On Thursday, May 23, 2024, Microsoft experienced a significant global outage that disrupted several of its key services, including the Bing search engine, the Copilot AI tool, and ChatGPT. This outage also affected third-party services dependent on Microsoft's infrastructure, such as the DuckDuckGo search engine.
The disruption was extensive, with users from major cities worldwide reporting difficulties accessing Microsoft's services. Data from Downdetector revealed that 57% of users had trouble accessing the Bing website, 34% encountered issues with search functionality, and 9% faced login problems.
Microsoft acknowledged the situation and indicated that efforts were underway to identify the root cause. By early morning Eastern Time, Bing service had been restored for many users, though some continued to experience errors. Other services, such as Bing Create and Copilot Designer, remained inaccessible for a longer period.
The outage, which began at 1:37 am ET, persisted for several hours, potentially costing Microsoft millions of dollars in lost revenue for each hour their search services were down. The company has not provided an official explanation for the outage's cause.
This incident underscores the risks associated with centralizing data on a limited number of servers and highlights the importance of maintaining local backups of critical files. Global outages of major service providers can have profound financial and operational consequences for businesses dependent on these services