A 503 Error has taken down “half the internet,” with an Error 503 service unavailable message appearing on sites such as Reddit, Twitch, New York Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times, and more. All of these sites being down led to concerns that they had been hacked, though it seems that Fastly experiencing issues has caused problems elsewhere.
What is Error 503 service unavailable?
The Error 503 service unavailable message appears to be linked to Fastly CDN, the company which these sites use to host their servers. Fastly has stated that it is experiencing a CDN performance impact, and that it is continuing to investigate this issue. In the meantime, the websites it hosts remain offline.
Half of the internet being down was inevitably spotted by social media users, with Twitter managing to stay online in the meantime. Users were quick to point out the connection with Fastly, with the company’s official sites indicating that the problem is being dealt with.
Don't quote me on it but the 503 error that's hit Reddit, Twitch, Twitter etc *might* be linked to Fastly's CDN being down: https://t.co/3OOsKlyLd2
— Matt Brian (@m4tt) June 8, 2021
How to fix Error 503 service unavailable
There’s no way for users to fix error 503, with it instead being the responsibility of Fastly or whichever company is responsible for the downtime. Considering that this issue has resulted in many of the internet’s biggest sites going offline, it shouldn’t be long until it’s rectified.
In other news, Fortnite recently went live with its Season 7 update and the addition of Rick and Morty. Space Jam 2 fans were also up in arms over Zendaya’s performance as Lola Bunny in the recent trailer.
