A Cloudflare Outage Knocked Out Web Services Like X, ChatGPT and More Today

Core Insights - Cloudflare experienced a significant service outage that affected access to numerous popular websites, including X, Spotify, and government services like New Jersey Transit [1][9] - The outage was triggered by a "spike in unusual traffic" at 6:20 a.m. ET, leading to errors and service disruptions [2][5] - While many sites have been restored, some remained inaccessible as of 9:30 a.m. ET, indicating ongoing issues [3][9] Company Impact - Cloudflare's stock saw a decline of approximately 2% following the outage, although it has risen over 80% in 2025 due to its unique "AI-as-a-service" model and a recent large contract announcement [5] - The company is currently focused on restoring full service and investigating the cause of the unusual traffic spike [5] Industry Context - The outage highlights the vulnerability of the internet infrastructure, which relies heavily on a few key service providers, making e-commerce and digital services susceptible to disruptions [4] - This incident follows other recent outages from major providers like Amazon Web Services and CrowdStrike, indicating a trend of service disruptions within the industry [6]