Major US Internet Outage Disrupts Google and Dozens of Popular Websites Nationwide
Major Internet Outage Disrupts Global Access to Google, YouTube, Spotify, and More
By Stacy Liberatore for DailyMail.com | Updated: 22:29 BST, 12 June 2025
A widespread internet outage struck the U.S. and multiple countries on Thursday, temporarily crippling access to major platforms like Google, YouTube, Spotify, and Etsy. The disruption began around 1 p.m. ET, with thousands of users globally reporting issues via Downdetector, a service outage tracker.
Google services faced significant disruptions during the outage.
Cause of the Outage
The outage was linked to a critical malfunction in Google Cloud’s Identity and Access Management (IAM) system, which handles authentication for countless websites and apps. Google confirmed the issue on its status dashboard, stating, “Multiple [Google Cloud Platform] products are experiencing impact due to an Identity and Access Management Service Issue.” While partial recovery was reported in some regions, the company did not provide a timeline for full resolution.
Global Impact
Despite originating in the U.S., the outage affected users in the UK, Europe, Canada, and Asia. Cloudflare, a major internet infrastructure firm, also reported disruptions to its Access logins and Zero Trust WARP services, attributing the problem to a “third-party dependency.”
Downdetector showed spikes in outage reports across platforms.
User Reactions
Social media erupted with frustration as users globally struggled to access services. “How can Google Cloud, AWS, and Cloudflare all be down at the same time? These companies manage nearly 90% of all internet activities,” one X user posted. Another noted, “[I] didn’t realize how centralized the internet is around Cloudflare until it goes down.”
Critical Services Affected
Google Workspace tools—including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and Meet—were among the impacted services, disrupting workflows during peak business hours. Meanwhile, platforms like Spotify and Etsy displayed error messages, leaving users unable to stream music or shop online.
Users reported widespread app and website failures.
Expert Insights
Mehdi Daoudi, CEO of analytics firm Catchpoint, emphasized the fragility of digital infrastructure: “Outages like this reinforce the need for proactive monitoring and resilient architecture. Even hyperscalers like Google aren’t immune.” Cloudflare acknowledged intermittent recoveries by 3:35 p.m. ET but warned of lingering issues as systems stabilized.
Ongoing Concerns
The outage highlights the risks of relying on centralized cloud providers. While Amazon Web Services (AWS) avoided major disruptions, the incident underscores vulnerabilities in global internet dependencies. Engineers continue to investigate the root cause, with updates expected as services fully restore.
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Key Elements: Global outage scope, root cause (Google Cloud IAM), user/expert reactions, service impact visuals.
