Why Is Reddit Down? Answered

Whether your tastes lean toward hiking or harmonies, pasta or Pikachu, Reddit is one of the internet’s most popular social hubs. That makes it all the more frustrating when it crashes, stranding users with no way to access their favorite subreddits. There are a few reasons Reddit might be down, but none of them are particularly comforting when all you want to do is doomscroll or get a quick question answered. As site outages at Facebook, Instagram, and other popular sites have shown, even brief disruptions can be incredibly frustrating. Here are some of the reasons Reddit might be down.

Reasons Reddit Might Be Down

The most common reasons for Reddit to go down are server issues, outages, and routine maintenance. According to a status update from Reddit, this most recent issue was caused by a backend issue. Thankfully, the site was able to identify the issue and deploy a fix. Reddit got the site up and running again in less than an hour. The time that it takes Reddit to restore service can fluctuate considerably depending upon the nature of this issue. Users are fortunate that in this case the problem could be rapidly addressed. For more serious issues, the site may require hours (or even longer) to restore service.

Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites have faced a variety of ongoing tech issues. When users are disconnected, they often have few options. While social media sites often announce routine maintenance in advance to prevent unnecessary hardship, that obviously can’t be done when unexpected problems arise. Almost 70,000 users reported Reddit’s most recent outage, according to DownDetector. With any luck (and a good IT team), everyone’s favorite subreddits will stay operational now that the lights are back on.