Amazon is down in an apparent outage affecting tens of thousands of shoppers

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images Amazon appears to be experiencing an outage, and tens of thousands of shoppers say they're having trouble accessing Amazon's services. According to outage tracker Downdetector, reports of issues surged Thursday afternoon, reaching about 20,000 by 3:49 p.m. ET on March 5. Complaints first spiked around 2:30 p.m., when roughly 18,000 users reported problems. The number briefly dipped to around 16,000 before climbing again. Users on Downdetector said the probl...

5 Mar, 21:18 — 6 Mar, 04:21

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Why this matters

Amazon is a critical e-commerce platform for millions of users and businesses globally. Outages can cause significant economic disruption, impact consumer trust, and raise concerns about the stability and security of major online services.

Key entitiesAmazon Downdetector

The Story

What 3 sources agree on, dispute, and miss

What sources agree on

Amazon experienced a major outage affecting thousands of users in the US
The outage impacted various services including checkout, app access, and product pages
Services were largely restored by the morning of March 6th

Key claims3 agreed · 1 unverified

✓

Tens of thousands of shoppers were affected by the outage

agreed·Business Insiderhindustan-timeshindu

✓

The outage occurred on Thursday, March 5th

agreed·hindustan-timesBusiness Insider

The outage was potentially a cyberattack amid Iran tensions

unverified·hindustan-times

✓

Amazon services were largely back up by Friday morning, March 6th

agreed·hindu

Where they diverge

Potential cause of the outage

hindustan-times

Raised questions about a potential cyberattack, linking it to Iran tensions

hinduBusiness Insider

Described it as an 'apparent outage' without speculating on the cause

Coverage gaps

Specific user complaints like checkout failures, price fluctuations, and app crashes

Reportedhindu

Missinghindustan-timesBusiness Insider

The Story

Analyzing sources…

Source Diversity

Moderate (42/100)

3 sources25/33

Spectrum spread— 2/5 buckets covered8/33

Far L

Left2

Left (2)

hinduBusiness Insider

Center

Right1

Right (1)

hindustan-times

Far R

Geographic diversity— 2 regions9/34

India2US1

Sources

Showing 3 of 3 sources

Business InsiderMostly Factual61d ago

Amazon is down in an apparent outage affecting tens of thousands of shoppers

Read full article →

hinduMostly Factual61d ago

Amazon largely back up after outage hits thousands of US users, Downdetector shows

Users on social media reported checkout failures, price fluctuations, ‌app crashes, and being unable to access order histories or product pages

Read full article →

hindustan-timesMostly Factual61d ago

Amazon hacked? Major outage amid Iran tensions raises cyberattack questions; ‘When will it be back up?’

Amazon outage update: Popular e-commerce platform Amazon was down for thousands of users in the US on Thursday

Read full article →

Coverage Timeline

First report: Business Insider · 5 Mar, 21:18|Full coverage: 3 · 7h|Window: 7h

Left-leaningCenterRight-leaning

Business Insider5 Mar, 21:18First to report

Amazon is down in an apparent outage affecting tens of thousands of shoppers

hindustan-times5 Mar, 21:21

Amazon hacked? Major outage amid Iran tensions raises cyberattack questions; ‘When will it be back up?’

7h later

hindu6 Mar, 04:21Latest update

Amazon largely back up after outage hits thousands of US users, Downdetector shows

Story evolution

The initial narrative of a widespread outage shifted towards speculation about its cause, then to reports of services being restored.

Initial Outage ReportsMarch 5th evening

Reports of Amazon services being down for tens of thousands of US users began on Thursday, March 5th.

Speculation and User ImpactMarch 5th evening - March 6th early morning

Outlets detailed various user issues and some speculated on potential causes like cyberattacks.

Service RestorationMarch 6th morning

By Friday morning, March 6th, reports indicated that Amazon services were largely restored.

PERSPECTA

PERSPECTA

Amazon is down in an apparent outage affecting tens of thousands of shoppers

Why this matters

The Story

What sources agree on

Key claims3 agreed · 1 unverified

Where they diverge

Coverage gaps

The Story

Source Diversity

Source Diversity

Sources

Amazon is down in an apparent outage affecting tens of thousands of shoppers

Amazon largely back up after outage hits thousands of US users, Downdetector shows

Amazon hacked? Major outage amid Iran tensions raises cyberattack questions; ‘When will it be back up?’

Coverage Timeline

Amazon is down in an apparent outage affecting tens of thousands of shoppers

Amazon hacked? Major outage amid Iran tensions raises cyberattack questions; ‘When will it be back up?’

Amazon largely back up after outage hits thousands of US users, Downdetector shows

Story evolution

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PERSPECTA

Why this matters

Story evolution

The Story

What sources agree on

Key claims3 agreed · 1 unverified

Where they diverge

Coverage gaps

Coverage matrix