Microblogging site Twitter seems to be experiencing a massive outage today, as the social media platform’s feed is inaccessible via the web or the multiple clients on various platforms. In some instances, the feed does appear but fails to load newer tweets. A quick look at Downdetector suggests that the outage is fairly massive since more than 50,000 reports have poured in, in the last half hour alone.
Ironically, there is no way to look at Twitter’s update on the issue on the platform itself. However, the company has provided an update on the API status website, noting that it is investigating issues. Here is the full message provided on the page:
We are currently investigating this issue. More updates to come.
It is not clear as to what caused the issue, and when it is expected to be resolved. For now, though, most reports seem to be coming from the U.S., the European countries, and Japan. We can confirm that the issues persist even in India, suggesting that this is affecting users globally. Some users even began reporting a while ago that the notifications panel went blank, which could also be linked to the outage.
We will update the post with more information, when available.
Update 1: The company has updated the API status page with a statement that reads: "We are continuing to monitor as our teams investigate. More updates to come."
Update 2: The service now seems to be back up. The company has not posted an official confirmation on the status page but said to The Verge in a statement that the firm is investigating the cause but does not have any evidence that the outage was caused due to a security breach.
Update 3: Twitter Support has posted an official confirmation:
Twitter has been down for many of you and we’re working to get it back up and running for everyone.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) October 15, 2020
We had some trouble with our internal systems and don’t have any evidence of a security breach or hack.