The social media platform Reddit experienced a major outage on Thursday afternoon, with over 35,000 users reporting issues around 3 p.m. EDT. The outage was detected by the outage tracking site DownDetector.com, which noted a significant spike in reports starting at 2:40 p.m. EDT. By 3:15 p.m. EDT, the number of users reporting problems had skyrocketed to 35,044.
The majority of reported issues—47%—were related to Reddit's app, while 42% were with the website itself. Only 11% of the reports were linked to server connection problems, as per data from DownDetector. Reddit's official Reddit Status account acknowledged the outage and stated that they were actively investigating the issue. By 3:48 p.m. EDT, the account announced that a fix had been implemented and that they were monitoring the results.
Although DownDetector showed a decrease in reports around 3:45 p.m. EDT, more than 28,000 users were still facing issues. Despite Forbes reaching out for a comment, Reddit had not responded by the time of the report. As the situation was unfolding, the article indicated that updates would be provided as more information became available.
Notably, Reddit had experienced minor usage issues in the first quarter of the year, with its status page documenting some disruptions. The platform faced significant outages in November of the previous year, attributing at least one incident to a bug in a recent update. During one outage, over 47,000 users reported problems, followed by more than 76,000 users the next morning.
This recent outage came in the wake of unrelated disruptions on Meta-owned platforms Facebook and Instagram. Just days before Reddit's issues, users had reported problems with Instagram's comments and app, with Facebook also experiencing outages impacting nearly 1,000 users.
As the article touched upon Reddit's community and open exchange of ideas, it invited readers to share their thoughts by creating a free account. Emphasizing the importance of civil discourse and adherence to site rules, users were encouraged to engage in respectful conversations while abiding by the Terms of Service. The guidelines outlined expectations for user behavior and highlighted actions that could result in post rejection or account blocking.
In conclusion, the Reddit outage incident underscored the platform's occasional technical challenges and the impact of such disruptions on its vast user base. The interconnected nature of social media platforms contributed to a broader conversation about digital reliability and the significance of maintaining transparent communication during service interruptions.