Microsoft 365 Services Disrupted
Thousands of Microsoft customers reported difficulties accessing the tech company’s suite of Microsoft 365 services, including the Outlook email platform, Teams, and other tools on Thursday. However, the company announced on social media early Friday that the issues had been resolved.
The Outage
According to Downdetector, users began reporting problems accessing Microsoft applications on Thursday afternoon, with complaints spiking around 3 p.m. ET when 16,000 people reported having problems accessing Microsoft 365. Microsoft recognized the problem, stating on its website that "users may see limited service functionality or be unable to access multiple Microsoft 365 services."
Resolution Efforts
At 4:14 p.m. ET, Microsoft announced that it had "restored the affected infrastructure to a healthy state." However, in a later post, the company said it was still working to "rebalance traffic across all affected infrastructure to ensure the environment reaches a balanced state." Despite the announcement, some social media users were still complaining about being unable to access Microsoft 365 tools late Thursday afternoon.
Customer Reactions
Other users called on Microsoft to compensate customers for the outage, which they blamed for hindering their work. Some customers expressed frustration, with one person saying, "We can’t even send emails. This isn’t fixed." The outage has led to demands for Microsoft to provide compensation to affected customers.
Similar Incidents
This is not the first time Microsoft 365 has experienced a major outage. In 2024, a botched update to CrowdStrike antivirus software caused global outages for Microsoft 365 users, leading to thousands of flight delays and cancellations, as well as disruptions to hospitals, banks, and other businesses around the world. Last week, Verizon offered affected customers a $20 credit after a major service failure limited subscribers’ ability to use their wireless devices.
