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Monday, October 20, 2025
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Global Tech Outage Disrupts Major Platforms, Banks, Government Services

This Week

A widespread internet outage on 20 October disrupted dozens of websites, mobile applications, and online services, with international users reporting access issues to platforms ranging from financial institutions and e-commerce websites to mobile apps and gaming networks.

The disruption is reportedly linked to technical issues at Amazon Web Services (AWS), one of the world’s largest cloud infrastructure providers. Although the company has yet to issue a full explanation, it confirmed it is experiencing “increased error rates” and delays affecting multiple services in one of its core data regions.

Online monitoring platform Downdetector reported over 2,000 cases of service disruption in the United States alone by 9:20 AM local time, with users in other parts of the world also reporting outages throughout the day.

Among the most affected were widely used platforms such as Amazon, Zoom, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Slack, and Coinbase, in addition to several banking services including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, and the Bank of Scotland.

The website of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in the United Kingdom also experienced outages, highlighting the broad scale and potential impact of the incident.

Outage in Southeast Asia

In Southeast Asia, users reported intermittent issues accessing international services, including Amazon Prime Video, Microsoft Store, and popular mobile apps such as Duolingo, Strava, and Peloton.

While no major services in Laos have confirmed direct disruptions, the country’s increasing reliance on global digital platforms means such outages can indirectly affect businesses, students, and remote workers who depend on these tools for communication and operations.

As of Monday afternoon, engineers at the affected cloud provider say they are working to resolve the issue, though some users may continue to experience delays or errors during peak usage periods.

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