Snapchat Faces Global Outage Linked to AWS Disruption

ISLAMABAD: Popular social media platform Snapchat faced a widespread outage on October 20, causing frustration among millions of users worldwide, including in Pakistan. The issue, which began early in the day, affected users’ ability to send snaps, load stories, and access their chats.

According to technology experts, the outage was caused by a malfunction in Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud infrastructure provider that powers several major online platforms, including Snapchat. The disruption in AWS led to limited or complete service unavailability across multiple regions.

A global outage tracker reported over 22,000 complaints at the peak of the incident, while more than 53% of users in Pakistan reported connectivity problems or total access failure.

AWS engineers have since been working to identify and fix the underlying issue, with preliminary reports suggesting that full service restoration could take up to 24 hours for users in Pakistan.

This incident follows a recent wave of criticism against Snapchat after it introduced a new paid storage feature, which disappointed many long-time users in Pakistan.

Snapchat, launched in 2011, has maintained immense global popularity due to its disappearing messages and creative filters. In Pakistan, its popularity surged around 2014, particularly among younger users and influencers.