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Google Cloud services were at the forefront of a substantial internet outage on Thursday, 12 June, leading to disruptions for many popular online platforms globally. This issue originated from a technical fault within Google Cloud’s infrastructure, which supports a significant number of third-party and enterprise services.
Beginning at approximately 2:30 pm ET (12:00 am IST on Friday), users reported widespread unavailability on services including Gmail, Google Search, Google Maps, Discord, Spotify, Twitch, Snapchat, and Nintendo Switch Online, among others. The disruptions caused a surge in error reports on Down Detector and monitoring platforms, with over 11,000 reports from India and 10,000 from the United States.
Key services like Vertex AI and Google Nest from Google were significantly affected. Third-party applications depending on Google Cloud, including Character.ai, Rocket League, the Pokémon Trading Card Game, and Anthropic’s Claude, faced disruptions as well. Additionally, the incident influenced other crucial internet infrastructure providers such as Cloudflare and Shopify, causing a ripple effect across many websites and applications.
Cloudflare, which offers content delivery and cybersecurity services to a vast segment of the internet, reported substantial service outages and highlighted that a limited number of services associated with Google Cloud were affected. A spokesperson from Cloudflare stated in an email to CNN that this was indeed a Google Cloud outage. They noted that some Cloudflare services, which utilise Google Cloud, experienced issues, but expected a swift resolution.
At 1:16 pm PT (1:46 am IST on Friday), Google Cloud engineers confirmed that they had pinpointed the cause and were implementing solutions. Although services were progressively restored across most regions, Google admitted to ongoing performance challenges in its “us-central1” zone for an extended period.
By 6:50 pm ET, both Google and Cloudflare affirmed that most problems had been rectified. Ultimately, at 9:27 pm ET (6:27 am IST), Google Cloud released an update indicating, “All services are fully recovered from the issue.” A comprehensive report concerning the incident will be shared after an internal review.
Even though the outage has been resolved, the event highlighted the internet’s dependence on a select few core service providers. Numerous users expressed their frustration on social media, particularly those who were affected during work hours, as vital tools like Google Meet and Gmail became inaccessible. Several websites, including Shopify, DoorDash, Equifax, Gemini, Calendly, and entertainment platforms like Marvel and MLB.tv, were reported as impacted.
Google has since conveyed their gratitude to users for their understanding and has committed to providing further transparency once the investigations are concluded.
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