Google News was down for many earlier: here's what you need to know
An upside-down ice cream cone spells trouble
No, it wasn’t just you; Google News suffered a pretty sizable outage this morning, impacting the service on desktop and mobile. Impacted users took to Downdetector and social media to note the issues and that no stories were being populated on the site.
Instead, Google News showed an upside-down ice cream cone with the tagline, "Uh-oh, something went wrong. Please try again." I confirmed the issue myself and am based in New Jersey, United States, but my TechRadar colleagues experienced the same issues worldwide. Users on Downdetector also noted a spike in outage reports as of 8 AM ET on May 31, 2024.
Google's Cloud status page still doesn't show an outage or issue, but the Search Status Dashboard does reflect a "service interruption" around serving specific features in Google Search as of 9:47 AM ET.
The technology giant is working on a fix. Still, it's unclear if that issue is related to the Google News interruptions – which have since been resolved – or is separate. TechRadar has reached out to Google, and we'll update you when and if we hear back.
For most impacted users, Google News returned online on desktop and mobile at around 9:50 AM ET on May 31, 2024, and is still working as expected as of this update. For all of the latest updates, and a timeline of what happened, check out our liveblog below.
Down Detector has been showing a spike in Google outages reported by users since about 8 AM ET on May 31st. Folks are noting in the comments section that Google News is the impacted service, specifically that the feed is down.
Google News typically showcases suggested stories at the top, but currently, the two main bins appear broken, each with the same "Uh-oh" phrase. You can access that page here, but it's worth noting that Google Search's news box appears to be working as expected.
It's not just impacting the homepage for Google News either. Navigating to the various categories at the top, like U.S., World, Business, or Technology, among others, displays an empty feed.
While Google's Cloud Services status page doesn't list this service specifically, it doesn't show an outage for any of its products worldwide.
Similar to the status page for Cloud Services, Google Search's status dashboard shows all as operational.
Like on desktop, Google News is also having issues on mobile. I'm seeing it down on both and several of my colleagues here at TechRadar are as well.
On Down Detector and on social media, users from across the the globe – including in Italy and several states in the United States – are reporting issues accessing the service from either mobile or desktop.
It seems that Google News might have returned to normal for some users but hit a roadblock again, according to Down Detector, with a noticeable drop in reported outages and then a spike a few minutes later. In the comments section, some users note that the service is back up, while others say it's still not loading.
Google News is back up and running for me and several of my colleagues. Navigating to the main feed on desktop and mobile shows a well-populated carousel of stories.
Down Detector is showing a large drop in the number of reports of an outage as well with people in the comments noting that Google News is back to normal.
While Google News does appear online for most users, the Google Search Status Dashboard now shows a "service interruption."
As of 9:47 AM ET on May 31, 2024, Google notes, "There's an ongoing issue with serving some features in Google Search. We've identified the issue and we're working on a fix. Next update will be within 12 hours."
Google has also confirmed the issue on X (formerly Twitter), writing that "there's an ongoing issue with serving some features in Google Search," and that a fix is being worked on.
There's an ongoing issue with serving some features in Google Search. We've identified the issue and we're working on a fix. https://t.co/CdgQmF4zedMay 31, 2024
As of 11:29 AM ET, Google's Search Status Dashboard shows everything as operational with the update: "We fixed the issue with serving certain search features. There will be no more updates."
