Cloudflare outage disrupts global internet services, affecting X, ChatGPT, and US transit systems
A major outage at internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare on Tuesday caused widespread disruptions globally, temporarily knocking out services like X, ChatGPT, Spotify, and US transit apps.
November 18, 2025 - 10:13 AM ET • 2 min read
A major outage at Cloudflare, a key internet infrastructure company, caused widespread disruption to global online services and transportation systems on Tuesday. The incident, which began in the early hours of the US morning and during UK business hours, affected millions of users attempting to access platforms ranging from social media to artificial intelligence tools.
Cloudflare, which provides security and content delivery network (CDN) services for approximately one-fifth of global internet traffic, confirmed the issue and implemented a fix by late morning Eastern Time. The company stated around 9:57 AM ET that the incident was resolved, though monitoring continued to ensure all services returned to normal.
The disruption impacted numerous high-profile platforms globally. Users reported being unable to access services including X (formerly Twitter), ChatGPT, Spotify, Canva, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Many users attempting to load affected websites encountered generalized "internal server errors," often referred to as Error 500s, which indicate a server-side failure. The failure was so extensive that it also blocked access to Cloudflare's own control panels and API.
In the United States, the outage specifically disrupted digital services for major transit providers in the New York area. Authorities reported that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), and Metro-North Railroad experienced disruptions.
The MTA confirmed that real-time arrival information and trip planning might be unavailable on the mta.info website as the agency is still recovering from the third-party issue. The MTA advised customers to use the MTA app or TrainTime instead of the main website for current information. Additionally, digital services for NJ Transit were also brought down by the Cloudflare issue.
Cloudflare, headquartered in San Francisco, initiated an investigation to determine the cause of the interruption. The company did not disclose the exact reason for the failure. While there was speculation regarding a cyberattack, some experts suggested this was unlikely.