful of companies."
Critics argue that the world's reliance on just a few tech giants is a recipe for disaster, with many pointing to last year's "largest outage in history," caused by a botched software upgrade from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The incident affected airports, healthcare services and businesses worldwide.
Amazon has since confirmed significant API errors and connectivity issues across multiple services, but experts are urging caution, saying the risks of such an outage outweigh any perceived benefits of having just a few large players in the market.
2k+ companies affected by this one-man show is crazy 
I mean I get it AWS is big but like 2000 companies?! That's a whole lotta eggs in one basket 
And now we're supposed to be worried about diversification? Like, can't we just have a bigger pool of reliable providers already? 
I'm not saying Amazon isn't awesome and all, but what if they did have a 'fail-safe' plan? Would've avoided this whole mess... or could it have happened anyway even with precautions? Idk, just seems like we should be looking into more options for our online lives 
I'm literally freaking out about this... like what if we all went down together? 
And it's not just that, think about all the banking services and government websites that were down too... that's like, super serious stuff 
. I'm all for innovation and progress but come on, diversify our tech giants already! 
Can't we spread out the risk a bit more? It feels like one bad day at AWS is all it takes to take us down 
. What if we relied on multiple cloud providers instead? Would that make a difference? 
thousands of websites and services down at once is crazy 
can't have one company making all the moves 
and then BAM! everything falls apart like this 
, or else we'll be in big trouble 
. Thousands of websites and services down = bad 
. It's like playing with fire 
and waiting for it to burn out 
. We need backup plans and more players in the game 
and then the ripple effect hits everywhere banking, social media, websites all crashing it's like a domino effect 
dr corinne cath-speth is totally right tho, our online freedoms and security can't be controlled by just a few companies 
.
. It's just not worth the risk 
The internet's like that one friend who always crashes at your birthday party – you're stuck waiting for them to figure it out again. And now we know why: our trusty tech giants are basically the only ones holding up the entire online world. Like, who needs a diverse web infrastructure when you've got Amazon, right? 
It's not like we should be worried about having all our eggs in one basket... or in this case, all our websites on AWS. Thousands of companies down, and it's business as usual for the big players. Talk about a recipe for disaster – and I'm no expert! 
. That's not just frustrating, that's stressful too. Can't we diversify our cloud computing already?! It's not like Amazon is the only game in town, right? There are plenty of other companies out there that could step up and fill the gap.
. i'm all for innovation but not at the cost of our online security and freedom 
. And don't even get me started on the lack of transparency - it's like they're playing a game of "let's see how long we can keep this under wraps" 
.
. I mean, what if one of these tech giants decided to shut down or get hacked? We'd be in big trouble! And it's not just the tech giants themselves - it's also the impact on independent journalism, democratic discourse, and secure communications. Can you imagine trying to access the internet when your bank or social media is down?