📵 Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) suffered a widespread outage on Monday, leaving many users unable to load timelines or see new posts. Reports came in from multiple countries and continents 123491087. Outage trackers recorded sharp spikes in user reports, and monitors described the disruption as “international outages” 23410.
Within a few hours, the service largely returned to normal after a disruption that lasted roughly two hours. Multiple outlets said timelines began populating again and core features were back by the afternoon (around 15:30 GMT) 134910. X did not immediately respond to media requests for comment on what caused the outage 34.
Sources
- User Issues With X Appear to Have Resolved [nytimes.com] (2026-02-16)
- X down: Musk's platform faces global outage as users report massive disruption and access issues [firstpost.com] (2026-02-16)
- X recovers from ‘brief’ global outage [dawn.com] (2026-02-17)
- X briefly hit by ‘international outages’: monitors [dawn.com] (2026-02-16)
- X Goes Down: Social Media Site Not Working for Thousands of Users Worldwide [reddit.com] (2026-02-16)
- X is down again – here's what we know about the latest outage [reddit.com] (2026-02-16)
- X goes quiet again [thenextweb.com] (2026-02-16)
- X users howl into the void as timelines fail to load [theregister.com] (2026-02-16)
- Is X Down? Social Network Returns to Normal After Outage [pcmag.com] (2026-02-16)
- Was Twitter down? What users reported. [mashable.com] (2026-02-16)
Highlights
- Timing: PCMag said user problem reports began around 8 a.m. EST on Feb. 16 9.
- Report spikes: Mashable’s read of Downdetector data showed reports peaking near 40,000 around 8:30–8:45 a.m. ET, then dropping toward about 1,000 by 10 a.m. ET 10.
- Pakistan snapshot: In Pakistan, Downdetector reports peaked at 275 at 6:54 p.m., then fell to 8 by 7:54 p.m., a country-level glimpse of how quickly reports eased 34.
- Where users flagged issues: Firstpost said users in the United States, the United Kingdom, and India reported widespread access problems 2.
- Recent instability: One report pointed to earlier X outages on Feb. 1 and Feb. 9 4.
Perspectives
NetBlocks (connectivity monitor): NetBlocks said X appeared to be suffering “international outages,” adding that the incident was “not related to country-level internet disruptions or filtering.”
AFP journalists (on-the-ground verification): AFP journalists in countries including France and Thailand said they could not access X during the disruption.
Downdetector (outage tracker): Mashable noted that after the morning surge, Downdetector problem reports started to fall and were down to around 1,000 by about 10 a.m. ET (still above its typical baseline) 10.
The Register (press observation): The Register pointed out a mismatch between user reports of broken timelines and an X status page that read “All systems operational.”
The Next Web (user experience): The Next Web described blank feeds and unresponsive timelines that left users with an “empty room” feeling during the outage.
Historical Background
Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and later rebranded it as X; one report says Musk laid off thousands of people after the acquisition 4.
Action Items
- Keep a backup channel for time-sensitive posts: If you rely on X for updates, consider cross-posting to another network during outages; NetBlocks shared outage observations on Mastodon during this disruption 34.
- Check outage verification before troubleshooting: Use outage trackers (e.g., Downdetector) to confirm whether the problem is widespread before resetting devices or changing network settings 103.