Reddit Outage: 90,000 Users Locked Out Globally

If you tried scrolling through Reddit earlier today and got hit with an error message, you weren’t alone. The social media giant suffered a major global outage, leaving thousands of users staring at blank screens instead of memes, debates, and AMA threads.

What Happened?

Around 11:20 AM ET, reports started flooding Downdetector, a site that tracks online service disruptions. At its peak, over 90,000 frustrated users logged complaints, with issues ranging from failed logins to complete blackouts.

Reddit’s own status page soon confirmed the problem, stating it was investigating “elevated errors” affecting both the website and mobile app. For nearly an hour, the platform flickered in and out before engineers pinpointed the culprit: a failed database connection.

By 12:10 PM ET, the team rolled out a fix, and service fully stabilized 11 minutes later. A Reddit spokesperson later clarified that the disruption was brief but widespread, adding, “We quickly resolved the database issue and restored access.”

Why Does This Keep Happening?

This isn’t the first time Reddit has stumbled. In February alone, the site recorded three separate outages, and another glitch popped up just weeks ago. While downtime is common for tech platforms (even giants like X and Facebook crash occasionally), frequent disruptions raise questions about infrastructure stability, especially as Reddit eyes AI licensing deals and a potential stock market resurgence.

The Bigger Picture

For a site that thrives on real-time engagement, even minor outages can hurt ad revenue and user trust. With competitors like Discord and Twitter Spaces gaining traction, reliability isn’t just a tech issue, it’s a business survival tactic.
 

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