Internet outages are increasingly having a societal impact

Cloudflare says global internet outages increased in Q1 2026 and lasted longer on average.

The outages were often caused by government shutdowns, unstable power grids, and physical attacks on infrastructure.

The report suggests internet reliability is now shaped more by political, energy, and security risks than by pure technical failures.

As a result, disruptions are becoming more frequent, less predictable, and harder to repair.