On April 24, 2023, something bizarre was afoot on the platform X, formerly Twitter. The reports from some users in a section of the application declaring it down for many were coming in from countries beyond India-some from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. The sudden collapse of what was supposed to work seamlessly as an app or through its website left many users scratching their heads, somewhat irked.
Post-1:00 pm, the whole episode went out of control, and by night, it was totally irritating to the users. Everyone with this corrupted X app in mobile and laptop was served with nothing but a blank feed or in disgust, the much-hated click-to-retry button. Some had difficulties logging in at all. For the most part, timeline scrolling and messaging appeared to be out of the question. For a while, it seemed the whole thing was on an artificial break.
A flood of DownDetector reports was trickling in about the issues. And then came the million-dollar question: What was going on with X?
Some experts speculated that it was linked to a fire in a data center in Oregon, USA, that had taken place on May 22. That data center has some connections with X and might have sustained so much damage as to trigger disruption of service. This has not been confirmed by any authority, but it is one of the most likely causes.
Now, X engineers are working on addressing the issues as they arise, and the company has yet to issue an official comment. Meanwhile, many users really wish that someone would.
To all the concerned parties, here is a piece of advice. Do not deactivate your X account. Use the web until the app regains its functionalities and normalcy. Share no sensitive information for now.
So, if your X app gets a crash every now and then, do take this: You are not alone. It has kept thousands awed across the continents, just simply waiting for the network to cool down. Fingers crossed.