Early Monday, Amazon Web Services, the cloud backbone powering much of the internet, suffered a massive outage that lasted nearly 15 hours, disrupting hundreds of companies from Apple to McDonald’s, and even grounding parts of airline and finance operations.

While most AWS services are now back online, the disruption has raised big questions: What caused it? Who felt it the most? And could it happen again?

Who was affected?

The outage revealed just how deeply AWS is embedded in everyday life. Apps like Snapchat, Venmo, Robinhood and Apple Music all went dark or slowed to a crawl. Even fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Wendy’s experienced disruptions. Airlines like Delta and United reported operational challenges, underscoring how much of the modern economy runs on Amazon’s cloud.

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