Our society’s growing dependence on technology has, in one way or another, made us extremely vulnerable to digital disruptions. In the 2024 There have been numerous episodes of global disruptions that have highlighted how central online services are to our daily lives. Facebook, WhatsApp, telecommunications providers and key platforms, such as CrowdStrikehave experienced failures affecting millions of people, causing chaos in social media, the corporate sector and even essential services, such as transportation and healthcare. Using data collected by Downdetectora platform that monitors problems in online services in real time, Ookla (the company that takes care of the development of Downdetector) drew up one ranking of the most important disruptions that occurred in 2024.
The top 10 worst tech disruptions of 2024
In the first part of the year, precisely the March 5the social network Facebook suffered an interruption that involved more 11.1 million users worldwide. This failure, considered the most serious of 2024has also had significant repercussions in Europewhere more than 3.4 million reports were recorded.
In the United Statesin addition to the aforementioned Facebook downturn, two other interruptions had a significant impact: that of CrowdStrike The July 19thwhich blocked essential services and applications such as airlines and ride-sharing platforms, and that of AT&Twhich the March 14 left users without a network for more than 12 hours, collecting for 3.4 million reports of malfunction.
Next, among the worst downs recorded worldwide, is that of Instagram of March 5 (with 3.3 million reports); that of Verizonwhich he generated 2.4 million of reports the September 30th last; that of WhatsApp of April 3reported by 2 million of users; that of the platform Xbox Live (or better, Xbox Network) of July 2which caused 1.2 million of reports and, remaining in the videogame sector, PlayStation Networkwith 1.1 million reports register the September 30th. To complete the ranking, Facebook Messenger And Robloxwhich recorded, respectively, 760,000 reports The March 5 And 620,000 reports The June 20th.
The worst disruptions in Europe
By zooming in on worst disruptions in Europehere is the ranking we get:
- Facebook: 3.4 million reports (March 5)
- WhatsApp: 1.1 million reports (April 3)
- Instagram: 1 million reports (March 5)
- Xbox Live: 466,000 reports (July 2)
- Facebook Messenger: 406,000 reports (March 5)
- Yahoo Mail: 357,000 reports (February 27)
- 1&1: 218,000 reports (27 May)
- Deutsche Telekom: 209,000 reports (May 21)
- Fortnite: 197,000 reports (March 8)
- Discord: 192,000 reports (April 26)
