Is X down? Thousands of users report issues with news feed in US: What we know

Elon Musk’s microblogging platform X is reportedly experiencing another outage, leaving thousands of users unable to refresh or access their news feeds. Users are flagging multiple issues, including feeds not loading or refreshing, login failures and session timeouts, delays when posting or interacting with content, and in some cases, app crashes.

This marks the third time the platform has encountered a similar disruption.

According to outage tracking website Downdetector, users reported the issues with X in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, New York and other cities. It also showed over 2000 people reporting the issue with X.

X has so far not issued any statement on the reported outage.

Netizens react

One of the users said, “I cant even scroll reccomended from bookmarks anymore.” Another remarked, “Not loading any new posts on the timeline”.

“The timeline isn’t showing anything,” said the third user.

Previous outages

Yesterday, X faced issues for thousands of users globally. Data from Downdetector showed that X began experiencing errors in the US, with reports peaking at around 25,000 at 3:50 PM EST (2:20 AM IST). A second spike occurred at around 8:00 PM EST (6:30 AM IST), when more than 6,000 users reported being unable to access the platform.

Of these complaints, 46% of users said they faced issues accessing the app, 27% reported problems with the feed, and 16% experienced issues with the website.

It also faced a major technical outage on January 16, impacting thousands of users globally. Users reported issues with refreshing feeds and posting updates, with the mobile app displaying the error: “Cannot retrieve posts at this time. Please try again later.”

Rubio urges diplomats to ‘counter propaganda’ using X, military support

Meanwhile, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has directed US diplomats to use X and coordinate with military psychological operations units to “counter foreign anti-American propaganda”, according to a cable reviewed by Reuters.

The cable, first reported by The Guardian, outlines strategies to expose foreign influence campaigns and misinformation that “pose a direct threat to US national security and fuel hostility toward American interests”.

In a statement, the US State Department said it would take an assertive approach to the issue, using every available diplomatic tool while safeguarding Americans’ right to free expression.

The directive also instructs diplomats to coordinate with interagency partners, specifically highlighting the Pentagon Psychological Operations unit, formerly known as Military Information Support Operations (MISO).

X has faced ongoing criticism for allowing disinformation to spread after Elon Musk scaled back the platform’s moderation and safety teams following his 2022 acquisition of what was then Twitter. X maintains that its approach prioritizes free speech, arguing that its “community notes” feature is a better alternative to centralized moderation.