Microsoft outage hits 74 countries, disrupting government and business services

A widespread outage of Microsoft's cloud services disrupted email, workplace communication and public services across the world on Thursday, Nov. 12, affecting users in 74 countries and territories as the company struggled to restore normal access.

Outlook was among the worst-affected products, while users also reported problems with Microsoft Teams and the company's artificial intelligence assistant, Copilot.

Downdetector, which monitors reports submitted by users, said complaints spread across 74 countries and territories within an hour, reflecting the international reach of the disruption rather than a confirmed failure of every Microsoft service in those locations.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), businesses and government agencies were unable to use Outlook normally, leaving staff struggling to send and receive messages through a platform central to their daily operations.