Problems at content delivery network provider Cloudflare caused disruptions to online platforms across the world on Tuesday – and the problem is so bad it took down a website that detects problems online.
The issues began around 1.30pm SAST and appeared to be impacting websites across the region, including in South Africa and Europe. Even Downdetector, a website that lets users report problems with websites, was briefly unavailable.
Cloudflare acknowledged it was working to resolve a problem on its global network, posting on its website that it was “aware of and is investigating an issue which impacts multiple customers”.
It said many websites were showing 500 errors – this is a generic hypertext transfer protocol status code that means the website’s server encountered an unexpected problem and could not fulfil a request.
Cloudflare said its Cloudflare Dashboard feature and application programming interface were also failing.
“We are working to understand the full impact and mitigate this problem,” the company said.
Major international and South African websites were impacted by the incident. Elon Musk-owned social media platform was unavailable, while South African news websites, including TechCentral, were also impacted by the problems. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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