Maintenance in Several Data Centers of the American Giant Causes Global-scale Disruptions, Affecting Platforms like ChatGPT, X, and Downdetector
Numerous internet users experienced errors and interruptions on Tuesday, November 18th, on popular services such as ChatGPT, X (formerly Twitter), and Downdetector. The source of the problem was quickly identified: a major outage related to Cloudflare, the American company that secures and accelerates a significant portion of global internet traffic.
An Essential but Little-known Player in the Functioning of the Internet
Based in San Francisco, Cloudflare has become one of the technical pillars of the modern web in just a few years. The company provides a vast content delivery network (CDN), high-performance DNS services, and advanced solutions against cyberattacks. It particularly protects sites against DDoS attacks, which attempt to overwhelm a server by flooding it with malicious requests.
Over 20% of sites worldwide—ranging from small blogs to large international platforms—now rely on Cloudflare’s infrastructure. When it experiences an incident, the repercussions are immediate and global.
An Outage Triggered During Maintenance
According to information released by the company, the incident occurred while several data centers were undergoing planned maintenance. Around 11 a.m., Cloudflare acknowledged facing a malfunction affecting various clients worldwide and indicated they were working to restore normal service.
The consequences varied depending on the sites: some experienced simple slowdowns, while others were completely inaccessible for several minutes.
A Problem Previously Occurred
This is not the first time Cloudflare has been at the center of a large-scale outage.
In July 2019, a software bug paralyzed part of the web for nearly an hour.
In June 2022, an internal configuration error caused a similar incident, once again affecting several regions worldwide.
These repetitions highlight the inherent fragility of a digital infrastructure heavily concentrated in the hands of a few technological players.
A Global Internet Highly Dependent on a Few Infrastructures
The outage on November 18th highlights a paradox: while the Internet was designed as a decentralized network, its day-to-day functioning now relies on a small number of critical providers. When one of them experiences an incident, the entire ecosystem wavers.
For businesses, this episode emphasizes the importance of implementing redundancy solutions, diversifying providers, or preparing continuity scenarios in the event of a massive outage.
A Reminder of Digital Resilience Challenges
As digitalization intensifies across all sectors, the reliability of infrastructures like Cloudflare becomes a global strategic issue. Each incident serves as a reminder that the robustness of the Internet is never entirely assured, even for its most technologically advanced players.
