(CNN) – Countless sites and apps around the world went down on Tuesday after Fastly, a major content distribution network, reported a widespread failure.
It includes news websites and apps like CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times, and many more. It also provides content delivery for Twitch, Pinterest, HBO Max, Hulu, Reddit, Spotify, and other services.
Other major internet sites and platforms, including Amazon, Target and Gov.uk, are down.
The problem appears to be related to a service outage at Fastly, a cloud service provider.
“We are continuing to investigate this issue,” the company said on its website for the status of the service (which was up and running).
What we know about internet outages
- The power outages affected dozens of countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia, as well as South Africa.
- The problem appears to be related to an outage at Fastly, a cloud service provider, which reported a broadband failure. The provider says it has identified and fixed the problem, but several websites were still unavailable for some users as of 7 AM ET.
- The provider helps improve website load times and provides other services to Internet sites, applications and platforms, including a large network of global servers.
- It supports news websites and apps such as CNN, The Guardian, The New York Times, and many more. It also provides content delivery for Twitch, Pinterest, HBO Max, Hulu, Reddit, Spotify, and other services.
- Major failures of websites and apps happen from time to time and don’t usually last long — ISPs, content delivery networks, and other hosting services are designed with multiple redundancies and a global network of backup servers designed to minimize outages when things get crazy.