Some of the globe’s most popular apps and websites have ceased functioning as Amazon Web Services (AWS) dives into resolving a pressing technical glitch.

According to the website Down Detector, platforms such as Roblox, Snapchat, Fortnite, Canva, and Duolingo are among those impacted by this disruption.

The source of these issues seems to originate from AWS, which supports the infrastructure for numerous leading websites and applications.

Shortly after 8 PM AEDT, AWS announced that it had “identified a potential root cause” for the problem.

AWS has been providing detailed updates, stating, “We are working on multiple parallel paths to accelerate recovery.”

The company advises users to “continue to retry any failed requests” as they work towards a solution.

“We will continue to provide updates as we have more information to share.”

Popular encrypted messaging service Signal has reports of its service being down.

“We are aware that Signal is down for some people,” president Meredith Whittaker said on X.

“This appears to be related to a major AWS outage.”

The currency trading app Coinbase confirmed “many” of its users were unable to access its service.

“Our team is working on the issue and we’ll provide updates here,” the company said.

Graphic design platform Canva said it was experiencing “significantly increased error rates which are impacting functionality”.

The software company has about 220 million active monthly users.

“Our team is actively investigating the issue and working to restore full access as quickly as possible,” the company said in an update on its website.

What apps and websites are down?

Down Detector shows a huge list of sites and apps that users are reporting errors with, including:

Users also reported difficulty accessing Amazon services including Amazon.com, Alexa and Prime Video, according to Down Detector.

Amazon Web Services provides cloud computing.

AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon, the mega company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, one of the world’s richest people.

“Instead of buying, owning, and maintaining physical data centres and servers, you can access technology services, such as computing power, storage, and databases, on an as-needed basis,” AWS says.

It says its customers are companies “of every type, size and industry”.

It provides infrastructure that is used for data backup, disaster recovery, email, virtual desktops, software development and testing, big data analytics, and customer-facing web applications.