Tens of thousands of users in Australia faced disruptions on March 15, 2024, as a significant outage affected X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk. Users reported difficulties in accessing timelines and loading content on both the app and website, with error messages appearing intermittently throughout the incident.
According to data from Downdetector, over 6,000 Australians registered issues during the outage. The disruption was not limited to Australia, as users in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada also reported problems. Globally, nearly 78,000 users in the US, around 18,000 in the UK, and more than 8,000 in Canada experienced similar issues, with feeds fluctuating between loading and failing entirely.
Details of the Outage
When attempting to access X, many users encountered an error message stating: “Something went wrong, but don’t fret — let’s give it another shot.” The exact cause of the outage remains unclear, and X has yet to provide a detailed explanation for the disruptions. Fortunately, the platform has since returned online, with both the app and website reportedly functioning normally after several hours of intermittent service.
This incident follows a brief outage earlier in the week, coinciding with a wider trend of technical failures affecting various services. Notably, a major outage at Verizon left many customers in the US without mobile service for an extended period. Additionally, over 2,000 users reported errors with Grok, Musk’s AI tool, which has come under scrutiny for producing controversial content.
Ongoing Concerns and Investigations
The outage occurs at a challenging time for Musk, who has faced increasing concerns regarding Grok’s generation of sexualized AI imagery. In response, the UK government is supporting an investigation into whether this feature breaches local laws. Musk has stated that X’s AI chatbot Grok will comply with Australian regulations following public backlash.
While the system has been restored and is back to normal operation, the specific reasons behind the global outage remain unknown. X has not yet commented formally on the events of Friday, leaving users and analysts alike awaiting further clarification on the matter.
