Reddit Faces Back-to-Back Outages Amid Update Bug Issues

Reddit users experienced significant disruptions for the second consecutive day on Thursday, as tens of thousands reported difficulties accessing the platform. The latest outage followed a similar incident on Wednesday evening, with the company identifying a bug introduced during a recent update as the root cause. Reports of Thursday’s issues began surfacing just before 10 a.m. EST, according to Down Detector, which logged over 76,000 complaints. Roughly half of these reports cited problems with Reddit’s app, while the other half highlighted issues with the website itself.

By 11 a.m. EST, Reddit addressed the situation through a post on X (formerly Twitter), confirming that it was investigating the matter. Tim Rathschmidt, a Reddit spokesperson, explained that an earlier update had caused “some instability” but assured users that the platform was gradually being restored to normal. The technical team worked to stabilize services as users across the globe voiced their frustrations and awaited a resolution.

The disruption closely mirrored an outage that occurred Wednesday evening, which began just after 3:30 p.m. EST. At the time, Reddit acknowledged the issue and deployed a fix approximately four hours later. By 11 p.m. EST, the company announced that the problem had been resolved. Wednesday’s outage had also prompted a surge in user complaints on Down Detector, peaking with over 47,000 reports of server issues. Both incidents caused widespread frustration as the platform, which serves millions of users daily, became temporarily inaccessible.

In addressing the outages, Reddit employed humor and transparency, utilizing internet culture to engage with its community. On Wednesday, the company posted a meme featuring its mascot, Snoo, in the popular “woman yelling at a cat” format. The image showed the woman shouting, “Reddit is down!” while Snoo responded, “There was a bug in a recent update we made, but a fix is in place and we’re ramping back up.” The post was accompanied by an apologetic caption: “sorry sorry sorry.” While the lighthearted approach resonated with many users, the recurring disruptions raised questions about the platform’s stability.

The consecutive outages highlighted the challenges of managing a platform as vast and dynamic as Reddit, which serves over 52 million daily active users. Even small technical updates can lead to unforeseen issues, particularly when dealing with a site that processes immense volumes of traffic and user-generated content. Reddit’s rapid response and candid communication helped mitigate some backlash, but repeated incidents could erode user trust if not addressed comprehensively.

Many users expressed their frustrations over the downtime, while others turned to humor, creating memes and jokes about the situation. Reddit’s transparency in addressing the outages helped maintain some goodwill among its audience, but the company faces increasing pressure to prevent similar disruptions in the future. Moving forward, implementing more rigorous testing protocols for updates and developing robust safeguards against bugs will be critical for ensuring platform stability.

As of Thursday afternoon, Reddit services appeared to be stabilizing, though some users continued to experience intermittent issues. The company’s prompt action and relatable communication strategy have been instrumental in maintaining community support, but the events of this week serve as a stark reminder of the complexities involved in running a platform of Reddit’s scale. Ensuring the reliability of its services will remain a top priority as the company works to avoid similar problems in the future.