When Cloudflare went down on Nov. 18, the disruption spread fast.
According to Bloomberg, the outage began around 6:20 a.m. ET when Cloudflare detected a sudden spike in unusual traffic hitting one of its core services. That surge caused errors across the network and made major platforms temporarily inaccessible worldwide. Reuters reported that Cloudflare began investigating the internal service failure, quickly deploying a fix but cautioning that some users would continue to feel the impact as systems stabilized.
The ripple effects were immediate. Bloomberg noted that essential platforms like ChatGPT, X, and Moody’s Corp — a bond grader and financial data provider — were suddenly unreachable. At the same time, government and corporate sites, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Cargill Inc., and Louis Dreyfus Co., also went dark. Even New Jersey Transit’s website and app were down, leaving commuters without the digital tools they rely on for daily travel updates. Reuters added that Canva and Grindr experienced outages as well, sending thousands of people to Downdetector to report outages.
Cloudflare Error 500 – What Does It Mean?
This outage reminded many users of how central Cloudflare is to the flow of the internet after many were met with a 500 error message. Reuters explained that Cloudflare routes nearly one-fifth of all global web traffic, meaning disruptions to its network can stall industries, slow communication, and disrupt tools that power modern workflows. For businesses and organizations that rely on regulatory databases, real-time filings, or customer-facing platforms, the downtime created delays, forced workarounds, and paused operations until service began to recover.
Bloomberg highlighted that sites like Moody’s Corp and FERC are essential to financial markets and energy oversight. Losing temporary access to them interrupts processes that professionals depend on for time-sensitive information and decision-making.
The Cloudflare Outage Caused X And ChatGPT To Stop Working
One of the most visible impacts of the Cloudflare outage was how quickly both AI tools and major social platforms stopped functioning. Reuters reported that ChatGPT went dark for thousands of users, cutting off a resource relied on for writing support, ideation, coding assistance, research, and creative problem-solving. People who use AI for efficiency found themselves stalled mid-task as Cloudflare’s network struggled to stabilize traffic.
At the same time, Canva became inaccessible, further slowing workflows for those who depend on design and creative tools for daily production. The outage highlighted how deeply AI-powered and cloud-based platforms have become embedded in creative, technical, and entrepreneurial communities.
Social platforms experienced similar disruptions. Bloomberg reported that X stopped functioning early in the outage. For many, X serves as a hub for news, culture, business insights, and community engagement, and losing access to it instantly shifted the pace of the morning.
Cloudflare Stock Dips
Financial markets reacted immediately. Bloomberg reported that Cloudflare’s stock dropped 4 percent in premarket trading, while Reuters placed the decline at 2.3% percent. Analysts pointed to ongoing questions about the resilience of global digital infrastructure, especially given Cloudflare’s history of outages in 2019 and 2022 that temporarily took major websites offline worldwide.
What this recent outage ultimately revealed is that the internet may feel massive, but its foundation rests on surprisingly few critical companies. When a platform as central as Cloudflare falters, the effects spread instantly across both personal routines and professional operations.
