In a major internet disruption, Cloudflare suffered an unexpected outage on Tuesday, temporarily knocking several high-traffic platforms offline — including X (formerly Twitter), ChatGPT, Canva, Patreon, and NJ Transit services. The issue began around 11:20 UTC, with users worldwide reporting 500 Internal Server Errors, failed page loads, and an unusual verification warning:
“Please unblock challenges.cloudflare.com to proceed.”
While Cloudflare says a fix has now been deployed, many users continue to ask the same question across the internet:
"Is Cloudflare still down?"
What Is Cloudflare Status and Why Everyone Checked It Today?
Cloudflare operates one of the largest content delivery networks (CDNs) on the planet, powering traffic for millions of websites. Its official health dashboard — Cloudflare Status — shows real-time updates on service availability across its global network.
During the outage, the dashboard showed service degradation across multiple components, with Cloudflare acknowledging a spike in unusual traffic that caused widespread failures. The company deployed a fix within hours, but continued to “monitor residual errors.”
As of now, Cloudflare Status does not show a major ongoing incident, but scattered users still report intermittent issues.
Why X, ChatGPT and Other Platforms Went Down
Most of today’s disruption stemmed from Cloudflare’s role as a backbone service for many major platforms. When Cloudflare’s edge network stalls, services using it experience:
Slow loading
Failed API calls
Authentication errors
Complete outage for some users
Reports on Downdetector showed massive spikes for X, ChatGPT, Canva, DoorDash, and several fintech portals — all within minutes of Cloudflare’s disruption.
What Caused the Cloudflare Outage?
Cloudflare said its systems faced a surge in traffic that created unusual load behaviour across its network. This triggered:
Temporary drops in routing efficiency
500 errors on high-demand domains
Failures in Cloudflare’s challenge & verification system
DNS resolution issues for some regions
While the fix stabilized most traffic, global outages of this scale show how dependent the modern web is on Cloudflare’s network layer.
Is Cloudflare Still Down?
Mostly no — but not fully resolved for all users.
The Cloudflare Status page now shows normal operations.
Downdetector reports have dropped sharply.
Major platforms like X and ChatGPT have restored normal service.
However, some users still see occasional slowdowns as Cloudflare’s global nodes continue stabilizing.
Why This Outage Matters
This incident highlights three major realities of today’s internet:
1. The Web Depends on Just a Few Infrastructure Providers
Cloudflare handles a massive share of global web traffic. When it fails, the internet feels it instantly.
2. Even Big Tech Is Vulnerable
No matter how large a platform is — X, OpenAI, government portals — most rely on third-party CDNs.
3. Infrastructure Redundancy Is Now a Priority
Businesses may reconsider single-point reliance and explore multi-CDN strategies.
What Users Can Do If Cloudflare Errors Continue
Refresh or reconnect using a VPN
Clear browser cache
Try an alternate DNS (Google DNS or Cloudflare DNS)
Check downdetector for platform-specific issues
Monitor Cloudflare Status for official updates