The Take AWS outage: Are we too dependent on Big Tech?
Oct 24, 2025
Belle Lin, a technology reporter at The Wall Street Journal, discusses the recent AWS outage and its far-reaching consequences. She highlights how the outage affected everyday services like banking and e-commerce globally. Lin critiques the effectiveness of Amazon's apologies and explains the interconnected nature of cloud services. She emphasizes the need for businesses to diversify their cloud strategies to mitigate risks. The conversation also touches on the vulnerabilities small businesses face and the importance of consumer education on cloud independence.
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Cloud Outages Reach Everyday Life
- The AWS outage interrupted banking, exams, flights and smart home devices, showing cloud providers’ deep role in daily life.
- Belle Lin says outages reveal how much a single provider can affect millions of people.
Host's Smart Home And Messaging Failures
- Malika Bilal describes not being able to turn off her Alexa-powered lights during the outage.
- She also notes WhatsApp and Slack experienced interruptions that morning.
Why Apps Fall When AWS Fails
- AWS is a network of data centers that many apps rent for compute and storage rather than owning themselves.
- Belle Lin explains that when rented servers fail, the apps depending on them lose service too.