Google Cloud Outages Disrupt Multiple Online Services
Overview of the Incident
Today, Google Cloud faced significant outages that affected various online platforms, causing widespread disruptions. Reports of connectivity issues began to surface around 2 PM ET, impacting not only Google’s own products but also several external services.
Google’s Response and Mitigation Efforts
By 4:16 PM ET, Google announced that it had identified the underlying cause of the outages and implemented solutions to address the problem. The company reported recovery in all regions except for us-central1. Google further indicated that its applications were gradually regaining functionality, although several users across different businesses continued to encounter issues.
"Infrastructure recovery is currently underway, and our engineering team is monitoring the situation closely for customers still affected in us-central1 and multi-region/us," Google stated. However, they did not provide an estimated time for full restoration.
Impact on Other Services
Notable platforms, including Spotify, Discord, Snapchat, Etsy, UPS, and OpenAI, reported a surge in outage reports on DownDetector during the incident. This included disruptions in popular applications such as the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Go, which acknowledged issues on their support pages. OpenAI also issued a statement indicating that users might have faced difficulties logging in due to broader issues affecting various internet service providers.
While Amazon’s AWS experienced a rise in reports, the company clarified to Engadget that it did not face systemic service problems and emphasized that its AWS Health Dashboard provided a more accurate status of its services than DownDetector.
Service Recovery Timeline
As of 5 PM ET, most services were back online, with reports of outages on DownDetector returning to normal levels. For instance, Spotify’s homepage was fully operational once more, and platforms like Snapchat and Discord resumed regular functionality.
Google had anticipated complete restoration within the hour; however, by 7:13 PM ET, it acknowledged that some Google Cloud components, including Google Cloud Dataflow, Vertex AI Online Prediction, and Personalized Service Health, still faced "residual impact." The company has yet to announce a comprehensive timeline for when all services will function optimally again.
Conclusion
While many services have gradually returned to normal operation, ongoing monitoring continues as Google Cloud works to fully resolve the remaining issues. Users are encouraged to stay updated through official channels for the latest information regarding service restoration.
