On August 28, Reddit users across the globe faced frustrating moments as the popular social media platform encountered significant outages, leaving many wondering what went wrong. Reports started flooding in around 4:00 PM ET, hitting over 76,000 on Downdetector, with users greeted by error messages such as "We have encountered an error. Please try again later" and "Server error. Try again later."
This widespread disruption lasted nearly 45 minutes and not only affected the main website but rendered subreddits also unresponsive. Many users took to alternate platforms to express their frustrations and check if the problem was widespread or just on their end. Reddit’s status page indicated there was “degraded performance” starting at 4:16 PM, shortly before chaos ensued.
By 4:32 PM, Reddit officials acknowledged the issue, stating they were actively investigating the problem. Just 15 minutes later, the company announced they had identified the problem and were implementing fixes. At around 4:45 PM, Reddit posted another update saying, "A fix has been implemented, and we are monitoring the results," signaling hope for the anxious users.
For many, this wasn’t the first time they’d faced such issues with Reddit. The platform had seen its share of outages and slower performance, including significant downtime back in April. This past summer, the internet giant had also dealt with accusations of bot interference and resolved disputes related to its services, highlighting the continuous struggle of balancing growing platform needs.
Despite the technical hiccup, it’s noteworthy to mention the recent growth Reddit has achieved. The company recently went public, raising around $519 million during its IPO, effectively valuing the company at approximately $6.5 billion. For Q2, Reddit reported 91.2 million daily active users, representing a significant 51% increase from the previous year. During the same period, their income climbed about 54% year-over-year to $281.2 million.
Understanding the outage, Julian Chen, head of technical operations at Reddit, mentioned, "The issue stemmed from the deployment of updates to increase platform stability. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused and are continuously working to improve our technical infrastructure to prevent such occurrences.”
During the outage, users expressed their concerns on platforms like X, with comments ranging from confusion to light-hearted memes depicting the situation. Some took the opportunity to reminisce about past downs as heavy as this, sharing anecdotes and entertaining exchanges. Others explored multiple online forums to find the latest updates on the situation, only to realize they were around the same number experiencing the same outage.
While outages and errors can be frustrating, Reddit’s team reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring stable performance moving forward. "We are working around the clock to manage our capacity and scale according to user demands, minimizing disruptions to our vast community of content creators and viewers," Chen added.
To put this incident in perspective, large social media platforms often face challenges similar to those experienced by Reddit. Sites like Facebook and Twitter have had their share of technical droughts, unable to meet users' needs during peak hours. Yet, it's the way these companies handle such situations and communicate with users through transparency and quick updates to maintain user trust.
For now, Reddit seems to be back on track, continuously monitoring their systems, ensuring they are functioning optimally. The case of this outage applies to other platforms as well; many followers and consumers now expect higher reliability from their favorite online services. Time and transparency after such incidents will play pivotal roles for Reddit to maintain its stature as the "front page of the internet" and trust among its millions of users.
