An unexpected failure in Google Cloud’s infrastructure caused the downfall of several digital services used by millions of people around the world. For more than two hours, platforms such as Spotify, Discord, Snapchat and Twitch stopped working, affecting the routine of users and companies. The problem started in a key authentication system, which triggered a series of chain errors that once again showed how fragile the internet is.
“A simple line of code can stop the world”
By: Gabriel E. Levy B
On the morning of June 13, 2025, an automated misconfiguration within Google Cloud’s IAM (Identity and Access Management) system caused an outage that paralyzed part of the digital fabric.
This structure, designed to manage roles in the cloud, suffered an error in updating API quotas.
The result was the digital equivalent of locking all doors… and lose the keys.
When Nicholas Carr wrote, “Does IT matter?”, he was not referring to the cloud, but his thesis takes on new meaning in this type of episode.
Google Cloud, the backbone for thousands of applications, not only saw its internal services such as BigQuery, Cloud Storage or Memorystore interrupted, but also dragged with it network giants that depend on its infrastructure.
The blow also reached Cloudflare, a web security and performance provider, whose statement sought to calm the waters: “Core services were not affected.”
But in practice, many products stopped working, affecting users, developers, and businesses around the world.
It was not the first time that a cloud provider faced a crisis, but it was one of the most obvious due to its domino effect.
The figures explain it better: more than 46,000 users reported problems with Spotify; Discord and Snapchat added more than 18,000 reports between them; and even smart devices like Google Nest were mute.
In just two hours, the mirage of digital ubiquity crumbled.
“Everything is connected, even when we don’t want it to be”
The problem, as Shoshana Zuboff suggests in “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” is not just technical: it is structural.
Cloud infrastructure, designed for scalability, efficiency, and security, has also become a source of dependency and vulnerability. When a single supplier concentrates so much power, the effects of a failure are multiplied geometrically.
Google Cloud is one of the big three cloud computing platforms, along with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.
Together they hold a majority portion of the planet’s digital traffic. But, unlike with critical physical infrastructure, such as power grids or drinking water systems, there is no clear international regulation or mandatory contingency systems to mitigate simultaneous failures on a large scale.
Technology dependency doesn’t just refer to end users.
Companies that offer financial, health, entertainment or transport services delegate key functions to these virtual environments.
The cloud is not a metaphor, it is an architecture. And, like any architecture, it can present structural failures if one of its pillars gives way.
It is not a house of cards, but neither is it an insurmountable fortress.
Google Cloud’s IAM system is an essential component that regulates permissions, access, and authentication of users and services.
Its failure, prompted by a misconfigured automated update, set off a chain effect.
Not only does this show that even the most sophisticated systems can fail, but they do so with a speed and range that most users don’t understand… until your favorite app stops working.
“A cloud with storms”
The weakness lies not only in the technical flaw, but in the trusted architecture implicit in the cloud computing model.
Businesses and platforms of all sizes rely on providers to not only provide stable service, but also respond nimbly to errors.
But what happens when that same agility is what triggers the problem?
Automation, the undisputed ally of technological development, was the culprit here. A quota modification, without proper human validation, rendered the IAM system useless.
It’s a reminder that algorithmic efficiency can become a risk if it’s not accompanied by proper governance. As researcher Evgeny Morozov explains, “the technological solution to social and organizational problems often ends up creating new problems.”
What is disturbing is not so much the fall itself, all technologies fail eventually, but their speed of propagation and the limited initial response capacity.
It took Google more than two hours to restore full functionality, which, in digital terms, is forever.
Even more so if one considers that some regions continued to report minor failures even after the “fix.”
Cloudflare, which relies in part on Google Cloud, said it will evaluate its architectural dependencies.
But that assessment comes after the incident, not before. And the question many are now asking is: how many other platforms are built on equally fragile foundations?
“When giants stumble”
The case of this massive drop is not isolated. In November 2021, AWS experienced a multi-hour outage that affected services such as Netflix, Ring, and Disney+.
In 2020, Google also suffered an outage that affected Gmail, YouTube, and Google Docs.
The pattern repeats itself: a supplier fails, and the impact multiplies exponentially.
In July 2022, Cloudflare faced its own outage due to a faulty upgrade to its BGP routes.
Although the service was quickly restored, the episode made it clear that even those who protect the internet are also exposed to its vulnerabilities.
More recently, in 2024, Microsoft Azure faced a failure in its authentication system that took enterprise customers in Europe and North America out of service.
In all of these cases, the cause was a combination of excessive automation, lack of redundancy at critical points, and near-blind trust in service continuity.
In practice, what these cases show is that digital platforms are not prepared to respond to simultaneous or cascading interruptions.
Post-mortem solutions, while valuable, come late for those who had their services disrupted, lost revenue, or suffered data loss.
In conclusion, the Google Cloud outage was not just a technical outage, but a stark reminder of our digital dependence.
Cloud architecture, as efficient as it is invisible, can collapse with a minuscule error and leave millions in digital darkness. Trust should not be built only on the technological promise, but on the real capacity for response, redundancy and prevention. Because in a hyperconnected world, a single failure can disconnect the entire planet.
References:
- Carr, Nicholas. Does IT Matter?. Harvard Business Review Press, 2004.
- Zuboff, Shoshana. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. PublicAffairs, 2019.
Morozov, Evgeny. To Save Everything, Click Here. PublicAffairs, 2013.
