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Twitter experienced a global outage Wednesday afternoon, according to numerous reports from Twitter users and online tracker Downdetector.
It was not immediately clear how many Twitter accounts were affected by the outage. Just before 8:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday, Downdetector had tracked more than 10,000 user reports of outages. Virtually all 10,000 reports had come in over the previous hour.
According to Downdetector, reports of the outage began in the UK, followed by Canada, Germany, Italy and France. The tracker said the vast majority of people affected by the outage were using the Twitter website, not the app.
Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Massive global disruption is an outcome that observers and analysts have feared since billionaire Elon Musk took over the company. In October, shortly before the inauguration, The Washington Post reported on Musk’s internal plans to save money, which included making big cuts to the data centers that keep the site running.
The documents show Twitter’s plans to cut the workforce
Since taking office, Musk has fired thousands of staff members, including engineers, and many others have quit, leaving Twitter with a skeleton crew.
Twitter operates three main data centers globally. Musk ordered the closure of Sacramento’s largest data center by Christmas, causing angst among current and former engineers, according to a person familiar with the order who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.
The person said that in group chats between current and former engineers on Wednesday, some speculated that the outage was caused by a failed software update.
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