Microsoft reports mass outages in US, impacting customer accessibility
Software giant Microsoft on Thursday said it was working to fix widespread outages of its Microsoft 365 suite of apps in the United States after more than 100,000 users reported disruptions.
The outage blocked users from accessing their e-mail and other Microsoft 365 services, including the AI assistant Copilot. Downtracker recorded outages affecting about 130,000 Outlook users just after 1 p.m. EST, though the problem seemed to ease somewhat later.
Customer Impact
Some customers reported having trouble sending and receiving e-mail, while others said the program was entirely inaccessible. The outages also impacted Microsoft 365 connectors used by companies OpenAI and Anthropic, which said their tools were not working as expected.
Company Response
Microsoft took to X to announce it was aware of users experiencing issues accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods in the Americas. The company noted part of its infrastructure was 'experiencing elevated load' that was 'likely contributing to connectivity errors.'
We are aggressively pursuing all pathways to reduce impact.
Previous Issues
Earlier on Thursday, the company had announced it had 'successfully restored' access to Teams after North American users reported disruptions. The latest incident highlights the growing dependence on US tech infrastructure and potential vulnerabilities in these systems.
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