The popular email service Gmail, run by Google, crashed this morning causing problems for users worldwide - with other online services such as Google Drive and Meet, and Slack also affected.
Google said it was aware of the problems, and was working to understand the reason behind the disruption, although the problems do not appear to be affecting all of the service's users.
According to tracking website Down Detector, the issues started at around 07:24 BST, and are thought to be concentrated in the UK, Greece, Spain, Germany, France, Japan, and Malaysia.
Out of those who reported issues, 40 per cent said they were having problems with attachments, 28 per cent could not log-in, and 31 per cent couldn't receive messages.
Email users took to social media to vent their frustration, as the hashtag #gmaildown was trending on Twitter, with one user stating: "I have been trying to forward an email for more than 30 minutes, only to search and realize Gmail is down."
In India, former Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha tweeted: “My #Google email not attaching Word documents. Anyone facing a similar problem?”
Another Twitter user added: "Gmail down for more than an hour? Wasn’t expected from such a big giant!"
Someone else joked: "Remember it’s #2020worstyear... so one more addition when Gmail goes down, the whole world goes down!"
Commenting on Down Detector's forum, one user said: "It’s gcse results day and mine was delayed an hour and I thought it was broken honestly gmail it’s not the day for this."
A post on Google's status page indicated it was aware of the problems and was still "investigating".
The page showed problems with Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Meet and Google Voice. The rest of its services – such as Calendar and Chat – continue to work as normal, it said.
