A huge Microsoft outage on Wednesday brought parts of the global internet to a standstill. Websites for Heathrow, NatWest, and Minecraft went offline for several hours, leaving millions unable to access key services before systems were restored later that night.
Websites crash as users report widespread failures
Thousands of people reported website crashes and login errors across multiple countries. Outage tracker Downdetector showed a sharp spike in complaints as users faced slow-loading pages and broken links.
Microsoft confirmed that many Microsoft 365 users suffered long delays in Outlook and related services. By 21:00 GMT, most affected websites had returned online after the company rolled back a problematic update.
Azure cloud disruption ripples through the web
Microsoft’s Azure cloud network, which powers a large portion of the world’s internet infrastructure, reported “service degradation” at around 16:00 GMT. Engineers traced the problem to “DNS issues,” the same cause behind last week’s Amazon Web Services outage.
Amazon said its systems continued to operate normally during the Microsoft incident.
In the UK, major brands including Asda, M&S, and O2 experienced temporary website failures. In the US, Starbucks and Kroger were among those affected.
Companies rush to contain the fallout
Microsoft said that business customers using Microsoft 365 were particularly affected by the outage. Some of its own web pages displayed an error message reading, “Uh oh! Something went wrong with the previous request.”
After users were unable to access the official service status page, Microsoft posted regular updates on its X account.
NatWest confirmed that its main website was briefly down but said that mobile banking, chat, and phone services continued to function.
Consumer watchdog urges transparency and compensation
Consumer group Which? said firms had a responsibility to keep customers informed and offer support when services fail. “Customers should keep records of failed or delayed payments in case they need to make a claim,” said Which? law expert Lisa Webb. She encouraged anyone concerned about missed bills to contact providers directly and request that extra charges be waived.
Scottish Parliament business halted by outage
In Scotland, the Parliament suspended proceedings after technical issues disabled its online voting system. The interruption delayed a debate on land reform legislation that would allow the government to intervene in private sales and break up large estates.
A senior parliamentary source said the disruption appeared connected to Microsoft’s global outage.
Experts warn of overreliance on tech giants
Analysts said the true extent of the disruption is unclear, though Microsoft Azure is estimated to hold about 20% of the global cloud market. Microsoft later confirmed that the outage resulted from “an inadvertent configuration change,” meaning an internal system adjustment caused unintended effects.
Dr Saqib Kakvi of Royal Holloway University warned that the dominance of a few major cloud providers increases global vulnerability. “When Microsoft, Amazon, or Google suffer an outage, hundreds or thousands of services can collapse,” he said. He explained that economic pressures push most companies toward these few providers, creating a fragile online ecosystem.
Digital experts call internet infrastructure fragile
Professor Gregory Falco of Cornell University said the outage highlighted how complex and delicate the internet has become. “Azure and AWS look like single systems, but they’re made up of thousands of interconnected parts,” he explained. Some are managed by the providers themselves, while others rely on third-party services such as CrowdStrike, whose software update last year disrupted millions of Microsoft devices.
Falco warned that even small technical errors can trigger global failures, exposing how vulnerable the digital world remains despite its scale and sophistication.
