Cloudflare, one of the biggest companies that helps websites stay online and secure, has admitted that it caused another major internet outage. The company said, “we have let the Internet down again,” after a problem disrupted many popular websites and online services. The outage happened on 5 December 2025, leaving millions of users around the world unable to access their favorite apps and sites.
What Happened During the Outage
The outage began around 08:47 UTC when Cloudflare made changes to its firewall systems. These changes were intended to fix a recently discovered security issue. However, something went wrong during the update. A mistake in the system caused a large portion of Cloudflare’s network to stop working.
This was not a cyber attack. Cloudflare confirmed that the problem was entirely internal. The company quickly started fixing the issue, and services were restored by 09:12 UTC, roughly 25 minutes later.
During the outage, many websites and services that rely on Cloudflare went offline. People trying to access these sites often saw error messages like “500 Internal Server Error” or found the websites simply wouldn’t load at all.
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Which Services Were Affected
The outage affected a wide range of popular platforms. Users reported problems with sites and apps like Zoom, LinkedIn, Canva, and several trading platforms used globally. In India, financial apps and trading platforms were hit, causing users to face login failures and delays in placing trades.
Cloudflare said that about 28% of its web traffic was affected during this outage. This shows how much of the internet relies on a single service provider to keep websites and apps running. The outage caused frustration for businesses and individual users alike.
This was the second major outage from Cloudflare in less than a month. The previous outage in mid-November 2025 had already disrupted services like ChatGPT, X (formerly Twitter), Spotify, and other popular apps. The repeated problems highlight how many internet services depend heavily on a small number of cloud providers.
Cloudflare’s Response
Cloudflare acknowledged the outage and apologized publicly, saying it “let the Internet down again.” The company explained that the outage was caused by a firewall update that went wrong. They emphasized that they had restored services quickly and were investigating the issue to prevent similar problems in the future.
The outage has raised concerns about how vulnerable online services are when they rely on one major provider. Many experts and users experienced inconvenience, showing how interconnected the internet has become.
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The disruption lasted only about half an hour, but its impact was felt across the globe. Websites, apps, and online services that millions of people rely on daily experienced downtime. Cloudflare has promised to improve its systems to make sure such outages happen less frequently.
Even though the outage ended quickly, it caused noticeable disruptions in communication, work, and online transactions. Users of financial and trading platforms, in particular, were affected because they could not access services during that time.
Cloudflare’s transparency in explaining the cause of the outage is important. They confirmed that no attack was involved, and the problem was purely internal. While the internet is vast, outages like this show how much people and businesses depend on a few major companies to keep everything running smoothly.
The 5 December 2025 outage is a reminder that even the biggest internet infrastructure companies can face unexpected problems. Cloudflare acted quickly to restore services, but millions of users experienced interruptions in the meantime.