‘Computer says no’: what the papers say after IT outage causes global chaos
Saturday’s headlines are dominated by the fallout from an IT failure that grounded planes, took TV channels off air and played havoc with health services, banking and retail businesses around the world.
The outage was the result of a botched software upgrade by US firm CrowdStrike that hit Microsoft’s Windows operating systems and left workers with a “blue screen of death” as their computers failed to start.
“Recovery from global IT failure ‘could take weeks’,” the Guardian said, adding that airlines, healthcare and retailers were “in chaos after software upgrade glitch”.
The Guardian: ‘I had God on my side’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/dDQPWddZh3
— George Mann (@sgfmann) July 19, 2024
The Daily Telegraph splashed on “Holidays in chaos after global IT meltdown”. “Thousands of tourists stranded at start of the summer break and NHS services hit,” it reported.
The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 19, 2024
'Holidays in chaos after global IT meltdown'#TomorrowsPapersToday
Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4Oomry pic.twitter.com/jPTrq5Nh7W
The Financial Times led its front page with “Global IT outage throws travel, payments and health into chaos”, adding “Microsoft users paralysed”,“Crowdstrike security update blamed” and “Fix likely to take days”.
Just published: front page of the Financial Times, UK edition, Saturday 20 July https://t.co/roeU0ryhuf pic.twitter.com/jtJCXJ0Py4
— Financial Times (@FT) July 19, 2024
The Times went with “IT company’s error could be terminal for getaways”, writing that “thousands of families face delays and cancellations after an IT failure grounded flights around the globe on what was set to be the busiest day for international travel in five years”.
The Times: IT company’s error could be terminal for getaways #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/lHsFNZehjm
— George Mann (@sgfmann) July 19, 2024
“Day the world stood still”, the Daily Mirror headlined, adding that “transport, business, GPs and TV hit by global computer crash”.
Saturday's front page: Day the world stood still#TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/pfLdV3r0Pk pic.twitter.com/y36rI8za09
— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) July 19, 2024
The Daily Mail says “Global IT meltdown shows peril of going cashless”, calling the crisis a “digital pandemic”.
Daily Mail: Global I.T. meltdown shows peril of going
— George Mann (@sgfmann) July 19, 2024
cashless #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/NmteHBQ7bz
The Daily Express splashed on “How on earth did ‘digital pandemic’ paralyse the world?”, continuing: “Massive IT outage wreaks havoc for millions and may take days to fix”.
Saturday’s front page: How on earth did ‘digital pandemic’ paralyse the world? https://t.co/HORIK8XlKV #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/BiZtRwlO1X
— Daily Express (@Daily_Express) July 19, 2024
“Computer says no,” the i reported, adding “global IT crash hits GPs, hospitals, banks, planes and trains”.
Saturday's front page: Computer says no: global IT crash hits GPs, hospitals, banks, planes and trains #TomorrowsPapersToday
— The i paper (@theipaper) July 19, 2024
Read the latest here: https://t.co/QEDWNlJbFm pic.twitter.com/JKTpUZyYBR
The Independent went with “Massive Microsoft meltdown triggers worldwide havoc” and reported that it was the “world’s worst IT outage”, affecting some of its biggest companies.
Saturday's front-page (20/7/24) from The Independent: pic.twitter.com/AFbjpL17Ln
— The Independent (@Independent) July 20, 2024
Elsewhere, Spain’s El País said “Worldwide IT outage”, writing that a “simple anti-virus update blocked essential services around the world”.
🗞️ #Portada | Apagón informático mundial; Biden insiste en retomar la campaña entre más presiones para que lo deje; El tribunal de la ONU denuncia por ilegales los asentamientos de Israel, en EL PAÍS este sábado 20 de julio
— EL PAÍS (@el_pais) July 19, 2024
🔗https://t.co/QqJt4Zm5Qm pic.twitter.com/5pb4uWcQDm
In France, Libération headlined its weekend edition “Bug of the year 2024”, noting that the outage highlighted “our dependence on technology and our vulnerability”.
Le bug de l'an 2024.
— Libération (@libe) July 19, 2024
C'est la une de @Libe ce week-end
Lire : https://t.co/nj2k4mQWWP pic.twitter.com/wOKnOkjPCs