If you’re trying to access ChatGPT right now and encountering error messages, you’re not alone. A massive global outage affecting Cloudflare’s infrastructure has left millions of users unable to access ChatGPT, X (formerly Twitter), and numerous other popular websites and services. The disruption, which began early Tuesday morning, November 18, 2025, continues to impact internet users worldwide as engineers work to restore full functionality.
What’s Causing the ChatGPT Outage?
The outage stems from a spike in unusual traffic to Cloudflare’s services that occurred around 6:20 a.m. ET, causing widespread 500 internal server errors across the network. Cloudflare, a key internet infrastructure provider that services approximately 20% of the web, confirmed the issue as a global problem involving widespread 500 errors and internal server failures.
The timing couldn’t be worse for millions of ChatGPT users who rely on OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot for work, education, and creative projects. OpenAI’s status page indicated that ChatGPT and its Sora video app were experiencing issues due to problems with a third-party service provider, specifically, Cloudflare.
Which Services Are Affected?
The Cloudflare outage has created a domino effect across the internet, disrupting numerous high-profile platforms:
AI and Technology Services:
- ChatGPT and Sora (OpenAI’s services)
- Claude AI
- Canva
Social Media and Communication:
- X (formerly Twitter)
- Discord
Entertainment and Gaming:
- League of Legends
- Spotify
- Minecraft
Business and Finance:
- Shopify
- Dropbox
- Coinbase
- Moody’s financial services
Infrastructure:
- NJ Transit
- Various government websites
Even Downdetector, the popular outage-tracking website that many turn to during internet disruptions, was affected by the Cloudflare outage, making it difficult for users to gauge the full extent of the problem.
Current Status and Recovery Efforts
Cloudflare identified the root cause and began implementing a fix around 8:09 a.m. ET, with the company stating that services are beginning to recover, though customers may continue to experience higher-than-normal error rates during remediation efforts.
The company’s engineering teams have been working around the clock to restore services. By approximately 8:13 a.m. ET, Cloudflare had made changes allowing its Access and WARP services to recover, with error levels returning to pre-incident rates. However, full restoration of all affected services remains ongoing.
During recovery efforts, Cloudflare took aggressive measures to stabilize the network, including temporarily disabling WARP access in London to prevent further service degradation. These services have since been re-enabled as the system stabilizes.
Why Does This Keep Happening?
This latest disruption is part of a troubling trend of major internet infrastructure outages. The issue comes less than a month after Amazon Web Services suffered a daylong disruption that took down numerous online services, followed by a global outage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud and 365 services.
Cybersecurity experts have warned that when a single infrastructure layer that multiple organizations rely on stops responding, it can freeze news sites, payment systems, public information pages, and community services simultaneously. This concentration of internet services on a handful of providers creates significant vulnerability points.
What Should ChatGPT Users Do?
If you’re experiencing issues accessing ChatGPT or other affected services, here’s what you need to know:
Immediate Actions:
- Be patient — The outage is widespread and not specific to your device or connection
- Check official status pages — Monitor OpenAI’s status page and Cloudflare’s status page for real-time updates
- Avoid repeated attempts — Constantly refreshing or retrying connections may worsen network congestion
- Consider alternatives temporarily — If you need AI assistance urgently, explore alternative AI tools not dependent on Cloudflare
Stay Informed:
- Follow OpenAI and Cloudflare on social media for updates
- Check Downdetector for service recovery reports
- Bookmark official status pages for future reference
Impact on Businesses and Users
The outage has significant implications beyond individual inconvenience. Businesses relying on ChatGPT for customer service, content creation, coding assistance, and data analysis have experienced productivity disruptions. Students using the AI for research and learning support have been left without access to a critical educational tool.
The widespread nature of the disruption highlights the modern internet’s interconnected vulnerabilities. When infrastructure providers like Cloudflare experience issues, the ripple effects touch millions of users across continents within minutes.
Looking Ahead
Cloudflare acknowledged that the company does not yet know the cause of the spike in unusual traffic and stated that all hands are on deck to ensure traffic is served without errors. Once services are fully restored, the company plans to conduct a thorough investigation and publish an in-depth analysis of what caused the disruption.
For now, ChatGPT users and those affected by the broader Cloudflare outage must wait as engineers continue their recovery efforts. While services are gradually coming back online, intermittent issues may persist as the fix propagates across the global network.
Key Takeaways
- ChatGPT is down due to a major Cloudflare infrastructure outage affecting millions globally
- The outage began around 6:20 a.m. ET on November 18, 2025
- Dozens of major websites and services are affected, including X, Spotify, and League of Legends
- Cloudflare has identified the issue and is implementing fixes, with partial recovery underway
- Users should monitor official status pages and be patient while recovery continues
- This highlights ongoing concerns about internet infrastructure concentration
As the situation develops, users should check OpenAI’s official channels for the latest updates on ChatGPT service restoration. The incident serves as a stark reminder of how dependent we’ve become on a small number of internet infrastructure providers and the widespread consequences when these critical systems fail
