AWS S3 Outage Brings Out Best of Twitter
The massive service disruption of AWS Simple Storage Service’s US-EAST-1 Region last week caused plenty of issues for folks, but it also gave Twitter the opportunity to truly shine.

The internet has plenty of amazing things to offer, and as someone old enough to remember a time when it was not as accessible, I’m appreciative of it every day.
However, of all the incredible options you have online, one of my favorite things to do is go on Twitter. Sure, Twitter is far from perfect. It hasn’t really figured out how to turn a profit, and there is that whole “Twitter troll” issue. But putting those problems aside, I still find Twitter to be a pretty fun place that's always good for a laugh.
That especially rings true when something big happens. The outage Amazon Web Services (AWS) Simple Storage Service (S3) suffered in the US-EAST-1 Region was the most recent example, as many folks impacted by the service disruption took to Twitter to let their voices be heard.
As you can imagine, Twitter’s reaction to the AWS S3 outage did not disappoint. I’ve compiled some of my favorite tweets below. Enjoy.
Editor’s note: I understand the outage did take place over a week ago. The reason I didn’t do this last week is because my focus was on the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read my feature on the process around selecting the plan processor for the CAT, which is currently free to view for a limited time.
According to Amazon, the human error that caused the service disruption occurred at 12:37 p.m. EST. It didn’t take long for Twitter to take notice and predict the ensuing disaster.
Time to discover how much of the internet is reliant on S3 #awsoutage #s3outage
— mason (@r4v5) February 28, 2017
It quickly became clear that things were not going smoothly for those impacted by the outage.
TFW you realize that half your infrastructure relies on S3. Including your maintenance page. #awsoutage pic.twitter.com/j8QC297QJN
— Travis Soule (@TravSoule) February 28, 2017
And people looking to figure out a solution to their problems came to realize how far-reaching the outage was.
"Hey @Quora, what happens when Amazon S3 goes down?" Oh... #awsoutage pic.twitter.com/tXqwGViIxx
— John Sandall (@John_Sandall) February 28, 2017
In fact, those responsible for keeping tabs on whether websites were up and running were having their own issues.
it doesn't get more #meta than https://t.co/4afRePP0bP being down because of the #awsoutage pic.twitter.com/nMFRr270Lw
— Nick Bowersox (@zeerow) February 28, 2017
With some handling the news better than others.
sorry all. current #AWSdown brought down https://t.co/XYZ5iegXtd. We're curled up on the floor in a fetal position until its over pic.twitter.com/lErFYzvX5m
— DownDetector (@downdetector) February 28, 2017
As is the case with every big moment on Twitter, a meme from “The Simpsons” had to be incorporated…
Today on Twitter #awsdown #awsoutage #aws #s3 pic.twitter.com/IfV5Qa5WM5
— Max Keller (@langer_hans) February 28, 2017
…followed shortly by one from “The Office."
A lot of offices right now due to the #AWSOutage ...#AWS #AWSOutage pic.twitter.com/VpuQD44AZ9
— Lume (@BigLume) February 28, 2017
And people couldn’t resist having President Trump get in on the fun.
Wrong! There are no issues with AWS. Fake News! #awsoutage pic.twitter.com/dSGMhejyXg
— Zach Hintze (@zhintze) February 28, 2017
The AWS S3 outage also led to some shocking revelations.
So, if there are no servers... why are the servers down? :O #serverless #aws #awsoutage pic.twitter.com/P6esij7yLr
— khaxan (@khaxan) February 28, 2017
And as is always the case, one firm’s disaster is another’s victory.
Data centers with IBM #PowerSystems are cool right now, just sayin'. ? #awsoutage https://t.co/f9a3kkMtxc
— IBMPowerSystems (@IBMPowerSystems) February 28, 2017
Microsoft Azure's sales team tomorrow. #awsdown pic.twitter.com/y0yu5g9sdS
— Shiv (@shivkanthb) February 28, 2017
Only users who have a paid subscription or are part of a corporate subscription are able to print or copy content.
To access these options, along with all other subscription benefits, please contact info@waterstechnology.com or view our subscription options here: http://subscriptions.waterstechnology.com/subscribe
You are currently unable to print this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
You are currently unable to copy this content. Please contact info@waterstechnology.com to find out more.
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (point 2.4), printing is limited to a single copy.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
Copyright Infopro Digital Limited. All rights reserved.
You may share this content using our article tools. As outlined in our terms and conditions, https://www.infopro-digital.com/terms-and-conditions/subscriptions/ (clause 2.4), an Authorised User may only make one copy of the materials for their own personal use. You must also comply with the restrictions in clause 2.5.
If you would like to purchase additional rights please email info@waterstechnology.com
More on Emerging Technologies
Bank of America and AI, exchanges feud with researchers, a potential EU tax on US tech, and more
The Waters Cooler: Broadridge settles repos in real time, Market Structure Partners strikes back at European exchanges, and a scandal unfolds in Boston in this week’s news roundup.
Bloomberg rolls out GenAI-powered Document Insights
The data giant’s newest generative AI tool allows analysts to query documents using a natural-language interface.
Tape bids, algorithmic trading, tariffs fallout and more
The Waters Cooler: Bloomberg integrates events data, SimCorp and TSImagine help out asset managers, and Big xyt makes good on its consolidated tape bid in this week’s news roundup.
DeepSeek success spurs banks to consider do-it-yourself AI
Chinese LLM resets price tag for in-house systems—and could also nudge banks towards open-source models.
Standard Chartered goes from spectator to player in digital asset game
The bank’s digital assets custody offering is underpinned by an open API and modular infrastructure, allowing it to potentially add a secondary back-end system provider.
Saugata Saha pilots S&P’s way through data interoperability, AI
Saha, who was named president of S&P Global Market Intelligence last year, details how the company is looking at enterprise data and the success of its early investments in AI.
Data partnerships, outsourced trading, developer wins, Studio Ghibli, and more
The Waters Cooler: CME and Google Cloud reach second base, Visible Alpha settles in at S&P, and another overnight trading venue is approved in this week’s news round-up.
Are we really moving on from GenAI already?
Waters Wrap: Agentic AI is becoming an increasingly hot topic, but Anthony says that shouldn’t come at the expense of generative AI.