A major Microsoft outage on Wednesday caused widespread disruption to online platforms worldwide. Heathrow Airport, NatWest, and Minecraft were among the affected services, which went offline for several hours before engineers restored access later in the evening. Millions of users experienced interruptions to banking, work, and entertainment activities.
Widespread reports of website and service failures
Outage tracker Downdetector logged thousands of complaints from users unable to access websites, send emails, or log into accounts. Many reported frozen pages, stalled transactions, and unresponsive apps.
Microsoft confirmed that Microsoft 365 users experienced delays, particularly with Outlook. By 21:00 GMT, most affected websites had returned online after engineers rolled back a problematic update.
Azure cloud disruption causes ripple effects
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, which powers a large portion of the internet, reported “service degradation” around 16:00 GMT. The company attributed the outage to “DNS issues,” the same technical problem behind last week’s Amazon Web Services disruption.
Amazon confirmed its systems remained fully operational.
In the UK, Asda, M&S, and O2 websites went offline. In the US, Starbucks and Kroger customers also experienced temporary service outages.
Businesses work to maintain operations
Microsoft said many corporate clients using Microsoft 365 were among the hardest hit. Some of its own web pages displayed the message: “Uh oh! Something went wrong with the previous request.”
With its service status page offline, Microsoft posted live updates on X to keep users informed.
NatWest reported brief website downtime but confirmed mobile banking, chat, and phone services remained operational.
Consumer watchdog urges compensation and transparency
Consumer organisation Which? called on businesses to provide clear communication and support for affected customers. “Customers should keep evidence of failed or delayed payments in case they need to make a claim,” said legal expert Lisa Webb. She advised anyone impacted to contact providers and request late fee waivers.
Scottish Parliament suspends business amid outage
The Scottish Parliament paused proceedings after its online voting system failed. Lawmakers postponed debate on a land reform bill designed to allow government intervention in private land sales and the breakup of large estates.
A senior parliamentary source said the outage appeared linked to Microsoft’s global disruption.
Experts warn about overreliance on a few cloud giants
The full impact of the outage remains unclear, though Microsoft Azure accounts for roughly 20% of the global cloud market. Microsoft said the incident resulted from “an inadvertent configuration change,” an internal adjustment with unintended consequences.
Dr Saqib Kakvi from Royal Holloway University warned that dependence on Microsoft, Amazon, and Google increases internet vulnerability. “When one provider fails, hundreds or thousands of services collapse,” he said. “We have concentrated global digital infrastructure in just a few companies.”
Digital infrastructure proves fragile
Professor Gregory Falco of Cornell University said the outage exposed how delicate modern cloud systems have become. “Azure and AWS may appear unified, but they are composed of thousands of interconnected components,” he explained.
Falco added that some systems are managed by providers directly, while others rely on third parties like CrowdStrike, whose update last year disrupted millions of Microsoft devices.
He warned that even a single technical error can trigger global outages, showing how dependent modern society has become on a small number of cloud networks.
