Social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, experienced a widespread outage on Friday, disrupting access for users around the world including in major markets such as the United States, India, the United Kingdom, and parts of Europe.
Thousands of users reported being unable to load the website or mobile app, with many encountering blank screens, error messages, or complete failure to connect. According to details received by The Chenab Times, outage monitoring service Downdetector showed a sharp increase in complaints, peaking at over 200,000 reports globally in some instances, with tens of thousands logged in the United States alone. In India, reports also surged significantly during evening hours local time. The disruption affected both desktop and mobile platforms, preventing users from viewing feeds, posting content, sending messages, or accessing other features.
This marked the second major outage for X within days, following a similar incident earlier in the week on Tuesday, January 13, which drew over 28,000 complaints in the United States. The recurring issues have highlighted ongoing concerns about the platform’s technical stability under its current management. During the Friday event, some users saw messages related to connectivity problems, including indications that while external services like Cloudflare remained operational, connections to X’s servers failed. Cisco’s ThousandEyes monitoring noted issues with hundreds of X servers worldwide. The outage appeared intermittent for some, with partial recovery reported in places, but widespread problems persisted for hours before gradual restoration began.
X, owned by Elon Musk, has faced multiple service interruptions in recent years, often linked to infrastructure changes, cost-cutting measures, or external dependencies. No immediate official statement from X or Musk explained the precise cause or provided a resolution timeline, though the platform’s developer status page indicated some systems were degraded. The incident impacted users in regions where X serves as a primary channel for real-time information, news dissemination, and public discourse. In densely populated markets like India, where millions rely on the platform daily, the downtime caused significant inconvenience during peak usage periods.
The outage also briefly affected integrated services such as xAI’s Grok chatbot. As reports on Downdetector declined later in the day, services appeared to stabilize for increasing numbers of users, though isolated issues lingered. Troubleshooting steps recommended by users included refreshing the app, clearing cache, or switching networks while awaiting full recovery. This event adds to a pattern of technical challenges for the platform since its rebranding and operational shifts, prompting discussions on reliability amid high global dependence on social media for communication and information flow.
The Chenab Times News Desk