Amazon.com says a cloud computing unit at its data centre in northern Virginia has largely contained fallout from a widespread internet outage that caused global turmoil among thousands of sites, including popular apps like Snapchat and Reddit.

Amazon said it had addressed the underlying issue and was close to a resolution, but some users were still complaining of lingering difficulties using services such as digital wallet Venmo and video calling site Zoom.

The disruption knocked workers from London to Tokyo offline and halted others from conducting normal everyday tasks like paying hairdressers or changing their airline tickets.

It was the largest internet disruption since last year's CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports, highlighting the

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