Microsoft outage hits Outlook, Teams, and Copilot in 74 countries

A global Microsoft outage disrupted Outlook, Teams, and Copilot services across 74 countries for over eight hours, generating hundreds of thousands of user reports. The company confirmed it was working to restore full functionality after the incident began on Thursday. The disruptions peaked with nearly 140,000 reports for Outlook alone, a figure over 2,000 times normal levels, according to Downdetector. Microsoft attributed the issue to unexpected server failures causing overload, though messaging and meeting functions in Teams remained largely available. Microsoft stated that restart attempts were showing positive results, but warned services could falter again under high load. No clear timeline for full restoration was provided, while users took to social media with humorous memes about the work disruption.