Snapchat Outage Causes Widespread Disruption, Linked to Amazon Web Services Incident

Snapchat and other popular apps and websites experienced widespread outages on October 20, with reports of login failures and app crashes. The disruptions were tied to problems at Amazon Web Services (AWS), a backbone provider for much of the internet. AWS acknowledged the incident and is investigating "increased error rates" and delays affecting multiple services. The outage affected users worldwide, with reports of issues on outage trackers and Downdetector.

On October 20, 2025, numerous popular apps and websites experienced widespread outages, with users reporting login failures and app crashes. The disruptions were traced back to issues at Amazon Web Services (AWS), a backbone provider for much of the internet. AWS acknowledged the incident and is currently investigating "increased error rates" and delays affecting multiple services, according to The Independent.

The outage began around 8 am in the UK or midnight Pacific time and affected a wide range of services, including Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, Duolingo, Canva, and even the UK's tax authority, HMRC. Downdetector, a website that tracks complaints about websites and web services not working, showed the sudden and widespread nature of the outage .

AWS provides a host of internet infrastructure services that allow companies to rent computers and servers to run their apps and websites. Any problems at AWS can quickly affect much of the rest of the internet, bringing down websites that might have no apparent connection to Amazon itself. It is now the most popular provider of such cloud services in the world and made $108 billion last year, accounting for the majority of Amazon’s profits, as The Independent reported.

The incident highlights the critical role that AWS plays in the modern internet ecosystem. As AWS continues to investigate the cause of the outage, users and businesses alike are likely to experience some level of disruption. The financial impact of such an outage can be significant, affecting not only user experience but also the revenue streams of the affected companies.