Title: Analysis of Major Global Internet Outages in 2024: Insights from Downdetector Data”*
In our increasingly digital world, a service outage can feel like a major disruption, impacting daily routines and communications. In 2024, numerous significant outages highlighted just how reliant we are on online platforms. By analyzing data from Downdetector, we can identify the most impactful service interruptions of the year and understand their effects across various regions.
The Most Significant Global Outages
According to Downdetector’s findings, social media platforms, internet providers, and gaming services faced the brunt of user complaints in 2024. Notably, Facebook experienced the largest outage, with over 11.1 million users globally reporting issues on March 5. This disruption was so extensive that it also affected Instagram, which ranked as the second-largest outage.
Another noteworthy incident occurred on July 19, when a software update mishap at CrowdStrike triggered nearly 5 million outage reports across services dependent on its technology, including emergency services and airlines. Following closely, AT&T’s significant outage, caused by an equipment configuration error, left customers without network access for over 12 hours.
Regional Breakdown of Outages
Asia-Pacific Region
The Asia-Pacific region mirrored global trends, with the Facebook outage leading to over 908,000 reports on March 5. Instagram’s issues followed closely behind, while Microsoft 365 faced disruptions on June 26, affecting more than 168,000 users. Notably, Japan reported a substantial number of complaints, with over 139,000 users feeling the impact of these outages.
Local outages also made headlines, including a significant disruption of the Japanese payment system PayPay in May, which affected over 76,000 users, and Jio’s service issues in India, reported by 65,000 users in September.
Europe
In Europe, social media outages were predominant. The Facebook disruption led to approximately 3.4 million users reporting problems, marking it as the largest outage in the region during the first three quarters of 2024. WhatsApp followed with over 1.1 million reports of issues in early April, while German companies 1&1 and Deutsche Telekom also faced significant user complaints, with 218,000 and 209,000 reports respectively.
Latin America
Latin America’s outage reports echoed those from Europe. The March 5 Facebook outage resulted in nearly 850,000 outage notifications, alongside over 260,000 for Instagram. WhatsApp was the second-largest issue in the region, with almost 420,000 reports of problems during its downtime on April 3. Additionally, the Mexican MVNO Bait experienced a significant outage on April 2, affecting around 99,000 users, while Brazilian fintech Nubank faced complaints from over 74,000 users in late September.
Middle East and Africa
The patterns in the Middle East and Africa exhibited a blend of global and local outage reports. The largest incidents included Microsoft 365 on March 14 and Facebook on March 5. However, the region also saw significant local disruptions, such as the outage at South African telecommunications provider Telkom, which garnered nearly 55,000 reports on May 13.
United States and Canada
The U.S. experienced similar trends, with Facebook’s outage affecting over 5.8 million users on March 5. CrowdStrike and AT&T’s outages followed closely, with reports nearing 5 million and over 3.4 million, respectively. The gaming sector and various telecom providers also contributed to the list of significant disruptions in this region.
Downdetector serves as a crucial resource for monitoring these service disruptions, offering real-time performance insights for numerous online platforms. As users increasingly rely on these services, understanding the patterns of outages can help mitigate their impacts on our connected lives.
