Twitter outages across US sparked by social media frenzy following Queen’s death

Twitter users across the country reported outages on the platform on Thursday following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. 

The website Downdetector, which notes when various websites are experiencing issues, documented more than 2,600 reports of outages around 1:40 p.m. ET on Thursday, just as the royal family announced the queen’s death. 

Downdetector’s website states that it only reports an incident when the number of outages is significantly higher than the normal volume for that time of the day. 

More than 80 percent of the reports Downdetector received were for Twitter’s app, while about 10 percent were for its website. 

The number of reported outages quickly dropped to about 250 or less half an hour after the surge. 

The queen’s death ended the longest-ever reign for a British monarch after she served for 70 years. Her son, Charles, ascended to the throne as King Charles III. 

A 10-day national mourning period is planned leading up to her state funeral.